STS-51-B was the 17th flight of the NASA Space Shuttle program and the seventh flight of Space Shuttle Challenger. The launch of Challenger on April 29, 1985, was delayed by 2 minutes and 18 seconds, due to a launch processing failure. Challenger was initially rolled out to the pad to launch on the STS-51-E mission. The shuttle was rolled back when a timing issue emerged with the TDRS-B satellite. When STS-51-E was canceled, Challenger was remanifested with the STS-51-B payloads. The shuttle landed successfully on May 6, 1985, after a week-long mission.

STS-51-B
Overmyer, Lind, van den Berg, and Thornton in Spacelab Module LM1 during flight
NamesSpace Transportation System-17
Spacelab 3
Mission typeMicrogravity research
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID1985-034A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.15665Edit this on Wikidata
Mission duration7 days, 8 minutes, 46 seconds
Distance travelled4,651,621 km (2,890,383 mi)
Orbits completed111
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSpace Shuttle Challenger
Launch mass111,980 kg (246,870 lb)
Landing mass96,373 kg (212,466 lb)
Payload mass15,610 kg (34,410 lb)
Crew
Crew size7
Members
Start of mission
Launch dateApril 29, 1985, 16:02:18 (April 29, 1985, 16:02:18) UTC (12:02:18 pm EDT)
Launch siteKennedy, LC-39A
ContractorRockwell International
End of mission
Landing dateMay 6, 1985, 16:11:04 (May 6, 1985, 16:11:04) UTC (9:11:04 am PDT)
Landing siteEdwards, Runway 17
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Perigee altitude346 km (215 mi)
Apogee altitude352 km (219 mi)
Inclination57.00°
Period91.50 minutes

STS 51-B mission patch

Standing: Lind, Wang, Thagard, Thornton and van den Berg
Sitting: Overmyer and Gregory
← STS-51-D (16)
STS-51-G (18) →
Launch of STS-51-B

Crew

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Position Astronaut
Commander Robert F. Overmyer  
Second and last spaceflight
Pilot Frederick D. Gregory  
First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1 Don L. Lind  
Only spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2
Flight Engineer
Norman E. Thagard  
Second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 3 William E. Thornton  
Second and last spaceflight
Payload Specialist 1 Lodewijk van den Berg  
Only spaceflight
EG&G
Payload Specialist 2 Taylor G. Wang  
Only spaceflight
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  Member of Gold Team
  Member of Silver Team
Backup crew
Position Astronaut
Payload Specialist 1 Mary Helen Johnston  
Payload Specialist 2 Eugene H. Trinh  

Crew seat assignments

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Seat[1] Launch Landing  
Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck.
Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck.
1 Overmyer
2 Gregory
3 Lind
4 Thagard
5 Thornton
6 van den Berg
7 Wang

Mission insignia

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The mission insignia features the Challenger with her payload doors open, to show the onboard Spacelab 3. The orbiter rides over the American flag. The seven crewmembers are represented by the 7 stars on the patch, that indirectly refer to the Mercury Seven as a nod to their legacy. Behind the orbiter, the contours of Pegasus can be seen, as a reference to the European Space Agency (ESA). The white board surrounding it all has the appearance of a space suit helmet, with the names of the two respective teams grouped around them on a round band encircling the insignia, and the two mission specialists on an added section below. To further create some sort of contrast, the team colors are reprised for each member's name.

Mission summary

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Overmyer using a treadmill on Challenger's middeck.

Challenger lifted off from Kennedy Space Center (KSC)'s launch pad 39A at 12:02:18 p.m. EDT on April 29, 1985. The crew members included Robert F. Overmyer, commander; Frederick D. Gregory, pilot; Don L. Lind, Norman E. Thagard and William E. Thornton, mission specialists; and Lodewijk van den Berg, of EG&G Energy Management, Inc., and Taylor G. Wang, of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), both payload specialists.[2] Average age of 48.6 was the oldest for an American space mission.[3] Similar to the previous Spacelab mission (STS-9), the crew was divided roughly in half to cover 12-hour shifts, with Overmyer, Lind, Thornton and Wang forming the Gold team, and Gregory, Thagard and van den Berg as the Silver team.

STS-51-B was the second flight of the European Space Agency (ESA)'s Spacelab pressurized module, and the first with the Spacelab module in a fully operational configuration. Spacelab's capabilities for multi-disciplinary research in microgravity were successfully demonstrated. The gravity gradient attitude of the orbiter proved quite stable, allowing the delicate experiments in materials processing and fluid mechanics to proceed normally. The crew operated around the clock in two 12-hour shifts. Two squirrel monkeys and 24 rats were flown in special cages,[4] the second time American astronauts flew live non-human mammals aboard the shuttle. The crew members in orbit were supported 24 hours a day by a temporary Payload Operations Control Center, located at the Johnson Space Center.

An experiment designed by Taylor Wang malfunctioned upon activation. Wang, feeling immense pressure, received permission to attempt a fix and was successful in repairing the experiment, though remarks made by him caused concern for the safety of the crew and the mission.[5] The incident was covered in an Ars Technica article on 22 January 2024. There, John Fabian, mission specialist on STS-51-G, the very next shuttle flight after 51-B, was cited to explain why a lock was recently installed on the door of the side hatch: "It was installed when we got into orbit so that the door could not be opened from the inside and commit hara-kiri, kill the whole crew. That was not because of anybody we had on our flight but because of a concern about someone who had flown before 51-G."[5]

On the mission, Spacelab carried 15 primary experiments, of which 14 were successfully performed. Two Getaway Special (GAS) experiments required that they be deployed from their canisters, a first for the program. These were NUSAT (Northern Utah Satellite) and GLOMR (Global Low Orbiting Message Relay satellite). NUSAT deployed successfully, but GLOMR did not deploy, and was returned to Earth.

A Cosmic Ray Experiment by Indian Space Research Organisation, named Anuradha was launched onboard the mission. It measured the ionization states of low energy cosmic rays in near-earth space. It consisted of a Barrel shaped recorder consisting of plastic sheets. It detected cosmic rays at the rate of seven a minute for 64 hours and produced 10000 sheets of data

Challenger landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base at 12:11:04 p.m. EDT on May 6, 1985, after a mission lasting 7 days, 8 minutes, and 46 seconds.

Connection to the Challenger disaster

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While participating in the investigation into the destruction of Challenger during STS-51L in 1986, Overmyer discovered that a problem with the shuttle's O-rings, similar to that which led to the disaster, had emerged during the launch of STS-51B. Morton-Thiokol engineers told Lind after the mission that "you came within three-tenths of one second of dying".[6] It was the problem with the O-rings on the left solid rocket motor (SRM) on this launch (SRM-16A) that prompted Roger Boisjoly to write a memo to Bob Lund about the potential for the O-rings to cause catastrophic failure.[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "STS-51B". Spacefacts. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  2. ^ Fichtl, George H.; Theon, John S.; Hill, Charles K.; Vaughan, Otha H. (February 1987). "Spacelab 3 Mission Science Review". Proceedings of a symposium held at NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama December 4, 1985. Marshall Space Flight Center. hdl:2060/19870012670 – via NASA Technical Reports Server.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ Kennedy, J. Michael (April 29, 1985). "Shuttle Flight Is Lind's First Mission: Astronaut's 19-Year Wait for Space Trip Ends Today". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  4. ^ Programs, Missions, and Payloads STS-51B/Spacelab 3 Archived July 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, NASA   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. ^ a b Berger, Eric (January 22, 2024). "What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he's not coming back?". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
  6. ^ "NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project". Don L. Lind oral history transcript. May 27, 2005.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. ^ See "Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident".   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Further reading

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