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STS 51-C was the fifteenth flight of a space shuttle
Space Shuttle

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System , is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions....
, the third flight of Space Shuttle Discovery
Space Shuttle Discovery

Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the three currently operational Space Shuttle orbiter in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States....
, and the first United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the Military of the United States....
 mission. It conducted the fourth landing at Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center

The John F. Kennedy Space Center is the NASA space vehicle launch facility and Launch Control Center on Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard County, Florida, United States....
, Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
.

ll>Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to and including this mission.





Mission highlights
First mission dedicated to Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the Military of the United States....
.






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Encyclopedia


STS 51-C was the fifteenth flight of a space shuttle
Space Shuttle

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System , is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions....
, the third flight of Space Shuttle Discovery
Space Shuttle Discovery

Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the three currently operational Space Shuttle orbiter in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States....
, and the first United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the Military of the United States....
 mission. It conducted the fourth landing at Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center

The John F. Kennedy Space Center is the NASA space vehicle launch facility and Launch Control Center on Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard County, Florida, United States....
, Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
.

Crew

Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to and including this mission.

  • T. Kenneth Mattingly, II
    Ken Mattingly

    Thomas Kenneth "Ken" Mattingly II, is a retired United States astronaut and Rear admiral in the United States Navy who flew on the Apollo 16, STS-4, and STS-51-C missions....
     (3) - Commander
  • Loren Shriver
    Loren Shriver

    Loren James Shriver , is a retired NASA astronaut, aviator, and a retired US Air Force Colonel....
     (1) - Pilot
  • Ellison S. Onizuka (1) - Mission Specialist
  • James Buchli
    James Buchli

    James Frederick Buchli is a formerNASA astronaut who flew on four Space shuttle missions....
     (1) - Mission Specialist
  • Gary Payton (1) - Payload Specialist


Backup crew

  • Keith C. Wright - Payload Specialist


Mission parameters

  • Mass
    Mass

    In physical science, mass refers to the degree of acceleration a body acquires when subject to a force: bodies with greater mass are accelerated less by the same force....
    :
    • Payload: Magnum ELINT satellite ~ 3,000 kg
    • Booster: IUS upper stage ~ 18,000 kg
  • Perigee: 332 km
  • Apogee: 341 km
  • Inclination
    Inclination

    Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or Axis_of_rotation of direction. The axial tilt is expressed as the angle made by the planet's axis and a line drawn through the planet's center perpendicular to the orbital plane....
    :     28.4°
  • Period
    Orbital period

    The orbital Periodicity is the time taken for a given object to make one complete orbit about another object.When mentioned without further qualification in astronomy this refers to the sidereal period of an astronomical object, which is calculated with respect to the stars....
    :     91.3 min


Mission highlights


First mission dedicated to Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the Military of the United States....
. U.S. Air Force Inertial Upper Stage
Inertial Upper Stage

The Inertial Upper Stage , originally known as the Interim Upper Stage, is a two-stage solid-fueled booster rocket developed by the U.S. Air Force for the launching of large payloads from either a Titan III rocket or from the payload bay of the Space Shuttle....
 (IUS) booster deployed and met mission objectives. This mission's accomplishments are classified
Classified

Classified may refer to:*Classified information, sensitive information to which access is restricted by law or regulation to particular classes of people....
 due to the nature of the work done. The shuttle deployed a single satellite, (USA-8).

According to Aviation Week & Space Technology
Aviation Week & Space Technology

Aviation Week & Space Technology, often abbreviated Aviation Week or AW&ST, is a weekly magazine. The news content, available in print and online, reports upon the state of the aerospace industry....
, STS-51-C launched a secret, Magnum
Magnum (satellite)

Magnum is reportedly a code name for a class of SIGINT reconnaissance satellite operated by the National Reconnaissance Office for the United States Central Intelligence Agency....
 ELINT (ELectronic INTtelligence) gathering satellite into geosynchronous orbit
Geosynchronous orbit

A geosynchronous orbit is an orbit around the Earth with an orbital period matching the Earth's sidereal day rotation period. This synchronization means that for an observer at a fixed location on Earth, a satellite in a geosynchronous orbit returns to exactly the same place in the sky at exactly the same time each day....
. Identical satellites were also launched by STS-33
STS-33

STS-33 was the fifth space shuttle mission for the United States Department of Defense. Due to the nature of this mission, specific details are classified....
 and STS-38
STS-38

STS-38 was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Atlantis. It was the 37th shuttle mission, and carried a classified information in the United States payload for the U.S....
.

Also according to Aviation Week, the shuttle initially entered a 204 km x 519 km orbit at an inclination of 28.45 deg to the equator. It then executed three OMS
Orbital Maneuvering System

The Space Shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System, or OMS , is a system of rocket engines used on the Space Shuttle Space Shuttle Orbiter for orbit insertion and modifying its orbit....
 (orbital maneuvering system) burns, the last on orbit #4. The first burn is to circularize the orbit at 519 km.

The satellite was deployed on the 7th orbit and then ignited its IUS rocket at the ascending node of the 8th orbit, to place it in a geo-synchronous transfer orbit.

The classified payload was deployed successfully and boosted into its operating orbit by an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) booster according to an Air Force announcement.

Connection to the Challenger Disaster

As a precursor to the Challengers destruction
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster

The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight leading to the deaths of its seven crew members....
 almost exactly a year later, it was reported to the Rogers Commission
Rogers Commission Report

The Rogers Commission Report was created by a Presidential Commission charged to investigate the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on its 10th mission, STS-51-L....
 that during the launch of STS-51-C, the worst solid rocket booster
Solid rocket booster

Solid rocket boosters are used to provide the main thrust in spacecraft launches from the Launch pad up to burnout of the SRBs. Many launch vehicles include SRBs, including the Ariane 5, Atlas V, and the NASA Space Shuttle....
 (SRB) blow-by effects of any mission prior to STS-51-L
STS-51-L

STS-51-L was the twenty-fifth flight of the American Space Shuttle program, which marked the first time a civilian had flown aboard the Space Shuttle....
 occurred, indicating conclusively that the viton
Viton

Viton is a brand of synthetic rubber and fluoropolymer elastomer commonly used in O-rings and other Molding or Plastics extrusion goods. The name is a registered trademark of ....
 O-Rings
O-ring

An O-ring, also known as a packing, or a toric joint, is a mechanical gasket in the shape of a torus; it is a loop of elastomer with a Disk -shaped Cross section , designed to be seated in a groove and compressed during assembly between two or more parts, creating a Seal at the interface....
 were not sufficiently sealing the hot gases inside the combustion chamber of the SRBs while firing. After they were recovered post-flight, the O-rings in both the right and left SRBs showed some degree of charring, but analysis of the center field joint of the right SRB showed an unprecedented penetration of the primary O-Ring and heavily charred effects on the secondary O-Ring.

This is significant to the established consensus that cold air temperature was a major factor in Challengers
Space Shuttle Challenger

Space Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Space Shuttle Columbia being the first. Its maiden flight was on April 4, 1983, and it completed nine missions before breaking apart 73 seconds after the launch of its tenth mission, STS-51-L on January 28, 1986, resulting in the death of all seve...
 destruction because the temperature at STS-51-C's launch was also, up to its time, the coldest recorded at only 53 degrees Fahrenheit
Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit , who proposed it in 1724. Today, the scale has largely been replaced by the Celsius scale; it is still in use for non-scientific purposes in the United States and a few other countries such as Belize....
.

Mission statement

Discovery was to make its third flight in January 1985 to conduct the first mission totally dedicated to the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the Military of the United States....
. The classified payload was deployed successfully and boosted into its operating orbit by an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) booster according to an Air Force announcement.

The launch occurred on January 24, 1985, at 2:40 p.m. EST—the first of 9 Shuttle missions that year. It was originally scheduled for January 23, but was delayed because of freezing weather conditions. Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger

Space Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Space Shuttle Columbia being the first. Its maiden flight was on April 4, 1983, and it completed nine missions before breaking apart 73 seconds after the launch of its tenth mission, STS-51-L on January 28, 1986, resulting in the death of all seve...
 had been scheduled for this flight, but Discovery was substituted when thermal tile problems were encountered with Challenger.

The mission's duration was 3 days, 1 hour, and 33 minutes. Discovery touched down on Runway 15 at KSC
KSC

KSC can mean:*Ko?ice International Airport, IATA airport code*Kennedy Space Center, a NASA space vehicle launch facility*Keene State College, a US college that is part of the University System of New Hampshire...
 on January 27 at 4:23 p.m. EST.

STS-51C marked the 100th human spaceflight
List of human spaceflights

These chronological lists include all crewed spaceflights that reached an altitude of at least 100 km , or were launched with that intention but failed....
 to achieve orbit.

See also


  • Space science
    Space science

    Space science is an all-encompassing term that describes all of the various science fields that are concerned with the study of the Universe, generally also meaning "excluding the Earth" and "outside of the Earth's atmosphere"....
  • Space shuttle
    Space Shuttle

    NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System , is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions....
  • List of space shuttle missions
    List of space shuttle missions

    This is a list of missions flown by space shuttles. As of 2009, only the United States has flown human spaceflight Space Shuttle missions in the Space Shuttle program, while the Soviet Union flew one unmanned flight of the Buran ....
  • List of human spaceflights chronologically


External links