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.

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Instantaneous launch window.


Launch Window

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

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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)

Acting Administrator: James Free 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 39B

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