William A. Pailes
American - (USAF)
Retired
Date of Birth: June 26, 1952
Age: 73
William Arthur Pailes (Colonel, USAF) (born June 26, 1952) was a USAF astronaut in the Manned Spaceflight Engineer Program during the mid-1980s. He served as a Payload Specialist on STS-51-J Atlantis (October 3–7, 1985).
Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-51-J
National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of AmericaKennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Oct. 3, 1985, 3:15 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:
STS-51-J was the twenty-first space shuttle mission and the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. It was the second mission dedicated to deploying a Department of Defence payload. It was a classified mission however we do know that it deployed two 10 satellites.
Low Earth OrbitThe United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the United States Armed Forces in 1947 with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947.
Kuaizhou 11
8 satellites
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of ChinaRide-share launch of 8 satellites to sun-synchronous orbit. Details TBD.
Long March 6A
Yaogan 50-02
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of ChinaThe Yaogan 50-02 is a Chinese military “remote sensing” satellite of unknown purposes.
Falcon 9
Starlink Group 10-48
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USAA batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Falcon 9
Starlink Group 17-31
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USAA batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Long March 2D
Shiyan 30 03-04
Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of ChinaA pair of Chinese satellites reported to be for "Earth observation technological testing and validation" purposes. Actual usage not known.
