Space Shuttle Challenger / OV-099 | STS-51-L

Launch Failure

During the ascent phase, 73 seconds after liftoff, the vehicle experienced a catastrophic structural failure resulting in the loss of crew and vehicle. The Rogers Commission later determined the cause of the accident to have been the failure of the primary and secondary (backup) O-ring seals on Challenger's right Solid Rocket Booster.

L - -- : -- : -- : --

Instantaneous launch window.


Launch Window

Jan. 28, 1986, 4:38 p.m. - Jan. 28, 1986, 4:38 p.m.

Get it on Google Play Get it on App Store

Watch the Launch

STS-51-L

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Human Exploration

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

The tenth mission for Challenger, STS-51-L was scheduled to deploy the second in a series of Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, carry out the first flight of the Shuttle-Pointed Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN-203) / Halley's Comet Experiment Deployable in order to observe Halley's Comet, and carry out several lessons from space as part of the Teacher in Space Project and Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP).

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

Dick Scobee

Commander - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: May 19, 1939
Date of Death: Jan. 28, 1986

Michael J. Smith

Pilot - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: April 30, 1945
Date of Death: Jan. 28, 1986

Christa McAuliffe

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

Status: Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: Sept. 2, 1948
Date of Death: Jan. 28, 1986

Gregory Jarvis

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

Status: Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: Aug. 24, 1944
Date of Death: Jan. 28, 1986

Ellison Onizuka

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

Status: Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: June 24, 1946
Date of Death: Jan. 28, 1986

Judith Resnik

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

Status: Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: April 5, 1949
Date of Death: Jan. 28, 1986

Ronald McNair

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

Status: Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: Oct. 21, 1950
Date of Death: Jan. 28, 1986

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA)

Administrator: Jared Isaacman Founded: 1958 Successes: 122 Failures: 20 Pending: 5

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 39B

Recent Launches
Falcon 9
Success
18 hours, 39 minutes ago
Dragon CRS-2 SpX-34
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

34th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station operated by SpaceX. The flight will be conducted under the second Commer…

Kinetica 1
Success
1 day, 12 hours ago
5 satellites
Launch Area 130 - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Share-ride of 5 satellites to sun-synchronous orbit: * Taijing-3-05A/B * Tianyi-50 * Tianyan-27 * Jilin-1 HR-03D-55

Zhuque-2E Block 2
Success
2 days, 13 hours ago
Mass Simulator
Launch Area 96A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

2.8 tonnes Mass Simulator launched to a 900 km polar orbit on a test flight proving further upgrades to the ZQ-2E, including a longer 1st stage and e…

Long March 6A
Success
4 days, 4 hours ago
SpaceSail Polar Group 09
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

18 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with…

Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 14 hours ago
NROL-172
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Thirteenth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Offi…

Long March 7
Success
5 days, 16 hours ago
Tianzhou-10
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Ninth cargo delivery mission to the Chinese space station.

Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Starlink Group 17-29
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.

Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 6 days ago
CAS500-2 & Others
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Ride-share of 45 satellites including: * CAS500-2 (KASA, South Korea) The South Korean CAS500-1 and -2 satellites will image the Earth in pan-chr…

Falcon 9
Success
2 weeks ago
Starlink Group 10-38
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.

Soyuz-5
Success
2 weeks, 1 day ago
Demo Flight
45/1 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Demonstration Flight for Russia's new Soyuz-5 launch vehicle, with a mass simulator on board. The launch was suborbital with the simulator splashing …

Get it on Google Play
Get it on the App Store