STS-8
Names | Space Transportation System-8 |
---|---|
Mission type | Communications satellite deployment |
Operator | NASA |
COSPAR ID | 1983-089A |
SATCAT no. | 14312 |
Mission duration | 6 days, 1 hour, 8 minutes, 43 seconds (achieved) |
Distance travelled | 4,046,660 km (2,514,480 mi) |
Orbits completed | 98 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Challenger |
Launch mass | 110,108 kg (242,747 lb) |
Landing mass | 92,508 kg (203,945 lb) |
Payload mass | 12,011 kg (26,480 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 5 |
Members | |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | August 30, 1983, 06:32:00 UTC |
Rocket | Space Shuttle Challenger |
Launch site | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A |
Contractor | Rockwell International |
End of mission | |
Landing date | September 5, 1983, 07:40:43 UTC |
Landing site | Edwards Air Force Base, Runway 22 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Perigee altitude | 348 km (216 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 356 km (221 mi) |
Inclination | 28.51° |
Period | 90.60 minutes |
Instruments | |
| |
STS-8 mission patch Seated: Daniel Brandenstein, Pilot, Richard Truly, Commander, and Guion Bluford, Mission Specialist. Standing: Dale Gardner, Mission Specialist, and William E. Thornton, Mission Specialist. |
STS-8 was the eighth
The mission's primary payload was
Crew
Position | Astronaut | |
---|---|---|
Commander | Richard H. Truly Second and last spaceflight | |
Pilot | Daniel Brandenstein First spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 1 | Guion Bluford First spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 2 | Dale Gardner First spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 3 | William E. Thornton First spaceflight |
This mission had a crew of five, with three
The commander, Truly, was the only veteran astronaut of the crew, having flown as the pilot on
The orbiter carried two Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMUs) for use in case of an emergency spacewalk; if needed, they would be used by Truly and Gardner.[7]
Mission plan and payloads
An early plan for STS-8, released in April 1982, had scheduled it for July 1983. It was expected to be a three-day mission with four crew members, and would launch INSAT-1B, an Indian satellite, and TDRS-B, a NASA communications relay satellite.[8] However, following problems with the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) used to deploy TDRS-A on the STS-6 mission, it was announced in May 1983 that the TDRS was not going to be flown. It was replaced in the manifest[9] by the Payload Flight Test Article.[10] After re-development of the IUS, TDRS-B was eventually re-manifested for the STS-51-L mission, and was lost along with the Space Shuttle Challenger and its crew when the launch failed in January 1986.[11]
The primary element of the STS-8 mission payload was INSAT-1B. It was the second in a series of multi-purpose weather and communications satellites to be operated by the
The Payload Flight Test Article (PFTA) had been scheduled for launch in June 1984 on STS-16 in the April 1982 manifest,[8] but by May 1983 it had been brought forward to STS-11. That month, when the TDRS missions were delayed, it was brought forward to STS-8 to fill the hole in the manifest.[10] It was an aluminum structure resembling two wheels with a 6 m (20 ft) long central axle, ballasted with lead to give it a total mass of 3,855 kg (8,499 lb), which could be lifted by the "Canadarm" Remote Manipulator System – the Shuttle's "robot arm" – and moved around to help astronauts gain experience in using the system. It was stored in the midsection of the payload bay.[15]
The orbiter carried the Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI) pallet in its forward payload bay; this had previously flown on Columbia to carry test equipment. The pallet was not outfitted with any flight instrumentation, but was used to mount two experiments. The first studied the interaction of ambient atomic oxygen with the structural materials of the orbiter and payload, while the second tested the performance of a heat pipe designed for use in the heat rejection systems of future spacecraft.[16]
Four
The mission, in cooperation with the United States Postal Service (USPS), also carried 260,000 postal covers franked with US$9.35 express postage stamps, which were to be sold to collectors, with the profits divided between the USPS and NASA. Two storage boxes were attached to the DFI pallet, with more stored in six of the Getaway Special canisters.[18]
A number of other experiments were to be performed inside the orbiter crew compartment. Among these was the Continuous Flow
The mission was also scheduled to carry out a series of tests with the TDRS-1 satellite which had been deployed by STS-6, to ensure the system was fully operational before it was used to support the Spacelab program on the upcoming STS-9 flight.[22] The orbiter furthermore carried equipment to allow for encrypted transmissions, to be tested for use in future classified missions.[23]
Support crew
- John E. Blaha
- Mary L. Cleave
- William F. Fisher
- Jeffrey A. Hoffman
- Bryan D. O'Connor (ascent CAPCOM)
Crew seating arrangements
Seat[24] | Launch | Landing | Seats 1–4 are on the Flight Deck. Seats 5–7 are on the Middeck. |
---|---|---|---|
S1 | Truly | Truly | |
S2 | Brandenstein | Brandenstein | |
S3 | Bluford | Bluford | |
S4 | Gardner | Gardner | |
S5 | Thornton | Thornton |
Mission summary
Launch preparations
Preparation for the mission began on June 3, 1983, with the assembly of the shuttle's
The launch had originally been scheduled for on August 4, 1983, and was later rescheduled for on August 20, 1983.[27] The requirement to conduct testing with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) required a delay of ten days for the system to be ready, during which the stack remained on the launch pad.[28] During the on-pad delay, Hurricane Barry (1983) hit the Florida coastline, making landfall just south of the Kennedy Space Center on the morning of August 25, 1983. The storm had only been identified two days earlier, and there was no time to roll Challenger back from the pad; the decision was made to secure the launch stack and ride out the storm.[29]
Launch
Challenger finally launched at 06:32:00 UTC (02:32:00 EDT) on August 30, 1983,[30] after a final 17-minute delay due to thunderstorms near the launch site.[31] The launch window extended from 06:15 to 06:49.[32] The countdown to launch was called by Mark Hess, public information officer.
The launch, which occurred in pre-dawn darkness, was the first American night launch since Apollo 17,[33] and was watched by several thousand spectators. The unusual launching time was due to tracking requirements for the primary payload, INSAT-1B;[1] the program would not have another night launch until STS-61-B in 1985.[34] The crew had attempted to prepare for it by training in darkened simulators so as to keep their night vision, but in practice it was discovered that the light of the solid-fuel rocket boosters made the immediate area around the launchpad virtually as bright as a day launch.[35]
The launch was the first to use a newly developed high-performance motor for the solid rocket boosters, which gave approximately 7% greater thrust. Post-flight analysis later showed there was nearly a burn-through of the rocket casing, a significant problem that later doomed the 51-L mission (see "Post-flight safety analysis" section below for more). This launch was also the second-to-last to use the original standard-mass steel casings for the boosters. These had been replaced by a thinner case, saving some 1,800 kg (4,000 lb), on STS-6 and STS-7, but because of safety concerns the next two flights used the conventional cases.[36]
Orbital operations
After a successful insertion into a circular orbit at 296 km (184 mi), the first experiments began; the first two samples were run through the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System, and measurements were taken for the atmospheric luminosities study. A hydraulic circulation pump failed, but this was worked around and it proved to have no impact on operations.[31]
The major event of the second day (August 31, 1983) was the successful deployment of the INSAT-1B satellite, which took place at 07:48 UTC, with Challenger then maneuvering to avoid the firing of the booster motor forty minutes later.[37] Other experimentation continued, though telemetry through TDRS was lost for around three hours, requiring manual intervention.[38] A fire alarm sounded in the morning, indicating signs of a fire in the avionics compartment, but a second alarm remained silent and it was eventually determined to be a false alarm.[39]
On the third and fourth days (September 1 and 2, 1983), work began with the Canadarm Remote Manipulator System and the payload test article, and communications testing through TDRS continued. The former was successful, but the latter lost contact on a number of occasions, due to problems at the White Sands ground station.[40] As a result, the crew had to be awakened early on September 1, 1983, in order to deal with the problem.[41] A minor cabin pressure leak on September 2, 1983, was traced to the waste management system, and quickly controlled.[40] The orbiter performed an Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) firing on September 2, 1983, to place itself in a lower orbit, where the air density was higher and the oxygen interaction experiments would work more effectively.[42]
On the fifth day (September 3, 1983), testing of the Canadarm continued, including a number of optional "shopping list" tests, and the TDRS tests were carried out with more success.[40] A live press conference was held late in the day, the first in-flight press conference since Apollo 17.[43] On the sixth day (September 4, 1983), experiment runs were completed and the crew prepared to deorbit. Two systems failures were recorded on this last day, the most serious of which involved a synchronization failure in one of the onboard computers.[40]
While on orbit, Challenger made a number of altitude and attitude adjustments, in order to test the behavior of a Shuttle orbiter and to perform some experiments in different thermal conditions. By exposing or shading areas from the sun in an unusual way, it was possible to induce particularly warm or cold conditions and observe any resulting problems.[44]
Landing
The mission plan called for a landing at
Post-flight safety analysis
The launch was carried out with no obvious anomalies, but on September 27, 1983, during post-flight inspection of the solid rocket boosters, severe corrosion was discovered in the left-hand booster. The three-8 cm (3.1 in)-thick resin lining protecting the rocket nozzle, which was designed to erode about half its thickness during firing, was found to have burned down to as little as 0.5 cm (0.20 in) in places. By some estimations, this left around 14 seconds of firing time before the nozzle would have ruptured, a situation which would have resulted in loss of control and the probable break-up of the spacecraft. It was later determined that this fault was due to the particular batch of resin used on this set of boosters.[33] The burn-through problem was treated as a small mishap by the media, and did not receive significant interest until after the Challenger disaster in 1986;[33] the only major contemporary public criticism came from NASA's Soviet counterparts.[46] As a result of this incident, the flight of STS-9 was delayed for a month while the nozzles of its boosters were changed.[47]
Post-flight inspection of the
A total of thirty-three in-flight anomalies were eventually reported.
Scientific results
Overall, the crew successfully completed all fifty-four of the planned mission test objectives.[56] While the INSAT deployment was a success, the satellite had problems unfolding its solar array once in geostationary orbit, and was not fully operational until the middle of September 1983. Once functional, however, it provided satisfactory service for seven years, returning 36,000 images of Earth and broadcasting television to thousands of remote Indian villages.[37] The Payload Flight Test Article evaluation found that the Canadarm remote manipulator system was capable of moving bulky masses with some accuracy, to a precision of 5 cm (2.0 in) and 1° of alignment.[57]
The TDRS-1 program was overall less successful, with the satellite suffering several computer failures and an overall loss of telemetry for several hours. In all, the orbiter was able to use the satellite for 65 of the planned 89 orbits, and could make successful use of the connection on about forty.[57] The Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System equipment functioned as planned, processing several hundred times more material than would have been possible on Earth,[58] and the Asahi Shimbun crystal experiment, flown for the second time, was able to produce snow crystals after the canister was redesigned.[57]
Thornton's research into
Wake-up calls
NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during Project Gemini, and first used music to wake up a flight crew during Apollo 15. Each track is specially chosen, often by the astronauts' families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.[61][62]
Flight day | Song | Artist/Composer | Played for |
---|---|---|---|
Day 2 | " Georgia Tech Fight Song "
|
Richard H. Truly | |
Day 3 | " Illinois Fight Song "
|
Dale Gardner | |
Day 4 | " Penn State Fight Song "
|
Guion Bluford | |
Day 5 | "University of North Carolina Fight Song" | William E. Thornton | |
Day 6 | "Tala Sawari" | Ravi Shankar | INSAT
|
Day 7 | " Semper Fidelis "
|
John Philip Sousa |
See also
References
- ^ a b c Jenkins, p. 271
- ^ Jenkins, p. 271. An African-American test pilot, Robert Henry Lawrence Jr., had been selected for the U.S. Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program in 1967, but was killed in a flying accident a few months later. The Manned Orbiting Laboratory program was canceled in June 1969, and most of its surviving astronauts transferred to NASA. Outside the United States, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez was a Cuban Air Force officer who flew on the Soyuz 38 mission in 1980 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos program, and became the first person of African descent in space.
- ^ STS-8 Press Kit 1983, p. 47.
- ^ Press kit, pp. 48–50 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b Evans, p. 76
- ^ Press kit, p. 51 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ STS-8 Press Information 1983, p. 61.
- ^ hdl:2060/19820014425. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ The term "manifest" is used by NASA to indicate both the overall program schedule and the individual payloads and experiments planned for a single flight. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b STS-8 Press Information 1983, p. i.
- ^ Jenkins, p. 287
- ^ Press kit, p. 34 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Press kit, p. 31 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b Evans, p. 83
- ^ Press kit, p. 32 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Press kit, pp. 38–39. The first experiment was formally designated "Evaluation of Oxygen Interaction with Materials" (DSO-0301) while the second was the High Capacity Heat Pipe Demonstration (DSO-0101) This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Press kit, pp. 40–41. In order, these were designated the Cosmic Ray Upset Experiment (CRUX) (G-0346); the Ultraviolet-Sensitive Photographic Emulsion Experiment (G-0347); the Japanese snow crystal experiment (G-0475), and the Contamination Monitor Package (G-0348). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Press kit, p. 37 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Press kit, p. 38 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b Press kit, p. 39 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ STS-9 Press Information, p. 60. This was formally designated as "Investigation of STS Atmospheric Luminosities". This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Press kit, p. 42 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b Major NASA satellite missions, p. 34 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "STS-8". Spacefacts. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- ^ Press kit, p. 11; Shuttle flight data, p. 1-270 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Evans, p. 75
- ^ Jenkins, p. 266. Some sources give an originally planned date of August 14, 1983.
- ^ Shuttle flight data, p. 1-330 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Shuttle nestled away from the storm". Spokane Chronicle. August 25, 1983. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
- ^ a b Jenkins, p. 266
- ^ a b STS-9 Press Information, p. 84 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b c Press kit, p. 5 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b c Shayler, p. 136
- ^ Jenkins, p. 275
- ^ Evans, p. 80
- ^ Jenkins, p. 425
- ^ a b Evans, p. 85
- ^ STS-9 press information, pp. 84–85
- ^ Rosenthal, Harry F. (September 1, 1983). "Shuttle launches satellite despite 'fire'". Associated Press. Retrieved July 31, 2009.
- ^ a b c d STS-9 press information, p. 85 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Benedict, Howard (September 1, 1983). "Challenger tests its robot arm successfully". Associated Press. Retrieved July 31, 2009.
- ^ Benedict, Howard (September 2, 1983). "Challenger crew conducts various scientific experiments". Associated Press. Retrieved July 31, 2009.
- ^ Benedict, Howard (September 3, 1983). "Challenger just humming along". Associated Press. Retrieved July 31, 2009.
- ^ Evans, p. 90
- ^ Press kit, p. 14 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Shayler, p. 166
- ^ Shuttle flight data, p. 1-331
- ^ Shuttle flight data, p. 1-220. "Major" is defined as a divot over one2.5 cm (0.98 in) in diameter.
- ^ Shuttle flight data, pp. 1–220 to 1–222 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report, vol. I, p. 122
- ^ Shuttle flight data, p. 1-227 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Shuttle flight data, p. 1-232 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Shuttle flight data, p. 2-3 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Shuttle flight data, p. 2-24
- ^ Evans, p. 91
- ^ STS-9 press information, p. 84 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b c Evans, p. 88
- ^ Evans, p. 86
- ^ a b Evans, p. 78
- ^ Evans, p. 77
- ^ Fries, Colin (June 25, 2007). "Chronology of Wakeup Calls" (PDF). NASA. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 20, 2023. Retrieved August 13, 2007. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "40 Years Ago: STS-8, the First African American in Space, and the First Space Shuttle Night Launch and Landing - NASA". September 1, 2023. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
Bibliography
- Shayler, David J. (2000). Disasters and accidents in manned spaceflight. Springer-Praxis. ISBN 1-85233-225-5.
- Jenkins, Dennis R. (2001). Space Shuttle – the history of the national space transportation system: the first 100 missions (3rd ed.). Midland. ISBN 1-85780-116-4.
- Evans, Ben (2007). Space Shuttle Challenger: ten journeys into the unknown. Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-46355-1.
- Shuttle flight data and in-flight anomaly list – STS-1 through STS-71, STS-73 and STS-74 (5th revision). NASA. April 1996. hdl:2060/19960047214.
- STS-8 Press Information (PDF). Rockwell International. August 1983. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- STS-9 press information. Rockwell International. November 1983. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Orloff, Richard W., ed. (January 2001) [August 1983]. Space Shuttle Mission STS-8 Press Kit (PDF). NASA. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Major NASA satellite missions and key participants: volume III. NASA. 1983. hdl:2060/19920075896.
External links
- STS-8 info Archived June 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine NASA Kennedy Space Center
- STS-8 video highlights Archived October 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine NSS