STS-51-G
STS-51-G was the eighteenth flight of the shuttle program and fifth for Space Shuttle Discovery. Sultan Salman Al Saud of Saudi Arabia was on board as a payload specialist; he became the first Arab, the first Muslim and first member of a royal family to fly into space. It was the first shuttle flight to fly without an astronaut from the pre-Shuttle era. Its mission was to deploy 3 10 satellites.
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.
Objects from this launch
8 objects
SATCAT inventory for 1985-048
Last checked: 2026-03-17T12:11:00.954+00:00
Last success: 2026-03-17T12:11:00.954+00:00
Last non-empty: 2026-03-17T12:11:00.954+00:00
Latest snapshot: 2026-03-17T12:11:00.954+00:00
Snapshot hash: beefc93bbc1cac91740a1d4c75ce5db7b178266af1c71c0485f742d4843a7076
LL2 payloads: 0SATCAT payloads: 5Delta: +5RB: 3DEB: 0UNK: 0
Open SATCAT inventory
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SATCAT payload objects
STS 51G
1985-048ANORAD 15823PAYUnited States (US)Ops: D Technical details
Orbit type: LANOrbit center: EALaunch site: AFETRPeriod: 90.91 minRCS: 0.310 m²
Inc: 28.5°
284 km → 354 km
MORELOS 1
1985-048BNORAD 15824PAYMEX Technical details
Orbit type: ORBOrbit center: EALaunch site: AFETRPeriod: 1447.74 minRCS: 6.233 m²
Inc: 14.0°
36007 km → 36021 km
ARABSAT-1B
1985-048CNORAD 15825PAYABOps: - Technical details
Orbit type: ORBOrbit center: EALaunch site: AFETRPeriod: 1433.73 minRCS: 3.921 m²
Inc: 12.5°
35667 km → 35814 km
TELSTAR 303
Technical details
Orbit type: ORBOrbit center: EALaunch site: AFETRPeriod: 1441.64 minRCS: 5.118 m²
Inc: 14.3°
35877 km → 35913 km
SPARTAN 101
1985-048ENORAD 15831PAYUnited States (US)Ops: D Technical details
Orbit type: IMPOrbit center: EALaunch site: AFETRPeriod: 92.00 min
Inc: 28.5°
355 km → 391 km
SATCAT non-payload objects
MORELOS 1 R/B [PAM-D]
Technical details
Orbit type: ORBOrbit center: EALaunch site: AFETRPeriod: 602.62 minRCS: 2.595 m²
Inc: 25.3°
373 km → 34137 km
ARABSAT-1B R/B [PAM-D]
Technical details
Orbit type: ORBOrbit center: EALaunch site: AFETRPeriod: 593.86 minRCS: 2.648 m²
Inc: 26.9°
367 km → 33684 km
TELSTAR 303 R/B [PAM-D]
Technical details
Orbit type: ORBOrbit center: EALaunch site: AFETRPeriod: 628.12 minRCS: 2.642 m²
Inc: 25.9°
384 km → 35450 km