| Names | Space Transportation System |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Ulysses spacecraft deployment |
| Operator | NASA |
| Mission duration | 4 days, 1 hour, 11 minutes (planned) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Challenger (planned) |
| Launch mass | 117,749 kg (259,592 lb) |
| Landing mass | 89,298 kg (196,868 lb) |
| Payload mass | 15,362 kg (33,867 lb) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 4 (planned) |
| Members | Frederick H. Hauck Roy D. Bridges Jr. John M. Lounge David C. Hilmers |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 15 May 1986, 20:10:00UTC (planned) |
| Rocket | Space ShuttleChallenger |
| Launch site | Kennedy Space Center,LC-39B |
| Contractor | Rockwell International |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 19 May 1986, 21:21:00 UTC (planned) |
| Landing site | Kennedy Space Center, SLF Runway 15 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit (planned) |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Perigee altitude | 300 km (190 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 307 km (191 mi) |
| Inclination | 28.45° |
| Period | 90.60 minutes |
 STS-61-F mission patch  John M. Lounge,Roy D. Bridges Jr.,Frederick H. Hauck,David C. Hilmers Cancelled Shuttle missions | |
STS-61-F was aNASASpace Shuttle mission planned to launch on 15 May 1986 usingChallenger. It was canceled afterChallenger wasdestroyed earlier that year.
| Position | Astronaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Frederick H. Hauck Would have been third space mission | |
| Pilot | Roy D. Bridges Jr. Would have been second space mission | |
| Mission Specialist 1 | John M. Lounge Would have been second space mission | |
| Mission Specialist 2 | David C. Hilmers Would have been second space mission | |
The main objective of STS-61-F was to deploy theUlysses solar probe, which would travel toJupiter and use it as agravitational slingshot in order to be placed intopolar orbit around theSun. This mission would have marked the first use of theCentaur-G liquid-fueled payload booster, which would also be used onthe subsequent mission to send theGalileo probe in orbit around Jupiter.
Due to the use of the Centaur-G and its volatile propellants, this mission was considered to be one of the most dangerousSpace Shuttle flights attempted, with theChief of the Astronaut OfficeJohn W. Young referring to the two Centaur flights as the "Death Star" flights.[1] The flight was risky enough that Commander Hauck gave his crewmates an option to leave the crew if they considered the mission to be too unsafe.[2]
After the loss ofChallenger, most of the crew (withoutRoy D. Bridges Jr., who left NASA in 1986) would fly as the crew of the first post-Challenger mission,STS-26, later flown byDiscovery. Bridges was replaced byRichard O. Covey and a third Mission Specialist (George D. "Pinky" Nelson) was added to the crew.Ulysses was eventually deployed fromDiscovery onSTS-41, using thesolid-fueledInertial Upper Stage (IUS) andPayload Assist Module (PAM-S) instead of the Centaur-G, which had been canceled after theChallenger disaster.
"'John Young called it the 'Death Star'. Behind the dark humour, however, lay real concern for the then-chief of NASA's astronaut corps".
'Safety is being compromised and, if any of you want to take yourself off this flight, I will support you'.
Space ShuttleChallenger (OV-099) | ||
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| Flights | .jpg) | |
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