Space Shuttle Challenger
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Space Shuttle Challenger (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-099) was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, after Columbia. Its maiden voyage was on April 4, 1983, and it made eight further round trips to low earth orbit before breaking up 73 seconds into the launch of its tenth mission, on January 28, 1986. (For more on the Challenger disaster, see STS-51-L.) It would later be replaced by the space shuttle Endeavour, which would be launched six years after the 51-L disaster.
Challenger was constructed using a body frame (STA-099) that had initially been built as a test article. STA-099 had not been meant for spaceflight, but NASA discovered that recycling it would be cheaper than refitting the test shuttle Enterprise (OV-101) to be spaceworthy, as originally planned.
Challenger is one of two space shuttles destroyed in an accident during a mission, the other being Columbia. The collected debris of the vessel are currently stored in decommissioned missile silos at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. From time to time, further pieces of debris from the orbiter wash up on the Florida coast. When this happens, they are collected and transported to the silos for storage.
Flights
Space Shuttle Challenger flew 10 flights, spent 62.41 days in space, completed 995 orbits, and flew 25,803,940 miles (it is unknown whether these are nautical or statute miles; 41,527,416 km if statute) in total, including its final mission.
Date | Designation | Notes |
---|---|---|
1983 April 4 | STS-6 | Deployed
TDRS-1. First spacewalk during a space shuttle mission. |
1983 June 18 | STS-7 |
Sally Ride becomes first American woman in
space. Deployed 2 communications satellites. |
1983 August 30 | STS-8 |
Guion Bluford becomes first African-American in
space First shuttle night launch and night
landing. |
1984 February 3 | STS-41-B | First untethered
spacewalk. Deployed 2 communications satellites, unsuccessfully. |
1984 April 6 | STS-41-C | Solar Maximum Mission service mission. |
1984 October 5 | STS-41-G | First mission to carry two
women.
Marc Garneau become first Canadian in
space. |
1985 April 29 | STS-51-B | Carried Spacelab-3 |
1985 July 29 | STS-51-F | Carried Spacelab-2 |
1985 October 30 | STS-61-A | Carried German Spacelab D-1 |
1986 January 28 | STS-51-L | Shuttle disintegrates after launch, killing all seven astronauts on board. |
Loss of Challenger
- Main article: Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
The Challenger catastrophe was one of the most dramatic historical events to take place in the United States during the 1980s. In the days after the accident millions participated in candlelight vigils across the United States. Then president Ronald Reagan addressed the nation and honored the seven astronauts killed as "heroes." Perhaps the most notable astronaut was Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire school teacher. The other astronauts were Francis R. Scobee (shuttle commander), Gregory B. Jarvis, Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith A. Resnik, and Michael J. Smith. It was later discovered by NASA engineers and a separate panel of scientists commissioned by President Reagan that the vehicle actually broke up during the launch due to the failure of rubber seals in the booster engines called "O rings" that failed to seal properly. Subsequently, NASA adopted much stricter safety standards for shuttle missions. Shuttle missions resumed in September, 1988.