In Space, No One Can Hear You Sing, "Figaro, magnifico"

On this date in 1989 (the number, another summer), STS-34 launched, with Atlantis carrying the Galileo probe.  Shannon Lucid - who held the record for longest space duration by an American and by a woman from '96 to '07 - was Mission Specialist 1 on the flight:

As the lead mission specialist, Lucid was primarily responsible for the Galileo spacecraft, and initiated its deployment by pressing a button to separate Galileo from Atlantis. Galileo was successfully deployed six and a half hours into the flight using the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS). 

As this was much less powerful than the Shuttle-Centaur upper stage, Galileo had to employ a gravity assist from Venus and two from Earth, and it took six years instead of two for the Galileo to reach Jupiter¹. "Both Ellen and I sighed a great sigh of relief, because we figured Galileo was not our concern at that point, because we'd gotten rid of it," Lucid reported. "Happiness was an empty payload bay and we got happier and happier as the IUS and Galileo went further away from us."

Fun fact: the wakeup call on Day 4 was...Bohemian Rhapsody.

1 - The Challenger disaster delayed the mission, and in its wake the Centaur originally intended to boost the probe into deep space was canceled, requiring a more roundabout journey.