The launch of Ulysses
Ulysses was launched on board the space shuttle Discovery on 6th October 1990. The image below shows Ulysses mounted on top of its two stage booster rocket just after deployment from the shuttle. Ulysses itself is dwarfed by the two stages, the whole system completely filled the shuttle cargo bay. Once the shuttle had moved away, the booster was fired and Ulysses rapidly became the fastest man-made object in the universe at the time, reaching 15km/s as it began its journey towards Jupiter.