Names | Space Transportation System |
---|---|
Mission type | Communications satellites deployment (planned) |
Operator | NASA |
Mission duration | 7 days, 7 hours, 51 minutes, 51 seconds (planned) |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Columbia (planned) |
Launch mass | 1,217,990 kg (2,685,210 lb) |
Landing mass | 90,584 kg (199,704 lb) |
Payload mass | 21,937 kg (48,363 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 7 (planned) |
Members | Michael L. Coats John E. Blaha Robert C. Springer Anna L. Fisher James F. Buchli Pratiwi Sudarmono Nigel R. Wood |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 24 June 1986, 13:09:00 UTC (planned) |
Rocket | Space Shuttle Columbia |
Launch site | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B |
Contractor | Rockwell International |
End of mission | |
Landing date | 1 July 1986, 21:00:51 UTC (planned) |
Landing site | Kennedy Space Center, Runway 15 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit (planned) |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Perigee altitude | 285 km (177 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 295 km (183 mi) |
Inclination | 28.45° |
Period | 90.40 minutes |
Space Shuttle patch Back row: Anna L. Fisher, Robert C. Springer, James F. Buchli Front row: John E. Blaha and Michael L. Coats Cancelled Shuttle missions |
STS-61-H was a NASA Space Shuttle mission planned to launch on 24 June 1986 using Columbia. However, it was canceled after the Challenger disaster.
Position | Astronaut | |
---|---|---|
Commander | Michael L. Coats Would have been second spaceflight | |
Pilot | John E. Blaha Would have been first spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 1 | Robert C. Springer Would have been first spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 2 | Anna L. Fisher Would have been second spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 3 | James F. Buchli Would have been third spaceflight | |
Payload Specialist 1 | Pratiwi Sudarmono Would have been first spaceflight | |
Payload Specialist 2 | Nigel R. Wood Would have been first spaceflight |
Position | Astronaut | |
---|---|---|
Payload Specialist 1 | Taufik Akbar Would have been first spaceflight | |
Payload Specialist 2 | Richard A. Farrimond Would have been first spaceflight |
Before Buchli was assigned to STS-61-H, Norman E. Thagard was the potential Mission Specialist 3 for this flight.
The main task of the mission was to bring two commercial satellites into orbit – Palapa B3 and Westar-6S, and military communication satellite - Skynet-4A, The British Skynet and the Indonesian Palapa were supposed to be accompanied by an astronaut from the two countries.
After the Challenger disaster, the deployment of commercial satellites by the Space Shuttle was stopped, and for several years no international astronauts were nominated. Thus, neither the British nor the Indonesian payload specialists got a second chance for a spaceflight. The NASA crew however stayed together and participated in a 56-hour-long simulated mission known as STS-61-M(T) in 1987. The crew finally flew on STS-29, with Anna L. Fisher being replaced by James P. Bagian.
Skynet 4A was launched on 1 January 1990 with a Titan III, Westar-6S was renamed Galaxy-6 and launched on 12 October 1992 by an Ariane 44L. Palapa-B3 was renamed to Palapa B2P and was launched on 20 March 1987 with a Delta-3920.
Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the commanding ship of a nineteenth-century scientific expedition that traveled the world, Challenger was the second Space Shuttle orbiter to fly into space after Columbia, and launched on its maiden flight in April 1983. It was destroyed in January 1986 soon after launch in a disaster that killed all seven crewmembers aboard.
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, 1983, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base on June 24, 1983. STS-7 carried Sally Ride, America's first female astronaut.
Robert Laurel Crippen is an American retired naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer, and retired astronaut. He traveled into space four times: as pilot of STS-1 in April 1981, the first Space Shuttle mission; and as commander of STS-7 in June 1983, STS-41-C in April 1984, and STS-41-G in October 1984. He was also a part of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL), Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test (SMEAT), ASTP support crew member, and the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) for the Space Shuttle.
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Claude Nicollier is the first astronaut from Switzerland. He has flown on four Space Shuttle missions. His first spaceflight (STS-46) was in 1992, and his final spaceflight (STS-103) was in 1999. He took part in two servicing missions to the Hubble Space Telescope. During his final spaceflight he participated in a spacewalk, becoming the first European Space Agency astronaut to do so during a Space Shuttle mission. In 2000 he was assigned to the Astronaut Office Extravehicular Activity Branch, while maintaining a position as Lead ESA Astronaut in Houston. Nicollier retired from ESA in April 2007.
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Robert Joseph "Bob" Cenker is an American aerospace and electrical engineer, aerospace systems consultant, and former astronaut. Cenker worked for 18 years at RCA Astro-Electronics, and its successor company GE Astro Space, on a variety of spacecraft projects. He spent most of his career working on commercial communications satellites, including the Satcom, Spacenet and GStar programs.
Pratiwi Pujilestari Sudarmono is an Indonesian scientist. She is currently a professor of microbiology at the University of Indonesia, Jakarta.
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Taufik Akbar is an Indonesian engineer and former astronaut candidate.
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