The shuttle flew seven times in a row to the orbiting science platform, ferrying astronauts back and forth. NASA flew 11 missions to Mir, and Atlantis shouldered most of the work. Space shuttle Atlantis rolls out to Launch Pad 39A on Nov. NASA and Russia had brokered an agreement for American astronauts to stay aboard the Mir space station, which would give both sides experience in working together in space ahead of the planned International Space Station. In the mid-1990s, Atlantis' focus changed again. Next, it lofted a defense satellite on STS-44, and a European tethered gravity experimental satellite on STS-46. Once that was fixed, the observatory successfully watched supernovas and neutron stars for nine years.Ītlantis went on to deploy a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite on its next mission, STS-43. Astronauts had to do an emergency spacewalk to fix a high-gain antenna that refused to deploy. It then flew two classified missions for the Department of Defense before sending yet another probe into space on STS-37, in 1991: the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. Atlantis repeated its interplanetary feat on STS-34, when it sent the Galileo probe toward Jupiter. STS-30 marked the beginning of a flurry of satellite and classified payload launches for the orbiter. Its radar peered beneath Venus' thick clouds and eventually mapped 98 percent of the hot planet's surface. Magellan fired its rocket stages successfully to coast to Venus. The astronauts sent the satellite on its way remarkably quickly, only six hours after launch. This was the first time that NASA launched an interplanetary probe from the shuttle's payload bay. On board the shuttle was Magellan, a spacecraft that would be launched toward Venus. Sending probes toward the planetsĪtlantis' fourth flight, STS-30, marked a historic first for NASA. It wasn't until December 1988 that Atlantis flew again, this time bringing another classified payload into space on STS-27. The Challenger explosion in January 1986 grounded the remaining shuttle fleet for two years. Additionally, Atlantis' crew members did two experimental spacewalks devoted to learning about assembling structures in space. It lofted three communications satellites into orbit. Just over one month later, Atlantis headed for space again on Nov. At the time, NASA did periodic flights for the Department of Defense, sending classified payloads into space. Mission STS-51J took five people into space and lasted four days. To this day, Atlantis' first flight is shrouded in secrecy.
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