STS-51-A (formerly STS-19) was the 14th flight of
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, succeeding t ...
's
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. Its ...
, and the second flight of
Space Shuttle ''Discovery''. The mission launched from
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 1968 ...
on November 8, 1984, and landed just under eight days later on November 16, 1984.
STS-51-A marked the first time a shuttle deployed two
communications satellites, and retrieved from orbit two other communications satellites. The Canadian
Anik D2 and
Syncom
Syncom (for "synchronous communication satellite") started as a 1961 NASA program for active geosynchronous communication satellites, all of which were developed and manufactured by the Space and Communications division of Hughes Aircraft Comp ...
IV-1 satellites were both successfully deployed by the crew of ''Discovery''.
Palapa B2
Palapa is a series of Communications satellites owned by Indosat, an Indonesian telecommunications company (formerly by Perumtel and then by PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia/Satelindo). Starting with the first in July 1976, at which time Indone ...
and
Westar 6
Westar was a fleet of geosynchronous communications satellites operating in the C band which were launched by Western Union from 1974 to 1984. There were seven Westar satellites in all, with five of them launched and operating under the Westar ...
, meanwhile, had been deployed during the
STS-41-B
STS-41-B was the tenth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the fourth flight of the . It launched on 3 February 1984, and landed on 11 February 1984 after deploying two communications satellites. It was also notable for including the first untethere ...
mission earlier in the year, but had been placed into improper orbits due to the malfunctioning of their
kick motors; they were both safely recovered and returned to
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
during STS-51-A.
Crew
Spacewalks
* '' Allen and Gardner '' – EVA 1
* EVA 1 Start: November 12, 1984 – 13:25
UTC
* EVA 1 End: November 12, 1984 - 19:25 UTC
* Duration: 6 hours, 0 minute
* '' Allen and Gardner '' – EVA 2
* EVA 2 Start: November 14, 1984 – 11:09 UTC
* EVA 2 End: November 14, 1984 – 16:51 UTC
* Duration: 5 hours, 42 minutes
Crew seating arrangements
Mission summary
STS-51-A was launched from
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, and to ...
's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 7:15:00 a.m.
EST, on November 8, 1984, less than a month after the
STS-41-G
STS-41-G (formerly STS-17) was the 13th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the sixth flight of Space Shuttle ''Challenger''. ''Challenger'' launched on October 5, 1984, and conducted the second shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center o ...
flight. A launch attempt the day before was scrubbed at T-minus 20 minutes due to high
shear wind
In common usage, wind gradient, more specifically wind speed gradient
or wind velocity gradient,
or alternatively shear wind,
is the vertical component of the gradient of the mean horizontal wind speed in the lower Earth's atmosphere, atmospher ...
s in the
upper atmosphere Upper atmosphere is a collective term that refers to various layers of the atmosphere of the Earth above the troposphere and corresponding regions of the atmospheres of other planets, and includes:
* The mesosphere, which on Earth lies between the ...
.
The five-person flight crew consisted of Frederick H. Hauck, commander, on his second flight; pilot David M. Walker; and three mission specialists – Anna Lee Fisher, Dale A. Gardner and Joseph P. Allen. Both Gardner and Allen were making their second shuttle flights. STS-51-A marked the first flight of the Space Shuttle commanded by an astronaut from the 1978 class rather than the
Apollo era.
The two communications satellites successfully deployed were
Anik D2 (on the second day of the mission) and
Syncom IV-1, also known as
Leasat 1 (on the third day); both were Hughes-built satellites. The orbiter then began a series of maneuvers to meet up with the first of the two satellites to be recovered, Palapa B2. The orbits of both satellites had been lowered by ground commands from about to to facilitate recovery operations. On day five of the mission, ''Discovery'' rendezvoused with Palapa. Mission specialists Allen and Gardner performed an EVA, capturing the satellite with a device known as a "Stinger" (Apogee Capture Device (ACD)),
which was inserted into the satellite's
apogee motor nozzle by Allen. The satellite's rotation was slowed to 1
RPM
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
, and Gardner, operating from a position on the end of the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) (
Canadarm), attempted unsuccessfully to grapple the satellite. Allen was able to manually maneuver the satellite into its cradle with Gardner's help, further aided by the Canadarm, which was operated by Fisher. The successful, improvised rescue effort took two hours.
The recovery of Westar 6 was not as difficult, and took place a day later. This time, Gardner, using the same muscle-power technique Allen had used for Palapa B2's rescue, easily captured the satellite. With Allen's help, he placed it in a cradle in the cargo bay. Following Westar 6's recovery, Gardner humorously held up a "For Sale" sign, as if trying to find someone to sell the malfunctioning satellites to, as a means to indicate the successful recovery and as a means to provide some comical relief for the troubled owners. The Westar satellite was, ironically enough, indeed later sold to Hong Kong-based
AsiaSat.
The STS-51-A mission also carried the Diffused Mixing of Organic Solutions (DMOS) experiment. It was the first of a series of comprehensive organic and
polymer
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part")
is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...
science experiments sponsored by
3M. This mid-deck experiment was successful, and the proprietary results of the chemical mixes were turned over to 3M. One other experiment, a
radiation monitoring experiment, was also performed.
The satellite recoveries on STS-51-A were the last
untethered spacewalks until 1994, and marked the last use of the
Manned Maneuvering Unit
The Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) is an astronaut propulsion unit that was used by NASA on three Space Shuttle missions in 1984. The MMU allowed the astronauts to perform untethered extravehicular spacewalks at a distance from the shuttle. T ...
(MMU). In 1994, the
Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue
Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER) is a small, self-contained, propulsive backpack system (jet pack) worn during spacewalks, to be used in case of emergency only. If an untethered astronaut were to lose physical contact with the vessel, it wou ...
(SAFER) was tested on
STS-64. On all subsequent spacewalks conducted by both NASA and the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
/
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n space agencies, the astronauts were tethered to the craft by some means.
The second mission of ''Discovery'' ended at 6:59:56 a.m. EST on November 16, 1984, with a successful landing on Runway 15 at KSC. Footage of the landing was used in opening scene of the 1985
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme F ...
movie ''
The Dream is Alive''. The flight completed 127 orbits, and lasted 7 days, 23 hours, 44 minutes, and 56 seconds. It was the third shuttle landing at KSC, and the fifth and last shuttle mission of 1984.
Mission insignia
STS-51-A Mission insignia depicts the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' en route to Earth orbit for NASA's STS-51-A mission and is reminiscent of a soaring eagle, shown in the insignia. The red and white trailing stripes, the blue background, and the presence of the Eagle, generate memories of America's 208 year-old history and traditions. The two satellites orbiting the Earth backgrounded amidst a celestial scene are a universal representation of the versatility of the Space Shuttle. The two satellites it is meant to retrieve are also included as a more specific reference to the mission's main objective and a highlight of what part of the Shuttle's versatile mission capabilities she would be covering this time. White lettering against the blue border lists the surnames of the five-member crew.
Wake-up calls
NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the
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 Moon landing, land on the Moon. It was the first List of Apollo missions#Alphabetical mission types, J mission, with a ...
. 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.
[ ]
Gallery
Image:STS-51-A Syncom IV-1 deployment.jpg, Syncom IV-1 after deployment
Image:STS-51-A Westar 6 retrieval.jpg, Dale Gardner retrieves Westar 6.
Image:STS-51-A Palapa B-2 retrieval.jpg, Palapa B2 is loaded into the payload bay.
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 f ...
*
List of Space Shuttle missions
References
External links
NASA mission summary
Video from post mission press conference with extensive footage available for download at www.archive.org The Internet Archive
{{Orbital launches in 1984
Space Shuttle missions
1984 in spaceflight
1984 in science
1984 in the United States
Spacecraft launched in 1984
Spacecraft which reentered in 1984