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 T
  • Thrust
    28200 kN
Family
  • Name
    Space Shuttle
  • Family
    ―
  • Variant
    ―
  • Alias
    ―
  • Full Name
    Space Shuttle
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $450000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    27500 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: Bill Nelson Founded: 1958 Successes: 115 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

Recent Launches
Falcon 9
Success
7 hours, 59 minutes ago
Starlink Group 10-9
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

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

Long March 4B
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Gaofen-11-05
Launch Complex 9 - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Gaofen is a series of civilian Earth observation satellites developed and launched for the China High-definition Earth Observation System (CHEOS), a …

Falcon 9
Failure
2 weeks, 1 day ago
Starlink Group 9-3
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.

Hyperbola-1
Failure
2 weeks, 2 days ago
Yunyao-1 15-17
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

3 weather satellites performing atmospheric measurements using GNSS Radio Occultation for a Tianjin based company. Constellation is planned to have a…

Ariane 62
Success
2 weeks, 3 days ago
Maiden Flight
Ariane Launch Area 4 - Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Maiden Flight of the Ariane 62 launch vehicle, carrying ten cubesats, two deployers, five experiments, and two reentry capsules.

Falcon 9
Success
2 weeks, 4 days ago
Türksat 6A
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

Türksat 6A is Turkey's first domestically manufactured geostationary communications satellite. It is to reside in 42° East orbital slot, providing se…

Long March 6A
Success
3 weeks, 1 day ago
Tianhui 5 Group 02
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

A pair of satellites officially described as for cartographic surveying purposes, details TBD.

Firefly Alpha
Success
3 weeks, 2 days ago
FLTA005 (Noise of Summer)
Space Launch Complex 2W - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Fifth flight of the Firefly Alpha small sat launcher, carrying eight cubesats for NASA's ELaNa 43 (Educational Launch of a Nanosatellite) mission.

Falcon 9
Success
3 weeks, 3 days ago
Starlink Group 8-9
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

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

H3-22
Success
3 weeks, 5 days ago
Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4)
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-2 - Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4) is a Japanese satellite designed to observe the Earth's surface using a phased array type L-band syn…

Get it on Google Play
Get it on the App Store