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STS-51-B
STS-51-B was the 17th flight of NASA's 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-51E mission. The shuttle was rolled back when a timing issue emerged with the TDRS-B satellite. When STS-51E was canceled, ''Challenger'' was remanifested with the STS-51-B payloads. The shuttle landed successfully on May 6, 1985, after a week-long mission. Crew Backup crew Crew seating arrangements Mission insignia 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 s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taylor Wang
Taylor Gun-Jin Wang (; born June 16, 1940) is a Chinese-born American scientist and in 1985, became the first person of Chinese origin to go into space. While an employee of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Wang was a payload specialist on the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' mission STS-51-B. Early life and education With ancestry in Yancheng, Jiangsu, Republic of China, Wang was born in Shanghai to Wáng Zhāng () and Yú Jiéhóng (). He moved to Taiwan in 1952 with his family. He studied his later part of elementary school in Kaohsiung, and graduated from The Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan. He later moved to Hong Kong. He started studying physics in UCLA in 1963, and received his Bachelor of Science in 1967, and his Master of Science in 1968, and his doctoral in low temperature physics - Superfluid and solid state physics in 1972 Career and research After completing his doctorate, Wang joined the California Institute of Tec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Thagard
Norman Earl Thagard, M.D. (born July 3, 1943; Capt, USMC, Ret.), is an American scientist and former U.S. Marine Corps officer and naval aviator and NASA astronaut. He is the first American to ride to space on board a Russian vehicle, and can be considered the first American cosmonaut. He did this on March 14, 1995, in the Soyuz TM-21 spacecraft for the Russian Mir-18 mission. Experience Thagard held a number of research and teaching posts while completing the academic requirements for various earned degrees. In September 1966 he entered active duty with the United States Marine Corps Reserve. He achieved the rank of Captain in 1967, was designated a Naval Aviator in 1968 and was subsequently assigned to duty flying F-4 Phantom IIs with VMFA-333 at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina. He flew 163 combat missions in Vietnam while assigned to VMFA-115 from January 1969 to 1970. He returned to the United States and an assignment as aviation weapons division off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lodewijk Van Den Berg
Lodewijk van den Berg (; March 24, 1932 – October 16, 2022) was a Dutch-born American chemical engineer. He studied crystal growth and flew on a 1985 Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' mission as a payload specialist. Van den Berg was born in the Netherlands and was an astronaut; he was a naturalized American and not a Dutch citizen when he flew on the Challenger. He was married and had two children. He lived in Florida and worked as a chief scientist at the Constellation Technology Corporation. Education and early career Van den Berg was born in Sluiskil, Netherlands. He was educated in the Netherlands and attended the Delft University of Technology from 1949 to 1961. He earned a degree in chemical engineering. He moved to the United States and went to the University of Delaware getting an MSc degree in applied science which was followed by a PhD degree in applied science in 1974. He then was offered a job at EG&G Corporation Energy Measurements in Goleta, California, working ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Helen Johnston
Mary Helen Johnston (born September 17, 1945), later also Mary Helen McCay, is an American scientist and former astronaut. Working with NASA as an engineer in the 1960s and '70s, Johnston aspired to be an astronaut; she unsuccessfully applied in 1980 before becoming a payload specialist in 1983. Johnston retired from NASA in 1986 without having gone to space. She is a professor at Florida Institute of Technology. Early life and education Mary Helen Johnston was born in West Palm Beach, Florida, and grew up in the nearby Fort Pierce. As a child, she was inspired to engineering and space exploration by the arrival of Sputnik and by the Kennedy Space Center, which was located near her home. Johnston graduated in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science in engineering from Florida State University (FSU), and with a Master of Science in 1969. In 1973, she was awarded a doctorate in metallurgical engineering, from the University of Florida, while working under the direction on David H. B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spacelab
Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier, and other related hardware housed in the Shuttle's cargo bay. The components were arranged in various configurations to meet the needs of each spaceflight. Spacelab components flew on a total of about 32 Shuttle missions, depending on how such hardware and missions are tabulated. Spacelab allowed scientists to perform experiments in microgravity in geocentric orbit. There was a variety of Spacelab-associated hardware, so a distinction can be made between the major Spacelab program missions with European scientists running missions in the Spacelab habitable module, missions running other Spacelab hardware experiments, and other Space Transportation System (STS) missions that used some component of Spacelab hardware. There is some variation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Space Shuttle Challenger
Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' (OV-099) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the commanding ship of a nineteenth-century scientific expedition that traveled the world, ''Challenger'' was the second Space Shuttle orbiter to fly into space after ''Columbia'', and launched on its maiden flight in April 1983. It was destroyed in January 1986 soon after launch in an accident that killed all seven crewmembers aboard. Initially manufactured as a test article not intended for spaceflight, it was utilized for ground testing of the Space Shuttle orbiter's structural design. However, after NASA found that their original plan to upgrade '' Enterprise'' for spaceflight would be more expensive than upgrading ''Challenger'', the orbiter was pressed into operational service in the Space Shuttle program. Lessons learned from the first orbital flights of ''Columbia'' led to ''Challenger''s design possessing fewer thermal prote ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
STS-51-G
STS-51-G was the 18th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the fifth flight of Space Shuttle ''Discovery''. The seven-day mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on June 17, 1985, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on June 24, 1985. Sultan bin Salman Al Saud from Saudi Arabia was on board as a payload specialist; Al Saud became the first Arab, the first Muslim, and the first member of a royal family to fly into space. It was also the first Space Shuttle mission which flew without at least one astronaut from the pre-Shuttle era among its crew. Crew Backup crew Crew seating arrangements Mission summary ''Discovery'' lifted off from Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), at 7:33 a.m. EDT on June 17, 1985. The mission's crew members included Daniel C. Brandenstein, commander; John O. Creighton, pilot; Shannon W. Lucid, Steven R. Nagel, and John M. Fabian, mission specialists; and Patrick Baudry, from France, and Pri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
STS-51-D
STS-51-D was the 16th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the fourth flight of Space Shuttle ''Discovery''. The launch of STS-51-D from Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, on April 12, 1985, was delayed by 55 minutes, after a boat strayed into the restricted Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) recovery zone. STS-51-D was the third shuttle mission to be extended. On April 19, 1985, after a week-long flight, ''Discovery'' conducted the fifth shuttle landing at KSC. The shuttle suffered extensive brake damage and a ruptured tire during landing. This forced all subsequent shuttle landings to be done at Edwards Air Force Base, California, until the development and implementation of nose wheel steering made landings at KSC more feasible. Crew Spacewalk * '' Hoffman and Griggs '' – EVA 1 * EVA 1 Start: April 16, 1985 * EVA 1 End: April 16, 1985 * Duration: 3 hours, 6 minutes Crew seating arrangements Mission summary During STS-51-D, the shuttle crew deployed two commu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Space Shuttle Program
The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its official name, Space Transportation System (STS), was taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft of which it was the only item funded for development. It flew 135 missions and carried 355 astronauts from 16 countries, many on multiple trips. The Space Shuttle—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank—carried up to eight astronauts and up to of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would reenter the Earth's atmosphere and land like a glider at either the Kennedy Space Center or Edwards Air Force Base. The Shuttle is the only winged crewed spacecraft to have achieved orbit and landing, and the first r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TDRS-B
TDRS-B was an American communications satellite, of first generation, which was to have formed part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. It was destroyed in 1986 when the disintegrated 73 seconds after launch. Launch TDRS-B was launched in the payload bay of ''Challenger'', attached to an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS). It was to have been deployed from the Shuttle in low Earth orbit. The IUS would have then performed two burns to raise the satellite into a geosynchronous orbit. On the previous TDRS launch, TDRS-1, the IUS second-stage motor malfunctioned following the first-stage burn, resulting in a loss of control, and delivery of the satellite into an incorrect orbit. Launch failed TDRS-B was originally scheduled for launch on STS-12 in March 1984; however, it was delayed and the flight cancelled following the IUS failure on TDRS-1. It was later re-manifested on STS-51-E; however, this too was cancelled due to concerns over the reliability of the IUS. It was ev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canceled Space Shuttle Missions
During NASA's Space Shuttle program, several missions were canceled. Many were canceled as a result of the ''Challenger'' and the ''Columbia'' disasters or due to delays in the development of the shuttle. Others were canceled because of changes in payload and mission requirements. Canceled due to the late development of the Space Shuttle In 1972, NASA's planners had projected for 570 Space Shuttle missions between 1980 and 1991. Later, this estimate was lowered to 487 launches between 1980 and 1992. The details of the first 23 projected missions, listed in the third edition of ''Manned Spaceflight'' ( Reginald Turnill, 1978) and the first edition of the ''STS Flight Assignment Baseline'', an internal NASA document published in October 1977, are presented below. Later in the development process, NASA suggested using the first manned Space Shuttle mission, STS-1, as a sub-orbital test of the Return to Launch Site (RTLS) flight profile devised for emergency abort scenarios ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
