Space Shuttle Challenger / OV-099 | STS-8
Launch Successful
L - -- : -- : -- : --
Instantaneous launch window.
Launch Window
Aug. 30, 1983, 6:32 a.m. - Aug. 30, 1983, 6:32 a.m.
Instantaneous launch window.
Aug. 30, 1983, 6:32 a.m. - Aug. 30, 1983, 6:32 a.m.
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.
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: Nov. 12, 1937
Date of Death:
Feb. 27, 2024
Date of
Birth: Jan. 17, 1943
Age: 81
Date of
Birth: Nov. 8, 1948
Date of Death:
Feb. 19, 2014
Date of
Birth: April 14, 1929
Date of Death:
Jan. 14, 2020
Date of
Birth: Nov. 22, 1942
Age: 81
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 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4) is a Japanese satellite designed to observe the Earth's surface using a phased array type L-band syn…
Chinese communication geostationary satellite for unknown purposes.
Second batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office t…
A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-U (GOES-U) is the fourth of the next generation of geostationary weather satellites, known as t…
A batch of 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
A batch of 22 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
The Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) is a French/Chinese planned small X-ray telescope satellite under development by China National Space Admin…
ASTRA 1P, a classic wide-beam satellite, will support SES’s prime TV neighbourhood and enable content owners, private and public broadcasters across …
