Florida Peninsula, LDEF Deploy-RMS

41C-36-1618 (7 April 1984) --- The Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm suspends the giant Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) high above the Gulf of Mexico prior to releasing it into space. Carried into Earth orbit with the STS-41C crew by the Space Shuttle Challenger, LDEF will remain in space until retrieved by a future Shuttle mission, in nine or ten months. Florida and the Bahama Banks are visible near the Earth's horizon in the 70mm frame.