STS-41D Payload (Discovery's Maiden Flight)

Space Shuttle Discovery made its Maiden Flight on Aug. 30, 1984 carrying 3 satellites and a Solar Wing experiment, the OAST-1 payload (Office of Application and Space Technology). The Solar Wing extended to a maximum 102 feet tall over the payload bay. This experiment demostrated that large lightweight solar arrays can be used in the future in building large facilities in space such as the Space Station.

Three satellites were deployed from the payload bay: SBS-D (Satellite Business System) and Telstar-3C were carried on special canisters, the PAM-D (Payload Assist Module-D). The third satellite was the Syncom IV-2 (also known as Leasat-2) and was located aft in the payload bay.

This mission ended with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base on Sep. 5, 1984.

This papermodel has the Solar Array in scale compared to the real array. The canisters PAM-D have sliding doors that can be opened to show the satellites. Satellites can be removed as well.

Enjoy this model!

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