 ERBS during deployment | |
| Names | Space Transportation System-13 |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Satellite deployment Radar imaging |
| Operator | NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 1984-108A |
| SATCATno. | 15353 |
| Mission duration | 8 days, 5 hours, 23 minutes, 33 seconds |
| Distance travelled | 5,293,847 km (3,289,444 mi) |
| Orbits completed | 133 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Challenger |
| Launch mass | 110,120 kg (242,770 lb) |
| Landing mass | 91,746 kg (202,265 lb) |
| Payload mass | 8,573 kg (18,900 lb) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 7 |
| Members | |
| EVAs | 1 |
| EVA duration | 3 hours, 29 minutes |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | October 5, 1984, 11:03:00 (1984-10-05UTC11:03Z) UTC (7:03 am EDT) |
| Launch site | Kennedy,LC-39A |
| Contractor | Rockwell International |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | October 13 1984, 16:26:33 (1984-10-13UTC16:26:34Z) UTC (12:26:38 pm EDT) |
| Landing site | Kennedy,SLF Runway 33 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit[1] |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Perigee altitude | 351 km (218 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 391 km (243 mi) |
| Inclination | 57° |
| Period | 92 minutes |
| Instruments | |
| |
 STS-41-G mission patch  Top:Scully-Power,Crippen andGarneau Bottom:McBride,Ride,Sullivan andLeestma. The gold astronaut pin replica near McBride signifies Unity. | |
STS-41-G (formerly STS-17) was the 13th flight ofNASA'sSpace Shuttle program and the sixth flight ofSpace ShuttleChallenger.Challenger launched on October 5, 1984, and conducted the second shuttle landing atKennedy Space Center on October 13, 1984. It was the first shuttle mission to carry a crew of seven, including the first crew with two women (Sally K. Ride andKathryn D. Sullivan), the first AmericanExtravehicular activity (EVA) involving a woman (Sullivan), the first Australian-born person to journey into space as well as the first astronaut with a beard[2][3] (Paul D. Scully-Power) and the firstCanadian astronaut (Marc Garneau).
STS-41-G was the third shuttle mission to carry anIMAX camera on board to document the flight. Launch and in-orbit footage from the mission (including Sullivan and Leestma's EVA) appeared in the 1985 IMAX movieThe Dream is Alive.
| Position | Astronaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander |  Robert L. CrippenFourth and last spaceflight | |
| Pilot | Jon McBride Only spaceflight | |
| Mission Specialist 1 | Kathryn D. Sullivan First spaceflight | |
| Mission Specialist 2 Flight Engineer | Sally Ride Second and last spaceflight | |
| Mission Specialist 3 | David Leestma First spaceflight | |
| Payload Specialist 1 | / Paul Scully-PowerOnly spaceflight Sponsor:US Navy | |
| Payload Specialist 2 |  Marc GarneauFirst spaceflight Sponsor:National Research Council | |
| Position | Astronaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Payload Specialist 1 | Robert E. Stevenson | |
| Payload Specialist 2 | Robert Thirsk,NRC | |
| Seat[4] | Launch | Landing |  Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck. Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crippen | ||
| 2 | McBride | ||
| 3 | Sullivan | Leestma | |
| 4 | Ride | ||
| 5 | Leestma | Sullivan | |
| 6 | Scully-Power | ||
| 7 | Garneau | ||
On October 5, 1984,Challenger launched from the Kennedy Space Center at 7:03:00 a.m.EDT, marking the start of the STS-41-G mission. On board were seven crew members – the largest flight crew ever to fly on a single spacecraft at that time. They included commander Robert L. Crippen, making his fourth Shuttle flight and second in six months (Crippen became the first American astronaut to complete two space missions in the same calendar year); pilot Jon A. McBride; three mission specialists – David C. Leestma, Sally K. Ride and Kathryn D. Sullivan – and two payload specialists, Paul D. Scully-Power and Marc Garneau, the first Canadian citizen to serve as a Shuttle crew member, as well as the first Canadian in space. The mission also marked the first time two female astronauts had flown together.
Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space when she and Leestma performed a 3-hour Extravehicular activity (EVA) on October 11, 1984, demonstrating the Orbital Refueling System (ORS) and proving the feasibility of refueling satellites in orbit.
Nine hours after liftoff, the 2,307 kg (5,086 lb)Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) was deployed from the payload bay by theCanadarm robot arm, and its on-board thrusters boosted it into orbit 560 km (350 mi) above theEarth. ERBS was the first of three planned satellites designed to measure the amount of energy received from theSun and reradiated into space. It also studied the seasonal movement of energy from thetropics to thepolar regions.
Another major mission activity was the operation of the Shuttle Imaging Radar-B (SIR-B). The SIR-B was part of the OSTA-3 experiment package in the payload bay, which also included the Large Format Camera (LFC) to photograph the Earth, another camera calledMAPS which measuredair pollution, and a feature identification and location experiment called FILE, which consisted of two TV cameras and two 70 mm (2.8 in) still cameras.
The SIR-B was an improved version of a similar device flown on the OSTA-1 package duringSTS-2. It had an eight-panel antenna array measuring 11 × 2 m (36.1 × 6.6 ft). It operated throughout the flight, but problems were encountered withChallenger'sKu-band antenna, and therefore much of the data had to be recorded on board the orbiter rather than transmitted to Earth in real-time as was originally planned.
Payload Specialist Scully-Power, an employee of theU.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), performed a series ofoceanography observations during the mission.[5] Garneau conducted a series of experiments sponsored by the Canadian government, called CANEX, which were related to medical, atmospheric, climatic, materials and robotic science. A number ofGetaway Special (GAS) canisters, covering a wide variety of materials testing and physics experiments, were also flown.
A claim was later made that theSovietTerra-3 laser testing center was used to track Challenger with a low-powerlaser on October 10, 1984. This supposedly caused the malfunction of on-board equipment and the temporary blinding of the crew, leading to a U.S. diplomatic protest.[6] However, this story has been comprehensively denied by the crew members.[7] In 2022, former Soviet Minister of Industry informed the Russian press that the Soviets had used a laser locator to lock onto the shuttle and hold the lock until it was 800 km from the test site.[8]
During the 8 days, 5 hours, 23 minutes, and 33 seconds mission,Challenger traveled 5,293,847 km (3,289,444 mi) and completed 133 orbits. It landed at theShuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at Kennedy Space Center – becoming the second shuttle mission to land there – on October 13, 1984, at 12:26 p.m. EDT.[9]
The STS-41-G mission was later described in detail in the bookOceans to Orbit: The Story of Australia's First Man in Space, Paul Scully-Power by space historianColin Burgess.
Almost forty years after the flight, one of theOMS engines installed onChallenger for STS-41-G was reused and repurposed as the main engine for theOrion capsule on theArtemis I test flight around the Moon. The engine fired multiple times to adjust altitude and velocity, including bringing the capsule into and out of aDistant Retrograde Orbit around the Moon.
The thirteen complete stars in the blue field of theU.S. flag of the mission insignia symbolize the flight's numerical designation in theSpace Transportation System's mission sequence and being essentially the 13th undertaken flight, by 'obscuring' the remaining stars. (The 17 stars in the black field were indicative of the flight's original designation as STS-17.) Central, as if it is launching, is an astronaut insignia in gold, which was presented to each astronaut sinceProject Mercury, after completing their firstspaceflight, as a reference to the mostly rookie crew. Gender symbols are placed next to each astronaut's name (the male symbol was 'buffed up' as to make it feasible to visualize on the patch), and aCanadian flag icon is placed next to Garneau's name.
NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during theProject Gemini, and first used music to wake up a flight crew duringApollo 15. Each track is specially chosen, often by the astronauts' families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.[10]
| Flight Day | Song | Artist/Composer |
|---|---|---|
| Day 2 | "Flashdance... What a Feeling" | Irene Cara |
| Day 3 | "Theme FromRocky" | Bill Conti |
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.Space ShuttleChallenger (OV-099) | ||
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