STS-41-C launched on April 6, 1984. The mission marked the first direct ascent trajectory for the Space Shuttle;
Challenger reached its 288-nautical-mile-(533-km)-high orbit using its Orbiter Maneuvering System (OMS) engines only once, to circularize its orbit. During the ascent phase, the main computer in Mission Control failed, as did the backup computer.…
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NASA decided to change the launch numbering system. Apparently counting launches wasn’t complicated enough. STS-41-B (formerly STS-11) was the tenth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the fourth flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. It launched on February 3, 1984, and landed on February 11 after deploying two communications satellites.…
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November 1983, STS-9, also known as STS-41A and Spacelab 2 launch as the sixth mission of the Columbia. STS-9 sent the first non-U.S. citizen into space on the Shuttle, Ulf Merbold, becoming the first ESA and first West German citizen to go into space
I remember getting up in the middle of the night to watch the televised launch of Challenger. Once the shuttle cleared the tower shortly after 2am, I went outside and looked down the street to see the flame from the rockets light up the sky form 150 miles away.…
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STS-7 was the second mission of Space Shuttle Challenger and Bob Crippen. It was also the long over due flight of the first American woman astronaut, Sally Ride. June 18, 1983. The mission featured the release of two satellites and the capture of one.…
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Launch: 4 April 1983 18:30:00 UTC
STS-6 was the sixth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Launched from Kennedy Space Center on 4 April 1983, the mission deployed the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-1, into orbit, before landing at Edwards Air Force Base on 9 April.…
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Launch: 11 November 1982, 12:19:00 UTC
STS-5 was the first operational flight of the Space Shuttle Orbiter 102 Columbia. Commander Vance D. Brand, Pilot Robert F. Overmyer, Mission Specialist Joseph P. Allen, Mission Specialist William B. Lenoir. STS-5 was the first shuttle mission to deploy communications satellites into orbit.
Launch: 27 June 1982, 15:00:00
STS-4 was the final test flight for the shuttle. Astronauts Thomas Ken Mattingly Ⅱ, and Henry W. Harsfield, Jr. orbited for a week in the summer 1982.
Launch: 22 Mar 1982, 11:00:00 am
STS-3 was the third test flght of the Space Shuttle Obiter Columbia. Astronauts were Jack R. Lousma, commander, and C. Gordon Fullerton, pilot.
Launch: 12 Nov 1981, 10:09:59 am
STS-2 was the United States’ second Space Shuttle orbital flight test mission. Crewmen were Astronauts Joe H. Engle, commander, and Richard H. Truly, pilot. Their spacecraft, Orbiter 102 Columbia, is depicted in the insignia along with the crew members’ surname, and the merged eagle and American flag.…
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STS-1 was the first of four orbital flight tests to verify the design and performance capability of the Space Transportation System.
Veteran Astronaut John Young was the commander of the mission. Rookie Astronaut Robert Crippen was the pilot.
The mission was approximately fifty-four hours.…
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In 1981 I lived in Florida and the Space Shuttle Program was about to launch the first test of their new system. My father subscribed to the local newspaper, The St. Petersburg Times. He started pulling out newspaper clippings. At first I collected them in a box but then had the idea to put them in a scrapbook.…
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When I first heard about the Alfonso Cuarón movie
Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, and the voice of Ed Harris, it sounded like a space version of
Open Water and I wasn’t interested. I heard that it was stunning to see on the big screen or in iMax format but I managed to resist.…
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