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STS-6 Countdown & Launch - 2 (Challenger)

The coutdown and launch of STS-6 - the first flight of the orbiter Challenger - 4th April 1983 - Onboard are astronauts Paul Weitz (CDR) Karol Bobko (PLT) St...

STS-6

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Communications

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

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.

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
    2030.0 T
  • Thrust
    28200.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Space Shuttle
  • Family
  • Variant
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Space Shuttle
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $450000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    27500.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Space Shuttle Challenger


In-active Human Rated Crew On-board: 4 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


Paul J. Weitz

Commander - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Deceased

Date of Birth: July 25, 1932
Date of Death: Oct. 22, 2017

Karol J. Bobko

Pilot - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Deceased

Date of Birth: Dec. 23, 1937
Date of Death: Aug. 17, 2023

Donald H. Peterson

Mission Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Deceased

Date of Birth: Oct. 22, 1933
Date of Death: May 27, 2018

Story Musgrave

Mission Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Retired

Date of Birth: Aug. 19, 1935
Age: 89

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA)

Administrator: Bill Nelson Founded: 1958 Successes: 121 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 39A


Falcon 9
Success
16 hours, 16 minutes ago
Starlink Group 6-76
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Zhuque-2E
Success
18 hours, 58 minutes ago
Guangchuan-01 & 02
Launch Area 96 - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

2 satellites for testing and demonstrating LEO communication satellite constellation technologies. First flight of the enhanced Zhuque-2.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 10 hours ago
Starlink Group 12-1
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

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


Electron
Success
2 days, 17 hours ago
Ice AIS Baby (Kinéis 11-15)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Third batch of five satellites for the French Kinéis IoT constellation designed to operate with 25 nanosatellites of 30 kg each.


Long March 2
Success
2 days, 21 hours ago
SuperView Neo 2-03 & 04
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Commercial Synthetic-aperture radar Earth observation satellites built by CAST for China Siwei Survey and Mapping Technology Co. Ltd.


Electron
Success
3 days, 14 hours ago
Leidos-2
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (Launch Area 0 C) - Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA

Second sub-orbital launch of Electron of the Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) program for Leidos and Dynetics.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 15 hours ago
Starlink Group 9-13
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.


New Shepard
Success
5 days, 5 hours ago
NS-28
West Texas Suborbital Launch Site/ Corn Ranch - Corn Ranch, Van Horn, TX, USA

Twenty-eighth flight of New Shepard carrying six passengers.


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 4 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-66
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
6 days, 8 hours ago
Progress MS-29 (90P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.