#sts-51-b

[lonestarflight]

Reference guide of all the external changes made to the Space Shuttle Orbiter Challenger (OV-099) during her lifetime.

Date: 1983-1985

Documents by Alfonso X Moreno: link

[lonestarflight]

"Microgravity

STS-51-B, Spacelab-3, Payload Specialist Lodewijk van den Berg on flight deck with earth view out window."

Date: May 1, 1985

NASA ID: 555148

[lonestarflight]

"The primary purpose of the Spacelab-3 mission was to conduct materials science experiments in a stable low-gravity environment. In addition, the crew did research in life sciences, fluid mechanics, atmospheric science, and astronomy. Spacelab-3 was equipped with several new mini-labs, special facilities that would be used repeatedly on future flights. Two elaborate crystal growth furnaces, a life support and housing facility for small animals, and two types of apparatus for the study of fluids were evaluated on their inaugural flight. The instruments requiring direct exposure to space were mounted outside in the open payload bay of the Shuttle. Spacelab represented the merger of science and marned spaceflight. It opened remarkable opportunities to push the frontiers of knowledge beyond the limits of research on Earth. Scientists in space performed experiments in close collaboration with their colleagues on the ground. On the Spacelab-3 mission, managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center, this versatile laboratory entered routine operation service for the next two decades. Spacelab-3 (STS-51B mission) was launched aboard Space Shuttle Orbiter Challenger on April 29, 1985."

Date: 1985

NASA ID: S81-09342

[lonestarflight]

Aurora over the Southern Hemisphere

"Astronaut Don L. Lind, mission specialist, termed this scene of an aurora in the Southern Hemisphere as 'spectacular,' during a TV down link featuring discussion of the auroral observations on the seven-day flight. This scene was captured by astronaut Robert F. Overmyer, crew commander, using a 35mm camera. Dr. Lind, monitoring activity in the magnetosphere at various points throughout the flight, pinpointed the spacecraft's location as being over a point halfway between Australia and the Antarctic continent. There are moonlit clouds on Earth. The blue-green band and the tall red rays are aurora. The brownish band parallel to the Earth's horizon is a luminescence of the atmosphere itself and is referred to as airglow. Dr. T. Hallinan of the Geophysical Institute of Fairbanks serves as principal investigator for the auroral observations experiment and spent a great deal of time with Dr. Lind in preparation for the flight."

Date: April 29-May 6, 1985

NASA ID: 51B-116-005

[lonestarflight]

Landing of STS-51-B

Shuttle Challenger landing on Runway 17 at Edwards at end of 51-B mission

"The Space Shuttle Challenger lands on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base to complete a week in space for its seven-member crew and a variety of payload.

The vehicle stopped at 9:12:05 a.m. (PDT), May 6, 1985. Onboard were astronauts Robert F. Overmyer, Frederick D. Gregory, Don L. Lind, Norman E. Thagard and William E. Thornton of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); and payload specialists Lodewijk van den Berg and Taylor G. Wang."

Date: May 6, 1985

NASA ID: 51B-S-071

source

[lonestarflight]

Missions of Challenger (OV-099)

"CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- This orbiter tribute of space shuttle Challenger, or OV-099, hangs in Firing Room 4 of the Launch Control Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Challenger's accomplishments include the first night launch and first African-American in space, Guion Bluford, on STS-8, the first in-flight capture, repair and redeployment of an orbiting satellite during STS-41C, the first American woman in space, Sally Ride, on STS-7, and the first American woman to walk in space, Kathryn Sullivan, during STS-41G. Challenger is credited with blazing a trail for NASA's other orbiters with the first night landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California on STS-8 and the first landing at Kennedy on STS-41B. The spacewalker in the tribute represents Challenger’s role in the first spacewalk during STS-6 and the first untethered spacewalk on STS-41B. Crew-designed patches for each of Challenger’s missions lead from Earth toward a remembrance of the STS-51L crew, which was lost 73 seconds after liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986. Five orbiter tributes are on display in the firing room, representing Atlantis, Challenger, Columbia, Endeavour and Discovery."

Graphic design credit: NASA/Lynda less

Date: July 29, 2010

NASA ID: KSC-2010-4451

[lonestarflight]

Launch of STS-51-B

Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off from Pad 39A on her Spacelab-3 mission at 12:02 pm.

"The Spacelab-3 configuration consists of a long module and a Mission Experiment Support Structure (MPESS). The object of the mission is to conduct applications, science and technology-oriented experimentation requiring the low-gravity of Earth orbit and extended duration stable vehicle attitude. Mission emphasis will be on materials processing. The seven-member crew consists of astronauts Robert F Overmyer, commander; Frederick D. Gregory, pilot; Don L. Lind, Norman E. Thagard and William E. Thornton; all mission specialists and payload specialists Taylor G. Wang and Lodewijk van den Berg. The mission is planned for 7 days with a landing at Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards California scheduled for May 6."

Mission Patch. source

Produced: April 29, 1985

NARA: 6399795

NASA ID: 51B-S-052, KSC-85PC-0265

source