Space Shuttle Challenger / OV-099 | STS-6
Launch Successful
L - -- : -- : -- : --
Instantaneous launch window.
Launch Window
April 4, 1983, 6:30 p.m. - April 4, 1983, 6:30 p.m.
Instantaneous launch window.
April 4, 1983, 6:30 p.m. - April 4, 1983, 6:30 p.m.
STS-6 was the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. It deployed the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite into orbit for NASA, forming an integral part of NASAs in-space 10. It was also the first Space Shuttle mission involving a spacewalk. It was the first mission in which the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) was used.
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.
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
Date of
Birth: July 25, 1932
Date of Death:
Oct. 22, 2017
Date of
Birth: Dec. 23, 1937
Date of Death:
Aug. 17, 2023
Date of
Birth: Oct. 22, 1933
Date of Death:
May 27, 2018
Date of
Birth: Aug. 19, 1935
Age: 90
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 WIKIA batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
SpaceX Crew-12 is the twelfth crewed operational flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial C…
Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, thi…
USSF-87 will launch two identical Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites GSSAP-7 and GSSAP-8 directly to a near-geosyn…
Elektro-L is a series of meteorological satellites developed for the Russian Federal Space Agency by NPO Lavochkin. They are designed to capture real…
Carried 7 satellites to sun-synchronous orbit, including PRSC-EO2 (Earth observation satellite for the Pakistan government's SUPARCO) & CUHK-1. Detai…
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
A batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
4th flight of the Chinese spaceplane capable of returning to Earth.
Unknown classified payload(s) for the Russian military.
