STS-7
| Mission Insignia | |
|---|---|
| Mission Statistics | |
| Mission: | STS-7 |
| Shuttle: | Challenger |
| Launch Pad: | 39-A |
| Launch: | June 18, 1983 7:33:00 a.m. EDT |
| Landing: | June 24, 1983 6:56:59 a.m. PDT |
| Duration: | Six days, two hours, 23 minutes, 59 seconds. |
| Orbit Altitude: | 160-170 nautical miles |
| Orbit Inclination: | 28.5 degrees |
| Miles Traveled: | 2,530,567 miles |
| Crew photo | |
STS-7 was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Challenger, launched June 18, 1983. This was the seventh space shuttle mission, and was the second mission for the Space Shuttle Challenger.
| Table of contents |
|
2 Mission Parameters 3 Mission Highlights 4 Related articles 5 External links |
Crew members included Robert L. Crippen, commander, making his
second Shuttle flight; Frederick C. Hauck, pilot; Ride, John M.
Fabian and Norman Thagard, all mission specialists. Thagard
conducted medical tests of the Space Adaptation Syndrome nausea and
sickness frequently experienced by astronauts during the early phase
of a space flight.
Two communications satellites -- Anik C-2 for Telesat of Canada, and
Palapa B-l for Indonesia -- were successfully deployed during the
first 2 days of the mission. The mission also carried the first
Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS-l) built by
Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm, a West German aerospace firm. SPAS-l was
unique in that it was designed to operate in the payload bay or be
deployed by the RMS as a free-flying satellite. It carried 10
experiments to study formation of metal alloys in microgravity, the
operation of heat pipes, instruments for remote sensing observations,
and a mass spectrometer to identify various gases in the payload bay.
This mission also carried seven GAS canisters which contained a wide
variety of experiments, as well as the OSTA-2 payload, a joint
U.S.-West German scientific pallet payload. Finally, the orbiter's
Ku-band antenna was able to relay data through the Tracking and Data
Relay Satellite to a ground terminal for the first time.
STS-7 was scheduled to make the first Shuttle landing at the Kennedy
Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. However, unacceptable
weather forced a change to Runway 23 at Edwards AFB. The landing
took place June 24, 1983, at 6:57 a.m. PDT. The mission lasted 6
days, 2 hours, 23 minutes, 59 seconds. It covered about 2.2 million
miles during 97 orbits of the Earth. Challenger was returned to KSC
on June 29.
Crew
Mission Parameters
Mission Highlights
The Challenger's second flight began at 7:33 a.m. EST, June 18,
1983, with another on-time liftoff. It was the first flight of an
American woman in space -- Sally K. Ride -- and also the largest crew
to fly in a single spacecraft up to that time, five persons.It was deployed by the RMS and flew alongside and over Challenger
for several hours while a U.S.-supplied camera took pictures from the
SPAS-1 of the orbiter performing various maneuvers. The RMS later
grappled the pallet and returned it to the payload bay.Related articles
External links
Previous Mission:
STS-6Space Shuttle program
Next Mission:
STS-8