STS-37, the thirty-ninth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the eighth flight of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, was a six-day mission with the primary objective of launching the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), the second of the Great Observatories program which included the visible-spectrum Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO) and the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope. The mission also featured two spacewalks, the first since 1985.
The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory after deployment, photographed from Atlantis's flight deck.
Back row: Jerome Apt, Jerry L. Ross Seated: Kenneth D. Cameron, Steven R. Nagel, Linda M. GodwinSpace Shuttle program← STS-35 (38)STS-39 (40) →
Launch of Atlantis on STS-37
Ross during the first EVA; CGRO in the background
Space Shuttle Atlantis is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. Atlantis was manufactured by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985. Atlantis is also the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was STS-51-J made from October 3 to 7, 1985.
Atlantis in orbit in 2010, during STS-132
Space Shuttle Atlantis as it transits the Sun
Melted aluminum plating on Atlantis's right wing underside (STS-27)
Atlantis docked to the International Space Station during STS-132 mission