STS-6
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\n\n| Mission Insignia |
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\n\n| Mission Statistics |
\n\n| Mission: | STS-6 |
\n| Shuttle: | Challenger |
\n| Launch Pad: | 39-A |
\n| Launch: | April 4, 1983
1:30:00 p.m. EST |
\n| Landing: | April 9, 1983
10:53:42 a.m. PST |
\n| Duration: | 5 days, 2 hours,
14 minutes, 25 seconds |
\n| Orbit Altitude: | 178 nautical miles |
\n| Orbit Inclination: | 28.5 degrees |
\n| Miles Traveled: | 2,094,293 miles |
\n\n| Crew photo |
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STS-6 was a
space shuttle mission by
NASA using the
Space Shuttle Challenger, launched
April 4,
1983. This was the sixth
space shuttle mission, and was the first mission for the
Space Shuttle Challenger.
Crew
\n* Commander: Paul J. Weitz\n* Pilot: Karol J. Bobko\n* Mission Specialist: Donald H. Peterson\n* Mission Specialist: F. Story Musgrave
Mission Parameters
\n*Mass:\n**Orbiter Liftoff: 116,457 kg\n**Orbiter Landing: 86,330 kg\n**Payload: 21,305 kg\n*Perigee: 288 km\n*Apogee: 295 km\n*Inclination: 28.5° \n*Period: 90.4 min
Mission Highlights
On April 4, 1983, STS-6, the first Challenger mission, lifted off at\n1:30 p.m. EST. It was the first use of a new lightweight external\ntank and lightweight SRB casings.
The mission originally had been scheduled for launch on Jan. 30,\n1983. However, a hydrogen leak in one of the main engines was\ndiscovered. Later, after a flight readiness firing of the main\nengines on Jan. 25, 1983, fuel line cracks were found in the other\ntwo engines. A spare engine replaced the engine with the hydrogen\nleak and the other two engines were removed, repaired and reinstalled.
Meanwhile, as the engine repairs were underway, a severe storm\ncaused contamination of the primary cargo for the mission, the first\nTracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS), while it was in the Payload\nChangeout Room on the Rotating Service Structure at the launch pad.\nThis meant the satellite had to be taken back to its checkout\nfacility where it was cleaned and rechecked. The Payload Changeout\nRoom and the payload bay also had to be cleaned.
STS-6 carried a crew of four -- Paul J. Weitz, commander; Karol J.\nBobko, pilot; Donald H. Peterson and Story Musgrave, both mission\nspecialists. Using new space suits designed specifically for the\nSpace Shuttle, Peterson and Musgrave successfully accomplished the\nprogram's first extravehicular activity (EVA), performing various\ntests in the payload bay. Their space walk lasted for 4 hours, 17\nminutes.
Although the 5,000-lb. TDRS was successfully deployed from the\nChallenger, its two-stage booster rocket, the Interim Upper Stage\n(IUS), shut down early, placing the satellite into a low elliptical\norbit. Fortunately, the satellite contained extra propellant beyond\nwhat was needed for its attitude control system thrusters, and during\nthe next several months the thrusters were fired at carefully planned\nintervals gradually moving TDRS-l into its geosynchronous operating\norbit thus saving the $100-million satellite.
Other STS-6 cargo included three GAS canisters and continuation of\nthe Monodisperse Latex Reactor and the Continuous Flow\nElectrophoresis experiments.
Challenger returned to Earth on April 9, 1983, at 10:53 a.m. PST,\nlanding on Runway 22 at Edwards AFB. It completed 80 orbits,\ntraveling 2 million miles in 5 days, 24 minutes, 32 seconds. It was\nflown back to KSC on April 16.
Related articles
\n* Space science\n* Space shuttle\n* Space Shuttle Challenger\n* List of space shuttle missions\n* List of human spaceflights chronologically
External links
\n* STS-6 Mission Data\n* STS-6 Mission Chronology
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STS-006\nSTS-006
