Space History Photo: Magellan Preparations

space history, space probes
The orbiter Atlantis holds the Magellan spacecraft in its payload bay. (Image credit: NASA.)

In this historic photo from the U.S. space agency, the Magellan spacecraft with its attached Inertial Upper Stage booster is in the orbiter Atlantis payload bay on April 25, 1989, prior to closure of the doors at T-3 days to launch from pad 39B.

Launch of Magellan and Space Shuttle Mission STS-30 is targeted for Friday, April 28, 1989. The 23 minute launch window opens at 2:24 p.m.

Each weekday, SPACE.com looks back at the history of spaceflight through photos (archive).

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the U.S. government agency in charge of the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. Founded in 1958, NASA is a civilian space agency aimed at exploring the universe with space telescopes,  satellites, robotic spacecraft, astronauts and more. The space agency has 10 major centers based across the U.S. and launches robotic and crewed missions from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral Florida. It's astronaut corps is based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. To follow NASA's latest mission, follow the space agency on Twitter or any other social channel, of visit: nasa.gov