STS-30 Magellan spacecraft & IUS deployment from Atlantis’ payload bay (PLB)

STS030-72-046 (4 May 1989) --- In the early evening hours of the Space Shuttle Atlantis' first day in space for the four-day STS-30 mission, the Magellan spacecraft is released into space to begin its long journey to the planet Venus for an extensive radar mapping mission. The scene was photographed through Atlantis' aft flight deck windows with a handheld 70mm camera.