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STS-8 was the eighth
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
mission and the third flight of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger''. It launched on August 30, 1983, and landed on September 5, 1983, conducting the first night launch and night landing of the
Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. I ...
. It also carried the first
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
astronaut,
Guion Bluford Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. (born November 22, 1942) is an American aerospace engineer, retired United States Air Force (USAF) officer and fighter pilot, and former NASA astronaut in which capacity he became the second person of African descent to ...
. The mission successfully achieved all of its planned research objectives, but was marred by the subsequent discovery that a solid-fuel rocket booster had almost malfunctioned catastrophically during the launch. The mission's primary payload was INSAT-1B, an
India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
n
communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqui ...
and
weather observation Weather reconnaissance is the acquisition of weather data used for research and planning. Typically the term reconnaissance refers to observing weather from the air, as opposed to the ground. Methods Aircraft Helicopters are not built to w ...
satellite, which was released by the orbiter and boosted into a geostationary orbit. The secondary payload, replacing a delayed NASA communications satellite, was a four-metric-ton dummy payload, intended to test the use of the shuttle's
Canadarm Canadarm or Canadarm1 (officially Shuttle Remote Manipulator System or SRMS, also SSRMS) is a series of robotic arms that were used on the Space Shuttle orbiters to deploy, manoeuvre, and capture payloads. After the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' ...
(remote manipulator system). Scientific experiments carried on board ''Challenger'' included the environmental testing of new hardware and materials designed for future spacecraft, the study of biological materials in electric fields under
microgravity The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms '' weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the ...
, and research into space adaptation syndrome (also known as "space sickness"). The flight furthermore served as shakedown testing for the previously launched TDRS-1 satellite, which would be required to support the subsequent
STS-9 STS-9 (also referred to Spacelab 1) was the ninth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the sixth mission of the Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. Launched on 28 November 1983, the ten-day mission carried the first Spacelab laboratory module into orbit. ...
mission.


Crew

This mission had a crew of five, with three mission specialists. It was the second mission (after
STS-7 STS-7 was NASA's seventh Space Shuttle mission, and the second mission for the Space Shuttle ''Challenger''. During the mission, ''Challenger'' deployed several satellites into orbit. The shuttle launched from Kennedy Space Center on June 18, ...
) to fly with a crew of five, the largest carried by a single spacecraft up to that date.Jenkins, p. 271 The crew was historically notable for the participation of
Guion Bluford Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. (born November 22, 1942) is an American aerospace engineer, retired United States Air Force (USAF) officer and fighter pilot, and former NASA astronaut in which capacity he became the second person of African descent to ...
, who became the first African-American to fly in space. The commander, Truly, was the only veteran astronaut of the crew, having flown as the pilot on
STS-2 STS-2 was the second Space Shuttle mission conducted by NASA, and the second flight of the orbiter ''Columbia''. The mission, crewed by Joe H. Engle and Richard H. Truly, launched on November 12, 1981, and landed two days later on November 1 ...
in 1981 and for two of the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) aboard ''Enterprise'' in 1977. Prior to this, he had worked as a
capsule communicator Flight controllers are personnel who aid space flight by working in such Mission Control Centers as NASA's Mission Control Center or ESA's European Space Operations Centre. Flight controllers work at computer consoles and use telemetry to m ...
(CAPCOM) for all three
Skylab Skylab was the first United States space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three separate three-astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Major operation ...
missions and the ASTP mission. Brandenstein, Gardner and Bluford had all been recruited in 1978, and been training for a mission since 1979. The mission had originally been planned for a crew of four, with Thornton added to the crew as a third mission specialist in December 1982, eight months after the crew was originally named.Evans, p. 76 As with Truly, he was an
Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
-era recruit, having joined NASA in 1967. His participation on the mission included a series of tests aimed at gathering information on the physiological changes linked with Space Adaptation Syndrome, more commonly known as "space sickness"; this had become a focus of attention in NASA, as astronauts succumbed to it during Shuttle missions. The orbiter carried two Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMUs) for use in case of an emergency spacewalk; if needed, they would be used by Truly and Gardner.


Mission plan and payloads

An early plan for STS-8, released in April 1982, had scheduled it for July 1983. It was expected to be a three-day mission with four crew members, and would launch INSAT-1B, an Indian satellite, and TDRS-B, a NASA communications relay satellite. However, following problems with the
Inertial Upper Stage The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), originally designated the Interim Upper Stage, was a two-stage, solid-fueled space launch system developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force beginning in 1976 for raising payloads from low Earth orbit to ...
(IUS) used to deploy TDRS-A on the
STS-6 STS-6 was the sixth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the maiden flight of the . Launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 4, 1983, the mission deployed the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-1, into orbit, before landing at Edwards ...
mission, it was announced in May 1983 that the TDRS was not going to be flown. It was replaced in the manifest by the Payload Flight Test Article.''STS-8 Press Information'', p. i After re-development of the IUS, TDRS-B was eventually re-manifested for the
STS-51-L STS-51-L was the 25th mission of the NASA Space Shuttle program and the final flight of Space Shuttle ''Challenger''. Planned as the first Teacher in Space Project flight in addition to observing Halley's Comet for six days and performing ...
mission, and was lost along with the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' and its crew when the launch failed in January 1986. The primary element of the STS-8 mission payload was INSAT-1B. It was the second in a series of multi-purpose weather and communications satellites to be operated by the
Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman of ...
(ISRO); the first, INSAT-1A, had been launched by a Delta launch vehicle in April 1982, but had to be shut down shortly afterwards due to a failure of the onboard
reaction control system A reaction control system (RCS) is a spacecraft system that uses thrusters to provide attitude control and translation. Alternatively, reaction wheels are used for attitude control. Use of diverted engine thrust to provide stable attitude con ...
(RCS). The satellite was carried in the rear of the shuttle's payload bay, and was boosted into a
Geostationary transfer orbit A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is a type of geocentric orbit. Satellites that are destined for geosynchronous (GSO) or geostationary orbit (GEO) are (almost) always put into a GTO as an intermediate step f ...
(GTO) by a
Payload Assist Module The Payload Assist Module (PAM) is a modular upper stage designed and built by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing), using Thiokol Star-series solid propellant rocket motors. The PAM was used with the Space Shuttle, Delta, and Titan launchers and carri ...
(PAM-D), a small
solid rocket A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were used in warfare by the Arabs, Chinese, Persia ...
upper stage A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage ...
, after its release from the orbiter. The satellite, with its upper stage, massed a total of , with the cradle massing another , and had cost around US$50 million.Evans, p. 83 The Payload Flight Test Article (PFTA) had been scheduled for launch in June 1984 on STS-16 in the April 1982 manifest, but by May 1983 it had been brought forward to STS-11. That month, when the TDRS missions were delayed, it was brought forward to STS-8 to fill the hole in the manifest. It was an
aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It h ...
structure resembling two wheels with a long central axle, ballasted with
lead Lead is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metals, heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale of mineral hardness#Intermediate ...
to give it a total mass of , which could be lifted by the "Canadarm" Remote Manipulator System – the Shuttle's "robot arm" – and moved around to help astronauts gain experience in using the system. It was stored in the midsection of the payload bay. The orbiter carried the Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI) pallet in its forward payload bay; this had previously flown on ''
Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...
'' to carry test equipment. The pallet was not outfitted with any flight instrumentation, but was used to mount two experiments. The first studied the interaction of ambient atomic oxygen with the structural materials of the orbiter and payload, while the second tested the performance of a heat pipe designed for use in the heat rejection systems of future spacecraft. Four Getaway Special (GAS) payloads were carried. One studied the effects of
cosmic ray Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our ow ...
s on electronic equipment. The second studied the effect of the gas environment around the orbiter using
ultraviolet Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30  PHz) to 400 nm (750  THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiati ...
absorption measurements, as a precursor to ultraviolet equipment being designed for
Spacelab 2 STS-51-F (also known as Spacelab 2) was the 19th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the eighth flight of Space Shuttle ''Challenger''. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on July 29, 1985, and landed eight days later on Aug ...
. A third, sponsored by the Japanese ''
Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition an ...
'' newspaper, tried to use
water vapor (99.9839 °C) , - , Boiling point , , - , specific gas constant , 461.5 J/( kg·K) , - , Heat of vaporization , 2.27 MJ/kg , - , Heat capacity , 1.864 kJ/(kg·K) Water vapor, water vapour or aqueous vapor is the gaseous p ...
in two tanks to create snow crystals. This was a second attempt at an experiment first flown on
STS-6 STS-6 was the sixth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the maiden flight of the . Launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 4, 1983, the mission deployed the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-1, into orbit, before landing at Edwards ...
, which had had to be redesigned after the water in the tanks froze solid. The last was similar to an experiment flown on STS-3, and studied the ambient levels of
atomic oxygen There are several known allotropes of oxygen. The most familiar is molecular oxygen (O2), present at significant levels in Earth's atmosphere and also known as dioxygen or triplet oxygen. Another is the highly reactive ozone (O3). Others are: *A ...
by measuring the rates at which small
carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon makes ...
and
osmium Osmium (from Greek grc, ὀσμή, osme, smell, label=none) is a chemical element with the symbol Os and atomic number 76. It is a hard, brittle, bluish-white transition metal in the platinum group that is found as a trace element in alloys, mos ...
wafers
oxidized Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a de ...
. The mission, in cooperation with the
United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the Federal government of the Uni ...
(USPS), also carried 260,000 postal covers franked with US$9.35 express
postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the ...
s, which were to be sold to collectors, with the profits divided between the USPS and NASA. Two storage boxes were attached to the DFI pallet, with more stored in six of the Getaway Special canisters. A number of other experiments were to be performed inside the orbiter crew compartment. Among these was the Continuous Flow
Electrophoresis Electrophoresis, from Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron, "amber") and φόρησις (phórēsis, "the act of bearing"), is the motion of dispersed particles relative to a fluid under the influence of a spatially uniform electric f ...
System, being flown for the fourth time. This separated solutions of biological materials by passing electric fields through them; the experiment aimed at supporting research into
diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...
treatments. A small animal cage was flown containing six
rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' ( pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...
s; no animal experiment was carried out on the flight, but a student involvement project was planned for a later mission which would use the cage, and NASA wanted to ensure it was flight-tested.Press kit, p. 39 The student involvement project carried out on STS-8 involved William E. Thornton using
biofeedback Biofeedback is the process of gaining greater awareness of many physiological functions of one's own body by using electronic or other instruments, and with a goal of being able to manipulate the body's systems at will. Humans conduct biofeedbac ...
techniques, to try to determine if they worked in
microgravity The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms '' weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the ...
. A photography experiment would attempt to study the spectrum of a luminous atmospheric glow which had been reported around the orbiter, and determine how this interacted with firings of the reaction control system (RCS). The mission was also scheduled to carry out a series of tests with the TDRS-1 satellite which had been deployed by
STS-6 STS-6 was the sixth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the maiden flight of the . Launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 4, 1983, the mission deployed the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-1, into orbit, before landing at Edwards ...
, to ensure the system was fully operational before it was used to support the Spacelab program on the upcoming
STS-9 STS-9 (also referred to Spacelab 1) was the ninth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the sixth mission of the Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. Launched on 28 November 1983, the ten-day mission carried the first Spacelab laboratory module into orbit. ...
flight. The orbiter furthermore carried equipment to allow for encrypted transmissions, to be tested for use in future classified missions.''Major NASA satellite missions'', p. 34


Support crew

*
John E. Blaha John Elmer Blaha (born August 26, 1942, in San Antonio, Texas) is a retired United States Air Force colonel and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of five space missions aboard the Space Shuttle and Mir. Blaha is married to the former Bren ...
* Mary L. Cleave * William F. Fisher * Jeffrey A. Hoffman * Bryan D. O'Connor (ascent CAPCOM)


Crew seating arrangements


Mission summary


Launch preparations

Preparation for the mission began on June 3, 1983, with the assembly of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters (SRB) on the
Mobile Launcher Platform A mobile launcher platform (MLP), also known as mobile launch platform, is a structure used to support a large multistage space vehicle which is assembled (stacked) vertically in an integration facility (e.g. the Vehicle Assembly Building) and t ...
. The boosters were stacked on June 20, 1983, and the external tank (ET) mated to the assembly on June 23, 1983. ''Challenger'' arrived at
Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 196 ...
on June 29, 1983, and was transferred to the Orbiter Processing Facility on June 30, 1983. After post-flight maintenance and preparation for the new mission, including the installation of most flight payloads, the shuttle was transferred to the
Vehicle Assembly Building The Vehicle Assembly Building (originally the Vertical Assembly Building), or VAB, is a large building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), designed to assemble large pre-manufactured space vehicle components, such as the massive Saturn V and th ...
on July 27, 1983, and mated to the booster/tank stack. The stack was checked out on July 29 and 30, 1983, and moved to
Launch Complex 39A Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is the first of Launch Complex 39's three launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39B, were first designed for the Saturn V launch vehicle. T ...
on August 2, 1983. INSAT-1B was loaded into the orbiter when on the pad; the overall processing time from ''Challenger'' arriving at KSC to being ready for launch was only sixty-two days, a record for the program at the time. The launch had originally been scheduled for on August 4, 1983, and was later rescheduled for on August 20, 1983. The requirement to conduct testing with the
Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System The U.S. Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) is a network of American communications satellites (each called a tracking and data relay satellite, TDRS) and ground stations used by NASA for space communications. The system was desig ...
(TDRSS) required a delay of ten days for the system to be ready, during which the stack remained on the launch pad. During the on-pad delay, Hurricane Barry (1983) hit the
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...
coastline, making landfall just south of the Kennedy Space Center on the morning of August 25, 1983. The storm had only been identified two days earlier, and there was no time to roll ''Challenger'' back from the pad; the decision was made to secure the launch stack and ride out the storm.


Launch

''Challenger'' finally launched at 06:32:00 UTC (02:32:00 EDT) on August 30, 1983,Jenkins, p. 266 after a final 17-minute delay due to
thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are somet ...
s near the launch site.''STS-9 Press Information'', p. 84 The launch window extended from 06:15 to 06:49.Press kit, p. 5 The countdown to launch was called by Mark Hess, public information officer. The launch, which occurred in pre-dawn darkness, was the first American night launch since Apollo 17,Shayler, p. 136 and was watched by several thousand spectators. The unusual launching time was due to tracking requirements for the primary payload, INSAT-1B; the program would not have another night launch until STS-61-B in 1985. The crew had attempted to prepare for it by training in darkened simulators so as to keep their
night vision Night vision is the ability to see in low-light conditions, either naturally with scotopic vision or through a night-vision device. Night vision requires both sufficient spectral range and sufficient intensity range. Humans have poor night ...
, but in practice it was discovered that the light of the solid-fuel rocket boosters made the immediate area around the launchpad virtually as bright as a day launch. The launch was the first to use a newly developed high-performance motor for the solid rocket boosters, which gave approximately 7% greater thrust. Post-flight analysis later showed there was nearly a burn-through of the rocket casing, a significant problem that later doomed the 51-L mission (see "Post-flight safety analysis" section below for more). This launch was also the second-to-last to use the original standard-mass steel casings for the boosters. These had been replaced by a thinner case, saving some , on
STS-6 STS-6 was the sixth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the maiden flight of the . Launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 4, 1983, the mission deployed the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-1, into orbit, before landing at Edwards ...
and
STS-7 STS-7 was NASA's seventh Space Shuttle mission, and the second mission for the Space Shuttle ''Challenger''. During the mission, ''Challenger'' deployed several satellites into orbit. The shuttle launched from Kennedy Space Center on June 18, ...
, but because of safety concerns the next two flights used the conventional cases.


Orbital operations

After a successful insertion into a circular orbit at , the first experiments began; the first two samples were run through the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System, and measurements were taken for the atmospheric luminosities study. A hydraulic circulation pump failed, but this was worked around and it proved to have no impact on operations. The major event of the second day (August 31, 1983) was the successful deployment of the INSAT-1B satellite, which took place at 07:48 UTC, with ''Challenger'' then maneuvering to avoid the firing of the booster motor forty minutes later.Evans, p. 85 Other experimentation continued, though telemetry through TDRS was lost for around three hours, requiring manual intervention. A fire alarm sounded in the morning, indicating signs of a fire in the
avionics Avionics (a blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fitt ...
compartment, but a second alarm remained silent and it was eventually determined to be a false alarm. On the third and fourth days (September 1 and 2, 1983), work began with the Canadarm Remote Manipulator System and the payload test article, and communications testing through TDRS continued. The former was successful, but the latter lost contact on a number of occasions, due to problems at the White Sands
ground station A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves f ...
.''STS-9 press information'', p. 85 As a result, the crew had to be awakened early on September 1, 1983, in order to deal with the problem. A minor cabin pressure leak on September 2, 1983, was traced to the waste management system, and quickly controlled. The orbiter performed an Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) firing on September 2, 1983, to place itself in a lower orbit, where the air density was higher and the oxygen interaction experiments would work more effectively. On the fifth day (September 3, 1983), testing of the Canadarm continued, including a number of optional "shopping list" tests, and the TDRS tests were carried out with more success. A live press conference was held late in the day, the first in-flight press conference since Apollo 17. On the sixth day (September 4, 1983), experiment runs were completed and the crew prepared to deorbit. Two systems failures were recorded on this last day, the most serious of which involved a synchronization failure in one of the onboard computers. While on orbit, ''Challenger'' made a number of altitude and
attitude Attitude may refer to: Philosophy and psychology * Attitude (psychology), an individual's predisposed state of mind regarding a value * Metaphysics of presence * Propositional attitude, a relational mental state connecting a person to a prop ...
adjustments, in order to test the behavior of a Shuttle orbiter and to perform some experiments in different thermal conditions. By exposing or shading areas from the sun in an unusual way, it was possible to induce particularly warm or cold conditions and observe any resulting problems.


Landing

The mission plan called for a landing at
Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is E ...
,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
, at 121:28
mission elapsed time Mission Elapsed Time (MET) is used by NASA during their space missions, most notably during their Space Shuttle missions. Because so much of the mission depends on the time of launch, all events after launch are scheduled on the Mission Elapsed Tim ...
(MET). On the original plan, this would have been at 07:44 UTC on September 4, 1983, before accounting for the last-minute launch delay; in the event, this was put back by one day to allow for further communications testing, and ''Challenger'' touched down at 07:40:33 UTC (00:40:33 PDT), September 5, 1983, on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base, on the morning of the seventh day of the mission. As with the launch, this was the first night landing of the program. The Shuttle orbiters had no on-board lights, due to the difficulty of designing landing lights to survive re-entry, and so the runway was lit by high-intensity xenon arc lamps to guide the orbiter in. There was no pressing operational requirement for a night landing, but there was a desire to prove it was possible. Footage of the landing was shown in the 1986 film ''
SpaceCamp ''SpaceCamp'' is a 1986 American science fiction adventure film inspired by the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. Directed by Harry Winer, story by Patrick Bailey and Larry B. Williams, screenplay by Clifford Green (as W. W. Wicket) and ...
''.


Post-flight safety analysis

The launch was carried out with no obvious anomalies, but on September 27, 1983, during post-flight inspection of the solid rocket boosters, severe corrosion was discovered in the left-hand booster. The three--thick resin lining protecting the rocket nozzle, which was designed to erode about half its thickness during firing, was found to have burned down to as little as in places. By some estimations, this left around 14 seconds of firing time before the nozzle would have ruptured, a situation which would have resulted in loss of control and the probable break-up of the spacecraft. It was later determined that this fault was due to the particular batch of resin used on this set of boosters. The burn-through problem was treated as a small mishap by the media, and did not receive significant interest until after the ''Challenger'' disaster in 1986; the only major contemporary public criticism came from NASA's
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
counterparts. As a result of this incident, the flight of STS-9 was delayed for a month while the nozzles of its boosters were changed. Post-flight inspection of the thermal protection system tiles found seven major debris impacts and forty-nine minor impacts, of which three and twenty-six respectively were on the orbiter's underside. This was the lowest incidence of major tile damage until at least STS-74, and compares very favorably with the program average of twenty-three major impacts to the underside. It was the first Shuttle flight with no significant problems reported for the thermal protection system. Three windows were removed from the orbiter due to pitting and hazing. A total of thirty-three in-flight anomalies were eventually reported. As well as the issues above, STS-8's more minor problems ranged from faulty thermostats to an unusually high amount of dust in the cabin.


Scientific results

Overall, the crew successfully completed all fifty-four of the planned mission test objectives. While the INSAT deployment was a success, the satellite had problems unfolding its solar array once in geostationary orbit, and was not fully operational until the middle of September 1983. Once functional, however, it provided satisfactory service for seven years, returning 36,000 images of Earth and broadcasting television to thousands of remote Indian villages. The Payload Flight Test Article evaluation found that the Canadarm remote manipulator system was capable of moving bulky masses with some accuracy, to a precision of and 1° of alignment.Evans, p. 88 The TDRS-1 program was overall less successful, with the satellite suffering several computer failures and an overall loss of telemetry for several hours. In all, the orbiter was able to use the satellite for 65 of the planned 89 orbits, and could make successful use of the connection on about forty. The Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System equipment functioned as planned, processing several hundred times more material than would have been possible on Earth, and the ''Asahi Shimbun'' crystal experiment, flown for the second time, was able to produce
snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet ...
crystals after the canister was redesigned. Thornton's research into
space adaptation sickness Space adaptation syndrome (SAS) or space sickness is a condition experienced by as many as half of all space travelers during their adaptation to weightlessness once in orbit. It is the opposite of terrestrial motion sickness since it occurs wh ...
noted that the STS-8 astronauts had escaped severe cases, with none suffering loss of
motor control Motor control is the regulation of movement in organisms that possess a nervous system. Motor control includes reflexes as well as directed movement. To control movement, the nervous system must integrate multimodal sensory information (both f ...
;Evans, p. 78 Gardner suffered a "mild case", but was still able to manage effectively,Evans, p. 77 while Brandenstein – who had suffered from induced motion sickness during training operations – was entirely unaffected. The symptoms were found to abate within three days of launch.


Wake-up calls

NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during
Project Gemini Project Gemini () was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual ...
, and first used music to wake up a flight crew during
Apollo 15 Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the United States' Apollo program and the fourth to land on the Moon. It was the first J mission, with a longer stay on the Moon and a greater focus on science than ea ...
. 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.


See also

*
List of human spaceflights This is a list of all human spaceflights throughout history. Beginning in 1961 with the flight of Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1, human spaceflight occurs when a human crew flies a spacecraft into outer space. Human spaceflight is distinguished ...
* List of Space Shuttle missions


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * *


External links


STS-8 info
NASA Kennedy Space Center

NSS {{Orbital launches in 1983 Space Shuttle missions Edwards Air Force Base 1983 in spaceflight 1983 in the United States 1983 in science Spacecraft launched in 1983 Spacecraft which reentered in 1983