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STS-51-C

 

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STS-51-C


 
 

Crew

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

  • T. Kenneth Mattingly, IIKen Mattingly

    Thomas Kenneth "Ken" Mattingly II, Rear Admiral, USN was an American astronaut who flew on the Apollo 16, STS-4, and STS-51-...
     (3) - Commander
  • Loren ShriverLoren 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 BuchliJames Buchli

    James Frederick Buchli is a former...
     (1) - Mission Specialist
  • Gary Payton (1) - Payload Specialist

Backup crew

  • Keith C. Wright - Payload Specialist

Mission parameters

  • MassMass

    Mass is a property of a physical object that quantifies the amount of matter and energy it is equivalent to....
    :
    • Payload: Magnum ELINT satellite ~ 3,000 kg
    • Booster: IUS upper stage ~ 18,000 kg
  • Perigee: 332 km
  • Apogee: 341 km
  • InclinationInclination

    Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction....
    :
    28.4°
  • PeriodOrbital period

    The orbital period is the time it takes a planet to make one full orbit....
    :
    91.3 min

Mission highlights

First mission dedicated to Department of DefenseUnited States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies an...
. U.S. Air Force Inertial Upper StageInertial Upper Stage

The Inertial Upper Stage or IUS is a two-stage solid-fueled booster rocket developed by NASA and the U.S....
 (IUS) booster deployed and met mission objectives. This mission's accomplishments are classifiedClassified

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

According to Aviation Week & Space TechnologyAviation Week & Space Technology

Aviation Week & Space Technology is a weekly magazine which reports upon the state of the aerospace industry....
, STS-51-C launched a secret, MagnumMagnum (satellite)

Magnum is reportedly a code name for a class of SIGINT reconnaissance satellite operated by the National Reconnaissance Offi...
 ELINTELINT Summary

ELINT stands for ELectronic INTelligence, and refers to intelligence-gathering by use of electronic sensors....
 (ELectronic INTtelligence) gathering satellite into geosynchronous orbitGeosynchronous orbit

A geosynchronous orbit is a geocentric orbit that has the same orbital period as the sidereal rotation period of the Earth....
. Identical satellites were also launched by STS-33Facts About STS-33

STS-33 was the fifth space shuttle mission for the Department of Defense....
 and STS-38STS-38

STS-38 was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Atlantis....
.

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 OMSOrbital Maneuvering System

The Orbital Maneuvering System, or OMS, is a system of rocket engines used on the Space Shuttle for orbital injection ...
 (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 sidenote and a precursor to the Challengers destructionSpace Shuttle Challenger disaster

The Space Shuttle Challenger accident occurred on the morning of January 28 1986, at 11:39 EST, when Space Shuttle Cha...
 almost exactly a year later, it was reported to the Rogers CommissionFacts About Rogers Commission Report

The Rogers Commission Report was created by a Presidential Commission charged to investigate the Space Shuttle Challenger di...
 that during the launch of STS-51-C, the worst solid rocket boosterSolid rocket booster

Solid rocket boosters are used to provide the main thrust in spacecraft launches from the launchpad up to burnout of the SRB...
 blow-by effects of any mission prior to STS-51-LSTS-51-L

STS-51-L was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Challenger, launched January 28, 1986....
 occurred, indicating conclusively that the vitonViton

Viton is a brand of synthetic rubber and fluoropolymer elastomer commonly used in O-rings and other moulded or extruded good...
 O-RingsO-ring

An O-ring is a loop of elastomer with a round cross-section used as a mechanical seal or gasket....
 were not sufficiently sealing the hot gases inside the combustion chamber of the SRBs while firing. After it was recovered post-flight, 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 ChallengersSpace Shuttle Challenger

Space Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, after Columbia....
 destruction because the temperature at STS-51-C's launch was also, up to its time, the coldest recorded at only 53 degrees FahrenheitFahrenheit

Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the German physicist Gabriel Fahrenheit , who proposed it in 1724....
.

Mission statement

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

The United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies an...
. 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. ChallengerSpace Shuttle Challenger

Space Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, after Columbia....
 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 KSCKSC

KSC can mean:*Knights of the Southern Cross An Australian an order of Catholic men....
 on January 27 at 4:23 p.m. EST.

STS-51C marked the 100th human spaceflightList of human spaceflights

For a detailed listing of human spaceflights, see:...
 to achieve orbit.

See also

  • Space scienceSpace science

    Space science, or the space sciences, are fields of science that are concerned with the study or utilization of outer space....
  • Space shuttleSpace Shuttle

    NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System , is the United States government's current manned...
  • List of space shuttle missionsList of space shuttle missions

    -||}This is a list of missions flown by space shuttles....
  • List of human spaceflights chronologicallyList of human spaceflights chronologically

    Some debate exists over the definition of space, and hence that of spaceflight....


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