Watch the Launch

STS-51-F

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission:

Low Earth Orbit Launch Complex 39A Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

STS-51-F was the nineteenth flight of the shuttle program and the eighth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger. It flew in orbit for 8 days performing science in Spacelab 2.

Space Shuttle

Family:
Configuration:

The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.

Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    56.1 m
  • Diameter
    8.0 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    2030.0 T
  • Thrust
    28200.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Space Shuttle
  • Family
  • Variant
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Space Shuttle
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $450000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    27500.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Space Shuttle Challenger


In-active Human Rated Crew On-board: 7 Crew Capacity: 7 Payload Capacity: 27500 kg
Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Serial Number: OV-099

Space Shuttle Challenger (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-099) was the second orbiter of NASA's space shuttle program to be put into service, after Columbia. Challenger was built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division, in Downey, California. Its maiden flight, STS-6, began on April 4, 1983. The orbiter was launched and landed nine times before breaking apart 73 seconds into its tenth mission, STS-51-L, on January 28, 1986, resulting in the death of all seven crew members, including a civilian school teacher. It was the first of two shuttles to be destroyed in flight, the other being Columbia, in 2003. The accident led to a two-and-a-half-year grounding of the shuttle fleet; flights resumed in 1988, with STS-26 flown by Discovery. Challenger was replaced by Endeavour, which was built from structural spares ordered by NASA in the construction contracts for Discovery and Atlantis.

Space Shuttle Details

Crew


C. Gordon Fullerton

Commander - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Deceased

Date of Birth: Oct. 11, 1936
Date of Death: Aug. 21, 2013

Roy D. Bridges Jr.

Pilot - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: July 19, 1943
Age: 81

Anthony W. England

Mission Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: May 15, 1942
Age: 82

John-David F. Bartoe

Payload Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( USN )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: Nov. 17, 1944
Age: 79

Karl Henize

Mission Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Deceased

Date of Birth: Oct. 17, 1926
Date of Death: Oct. 5, 1993

Loren Acton

Payload Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( LMT )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: March 7, 1936
Age: 88

Story Musgrave

Mission Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: Aug. 19, 1935
Age: 89

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA)

Administrator: Bill Nelson Founded: 1958 Successes: 121 Failures: 20 Pending: 6

Agency Type:

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

INFO WIKI

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 15 hours ago
Starlink Group 10-13
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days ago
Starlink Group 9-9
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 2
Success
3 days, 15 hours ago
Shenzhou 19
Launch Area 4 (SLS-1 / 921) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Eighth crewed flight to the Chinese space station.


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 14 hours ago
Starlink Group 10-8
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 22 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
NROL-167
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Fourth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office t…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Starlink Group 6-61
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


New Shepard
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
NS-27
West Texas Suborbital Launch Site/ Corn Ranch - Corn Ranch, Van Horn, TX, USA

Twenty-seventh flight of New Shepard,flying unmanned as a test for the newest booster.


Long March 2
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Yaogan 43 Group 03
Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

The Yaogan 43 Group 03 is a group of Chinese military “remote sensing” satellites of unknown purposes.


Long March 6
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
Tianping-3
Launch Complex 16 - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

3 satellites be used as calibration targets for ground based orbital objects surveillance services such as atmospheric space environment study and or…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 6 days ago
OneWeb 20
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 20 satellites for the OneWeb satellite constellation, which is intended to provide global Internet broadband service for individual consum…