Challenger… simply the word evokes memories of one of the worst disasters of the NASA space program. While we will always remember that final mission, Challenger’s legacy is so much bigger.
In the late 70’s Challenger, then known as STA-099, was constructed as a testbed vehicle to test NASA’s new lighter airframe. STA-099 was subjected to over a year of intense vibration and thermal testing before it was approved for space flight conversion. In 1979, shuttle orbiter manufacturer Rockwell started work to convert STA-099 into a space-rated orbiter, now known as OV-099. This was Rockwell’s second orbiter — the first was Enterprise — and its first that was space-rated.
The second orbiter in NASA’s space shuttle fleet, OV-099 arrived at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida in July 1982. The Challenger space orbiter was named after a British naval research vessel HMS Challenger that sailed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans during the 1870s.
Challenger’s maiden voyage to space was April 6, 1983, on STS-6. STS-6 is most well known for the first spacewalk of the shuttle program and the deployment of the first satellite of the Tracking and Data Relay System (TDRS) constellation.
Challenger was the first orbiter to carry a woman into space, Sally Ride, on STS-7, and was the orbiter which first carried two women into space at the same time on STS-41G.
Challenger was the first orbiter to launch and land at night on STS-8, and it was the first to land at KSC at the conclusion of STS-41-C. Challenger was host to many of the Spacelab missions as well as countless other scientific experiments and satellite deployments in its short lifespan.
Challenger’s service to the NASA space program abruptly ended on the very cold morning of January 28, 1986. A failure of an O-ring on the right solid rocket booster 73 seconds into the STS-51-L flight caused a catastrophic explosion that lead to the loss of all seven astronauts on board as well as Challenger herself.
STS-51-L was to host the Teacher in Space program. Christa McAuliffe‘s journey into space was hugely anticipated by school age children, and she was scheduled to make a live broadcast from space two days into the flight. Many schools had decided to view the launch in the classroom live, and so when Challenger exploded school children were among the very first to know. They had to process the gravity of what they had just witnessed first hand, and it was profound. The loss of Challenger led to a nearly four-year hiatus of the shuttle program, and numerous changes in the shuttle safety protocols.
While it’s been over 25 years since Challenger last took to the sky, it still holds a very special place in the hearts of many of us. Its legacy will live on long after the end of the shuttle program.
I was 9 years old at the time and I wanted nothing more than to be an astronaut when I grew up. I remember that launch and the subsequent explosion like it was yesterday…it was profoundly sadenning and was a terrible day for this country. I know that those astronauts are looking down at the current demise of the shuttle program with disappointment. I sincerely hope that we return to the same curiosity and reference of space that we once shared as a nation just 2 decades ago and that we, once again, return to space in the future.
Thanks for the shuttle coverage! STS-51L was a month before my 4th birthday and it’s the first thing I remember. Set me on a course towards Aerospace Engineering and working at KSC for a few years on the ISS, and seeing the remaining 3 birds launch, land, and very up close and personal. I am sad to see the shuttles retire but agree with the decision there is good engineering rational for it. The fact that the future of US human space flight is so uncertain is what makes me really sad.
I was a sophomore in high school. I was stunned by the disaster. Several years later, I visited Arlington National Cemetery. The row upon row of crosses and other markers and memorials made me feel somber, but it was the memorial to the Challenger astronauts that made me weep.
Nice article, nice retrospective. One minor correction: Spacelab ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacelab ) not Skylab ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab ).
You are totally right! It was a typo. I fixed it, thanks!
Challenger was always my favorite. This is largely because I came to work at NASA one week before her 2nd flight. I wish that the 51-L accident was not referred to as “Challenger”….she did much more than blow up that tragic morning.