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 Challenger launches at the start of STS-51-L. 73 seconds later, the shuttle's external tank would combust, causing the breakup of the shuttle and the deaths of all 7 crew on board. | |
| Names | Space Transportation System-25 |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Satellite deployment |
| Operator | NASA |
| Mission duration | 6 days, 0 hour 34 minutes (planned) 1 minute 13 seconds (achieved) |
| Distance travelled | 18 mi (29 km) |
| Orbits completed | Failed to achieve orbit (96 planned) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Challenger |
| Launch mass | 2,685,210 lb (1,217,990 kg) |
| Landing mass | 199,704 lb (90,584 kg) (planned) |
| Payload mass | 48,363 lb (21,937 kg) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 7 |
| Members | [1] |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | January 28, 1986, 11:38:00 am EST |
| Rocket | Space Shuttle Challenger |
| Launch site | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B |
| Contractor | Rockwell International |
| End of mission | |
| Destroyed | January 28, 1986, 11:39:13 am EST |
| Landing date | February 3, 1986, 12:12:00 pm EST (planned)[1] |
| Landing site | Kennedy Space Center, SLF Runway 33 (planned) |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit (planned) |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Perigee altitude | 177 mi (285 km) |
| Apogee altitude | 183 mi (295 km) |
| Inclination | 28.45° |
| Period | 90.40 minutes |
| Instruments | |
| Comet Halley Active Monitoring Program (CHAMP) Fluid Dynamics Experiment (FDE) Phase Partitioning Experiment (PPE) Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN-203) Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP) Teacher in Space Project (TISP) | |
 STS-51-L mission patch  Back row: Ellison S. Onizuka, S. Christa McAuliffe, Gregory B. Jarvis, Judith A. Resnik Front row: Michael J. Smith, Francis R. "Dick" Scobee, Ronald E. McNair | |
STS-51-L was the disastrous 25th mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the final flight of Space Shuttle Challenger.
Planned as the first Teacher in Space Project flight in addition to observing Halley's Comet for six days and performing a routine satellite deployment, the mission never achieved orbit; a structural failure during its ascent phase 73 seconds after launch from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B on January 28, 1986, killed all seven crew members —Commander Francis R. "Dick" Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialists Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith A. Resnik and Ronald E. McNair, and Payload Specialists Gregory B. Jarvis and S. Christa McAuliffe—and destroyed the orbiter.
Immediately after the disaster, President Ronald Reagan convened the Rogers Commission to determine the cause of the explosion. The failure of an O-ring seal on the starboard Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) was determined to have caused the shuttle to break up in flight. Space Shuttle flights were suspended while the O-rings and other hazards that could have destroyed the vehicle on following missions were addressed. Shuttle missions resumed in September 1988 with STS-26, launched 32 months after the accident.
- ^ a b "STS-51L Mission Profile". NASA. December 5, 2005. Archived from the original on November 9, 2023. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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