STS-34 Galileo spacecraft / inertial upper stage (IUS) deployment

STS034-72-070 (18 Oct 1989) --- Backdropped against the blackness of space, the Galileo spacecraft and its inertial upper stage (IUS) begin relative separation from the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis. The five-member STS-34 crew deployed the Jupiter-bound satellite within six hours of achieving Earth orbit on Oct. 18, 1989. The scene was exposed with a 70mm handheld Hasselblad camera.