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Additional Media

ABC & NBC News Coverage of STS-8 Part 3

From August 30th 1983 ABC & NBC News Covers the 8th Space Shuttle Launch. Reporting From the Kennedy Space Center : Lynn Sherr and Astonaut Gene Cernan. The ...

STS-8

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Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Communications

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

STS-8 was the third mission of Space Shuttle Challenger. It deployed an Indian 10 and Weather satellite. It was the first night launch and night landing of the Shuttle program. It also carried the first African-American astronaut; Guion Bluford.

Space Shuttle

Family: Space Shuttle
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
    Space Shuttle
  • 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: 5 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


Richard H. Truly

Commander - American - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: Nov. 12, 1937
Age: 86

Daniel Brandenstein

Pilot - American - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: Jan. 17, 1943
Age: 80

Dale Gardner

Mission Specialist - American - ( NASA )

Status: Deceased

Date of Birth: Nov. 8, 1948
Date of Death: Feb. 19, 2014

William E. Thornton

Mission Specialist - American - ( NASA )

Status: Deceased

Date of Birth: April 14, 1929
Date of Death: Jan. 14, 2020

Guion Bluford

Mission Specialist - American - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: Nov. 22, 1942
Age: 81

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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Administrator: Bill Nelson Founded: 1958 Successes: 115 Failures: 20 Pending: 6

Agency Type: Government

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 39A


Falcon 9
Success
22 hours, 29 minutes ago
Starlink Group 6-33
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Smart Dragon 3
Success
2 days, 8 hours ago
SatNet test satellite
Bo Run Jiu Zhou mobile launch platform - Sea Launch

Officially described as "Satellite-Internet Technology Demonstration Satellite(s)". Probable 1 (?) test satellite for the Chinese state-owned LEO com…


Ceres-1
Success
3 days, 4 hours ago
Tianyan-16 & Starpool-01A
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

2 Earth observation and/or communication satellites for MinoSpace (Tianyan-16) & ELLISPACE (Starpool-01A).


South Korean ADD Solid-Fuel SLV (3 stage)
Success
3 days, 22 hours ago
S-STEP
ADD Offshore launch platform - Jeju Island, South Korea

Note: Launch vehicle name is provisional. Prototype small synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite built by Hanhwa Aerospace on a planar satellite…


Long March 2
Success
3 days, 23 hours ago
MisrSat-2
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

MisrSat-2 is an Earth observation satellite for the Egyptian Space Agency built by China, with participation from Egyptian engineers and scientists o…


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 23 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-31
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

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


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 9 hours ago
425 Project Flight 1 & rideshare
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Note: Name of payload is provisional. First launch of an ultimately 5 reconnaissance satellites for the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program A…


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
6 days, 18 hours ago
Progress MS-25 (86P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Starlink Group 6-30
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Soyuz 2.1b
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
Razdan No. 1?
43/4 (43R) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Note: Payload identity and Cosmos series number uncertain. The Razdan satellite is reportedly a new electro-optical reconnaissance satellite desi…