Image: Launching the Galileo mission
(PHYSorg.com Space & Earth)

Space Shuttle Atlantis deployed the Galileo spacecraft six hours, 30 minutes into the flight on Oct. 18, 1989. In this image, Galileo, mounted atop the inertial upper stage, is tilted to a 58-degree deployment position in Atlantis`s payload bay with the Earth`s limb appearing in the background.