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STS-51-L

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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 Challenger OV-099

Family: Space Shuttle
Configuration: OV-099

Space Shuttle Challenger was the second orbiter of NASA's space shuttle program to be put into service following Columbia. Its maiden flight, STS-6, started on April 4, 1983. It 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.

Specifications
  • Minimum Stage
    1
  • Max Stage
    3
  • Length
    38.1 m
  • Diameter
    8.4 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    2040 T
  • Thrust
    28200 kN
Family
  • Name
    Space Shuttle Challenger OV-099
  • Family
    Space Shuttle
  • Variant
    OV-099
  • Alias
    Challenger
  • Full Name
    Space Shuttle Challenger OV-099
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $450000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    24400 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 - American - ( NASA )

Status: Lost In Flight

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

Michael J. Smith

Pilot - American - ( NASA )

Status: Lost In Flight

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

Gregory Jarvis

Payload Specialist - American - ( HAC )

Status: Lost In Flight

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

Christa McAuliffe

Payload Specialist - American - ( NASA )

Status: Lost In Flight

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

Ronald McNair

Mission Specialist - American - ( NASA )

Status: Lost In Flight

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

Judith Resnik

Mission Specialist - American - ( NASA )

Status: Lost In Flight

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

Ellison Onizuka

Mission Specialist - American - ( NASA )

Status: Lost In Flight

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

Lockheed Space Operations Company

Lockheed Space Operations Company

(LSOC)

Successes: 64 Failures: 1 Pending: 0

Agency Type: Commercial

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39B


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 10 hours ago
SES-18 & SES-19
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

SES-18 & SES-19 are two communications satellites built by Northrop Grumman.


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 14 hours ago
Starlink Group 2-8
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 52 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 3
Success
5 days, 1 hour ago
Gaofen 13-02
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang 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 …


Electron
Success
5 days, 11 hours ago
Stronger Together
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (Launch Area 0 C) - Wallops Island, Virginia, USA

Payload consists of 2 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites for Capella Space. These 100-kg class satellites will expand Capella’s existing SA…


Long March 11
Success
6 days, 22 hours ago
Shiyan 19
Unknown Pad - Jiuquan, People's Republic of China

Chinese Earth observation satellite of unknown purposes.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Dragon CRS-2 SpX-27
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

27th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station operated by SpaceX. The flight will be conducted under the second Commer…


Long March 2
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Horus 2
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan, People's Republic of China

Horus 2 is a remote sensing satellite for the Egyptian Space Agency developed by Aerospace Dongfanghong Satellite Co., Ltd. of CAST.


Proton-M Briz-M
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Olymp-K #2 (Luch 5X)
200/39 (200L) - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Secretive payload, reportedly known as Olymp-K or Luch, is a geostationary satellite built and launched for the Russian Ministry of defence and the R…


Long March 4C
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
Tianhui-6 A/B
Launch Complex 9 - Taiyuan, People's Republic of China

Described as satellites for cartography purposes, details TBD.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
OneWeb 17
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 40 satellites for the OneWeb satellite constellation, which is intended to provide global Internet broadband service for individual consum…