STS-61-A

STS-61-A

Challenger during the launch of STS-61A
Mission type	Microgravity research
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1985-104A
SATCAT №	16230
Mission duration	7 days, 44 minutes, 51 seconds
Distance travelled	4,682,148 kilometres (2,909,352 mi)
Orbits completed	112
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Challenger
Launch mass	110,568 kilograms (243,760 lb)
Landing mass	97,144 kilograms (214,170 lb)
Payload mass	14,451 kilograms (31,860 lb)
Crew
Crew size	8
Members	Henry W. Hartsfield, Jr. Steven R. Nagel Bonnie J. Dunbar James F. Buchli Guion S. Bluford Reinhard Furrer Ernst Messerschmid Wubbo Ockels
Start of mission
Launch date	30 October 1985, 17:00:00 (1985-10-30UTC17Z) UTC
Launch site	Kennedy LC-39A
End of mission
Landing date	6 November 1985, 17:44:51 (1985-11-06UTC17:44:52Z) UTC
Landing site	Edwards Runway 17
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee	319 kilometres (198 mi)
Apogee	331 kilometres (206 mi)
Inclination	57.0 degrees
Period	91.0 minutes
Back L-R: Nagel, Bluford, Messerschmid, Ockels Front L-R: Furrer, Dunbar, Buchli, Hartsfield Space Shuttle program ← STS-51-J STS-61-B →

STS-61-A (also known as D-1) was the 22nd mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program. It was a scientific Spacelab mission, funded and directed by West Germany – hence the non-NASA designation of D-1 (for Deutschland-1). STS-61-A was the last successful mission of the Space Shuttle Challenger, which was destroyed during STS-51-L in 1986. STS-61-A currently holds the record for the largest crew, eight people, aboard any single spacecraft for the entire period from launch to landing.

The mission carried the NASA/ESA Spacelab module into orbit with 76 scientific experiments on board, and was declared a success. Payload operations were controlled from the German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, West Germany, instead of from the regular NASA control centers.

Crew

Position	Astronaut
Commander	Henry W. Hartsfield, Jr. Third and last spaceflight
Pilot	Steven R. Nagel Second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1	Bonnie J. Dunbar First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2	James F. Buchli Second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 3	Guion S. Bluford Second spaceflight
Payload Specialist 1	Reinhard Furrer, DLR Only spaceflight
Payload Specialist 2	Ernst Messerschmid, DLR Only spaceflight
Payload Specialist 3	Wubbo Ockels, ESA Only spaceflight

Backup crew

Position	Astronaut
Payload Specialist 3	Ulf Merbold, ESA

Mission summary

Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off from Pad A of Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 12:00 EST on 30 October 1985. This was the first Space Shuttle mission largely financed and operated by another nation, West Germany. It was also the only shuttle flight to launch with a crew of eight. The crew members included Henry W. Hartsfield, Jr., commander; Steven R. Nagel, pilot; Bonnie J. Dunbar, James F. Buchli and Guion S. Bluford, mission specialists; and Ernst Messerschmid and Reinhard Furrer of West Germany, along with Wubbo Ockels of the European Space Agency (ESA), all payload specialists.

The primary task of STS-61-A was to conduct a series of experiments, almost all related to functions in microgravity, in Spacelab D-1, the fourth flight of a Spacelab orbital laboratory module. Two other mission assignments were to deploy the Global Low Orbiting Message Relay Satellite (GLOMR) out of a Getaway Special canister in the cargo bay, and to operate five materials processing experiments, which were mounted in the orbiter's payload bay on a separate device called the German Unique Support Structure. The experiments included investigations into fluid physics, with experiments in capillarity, Marangoni convection, diffusion phenomena, and critical points; solidification experiments; single crystal growth; composites; biological studies, including cell functions, developmental processes, and the ability of plants to perceive gravity; medical experiments, including the gravitational perceptions of humans, and their adaptation processes in space; and speed-time interaction studies of people working in space.

One equipment item of unusual interest was the Vestibular Sled, an ESA contribution consisting of a seat for a test subject that could be moved backward and forward with precisely controlled accelerations and stops, along rails fixed to the floor of the Spacelab aisle. By taking detailed measurements on a human strapped into the seat, scientists gained data on the functional organization of the human vestibular and orientation systems, and the vestibular adaptation processes under microgravity. The acceleration experiments by the sled riders were combined with thermal stimulations of the inner ear and optokinetic stimulations of the eye.

The crew of STS-61-A at work in Spacelab.

NASA operated the shuttle, and was responsible for overall safety and control functions throughout the flight. West Germany was responsible for the scientific research carried out during the seven-day mission. To fulfill this function, German scientific controllers on the ground worked closely with the personnel in orbit, operating out of the German Space Operations Center at Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich, West Germany. The orbiting crew was divided into two teams, working in shifts to ensure laboratory work was performed 24 hours a day. Communications were optimal throughout the mission and the ground and orbital crews were able to interact regularly. The overall system of one control center controlling spacecraft operations and a second controlling experiment functions worked smoothly in practice.

The GLOMR satellite was successfully deployed during the mission, and the five experiments mounted on the separate structure behind the Spacelab module obtained useful data. Challenger landed, for what was to be the last time, on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base on 6 November 1985. The wheels stopped rolling at 12:45 pm EST, after a mission duration of 7 days and 45 minutes.

STS-61-A marked the final successful mission of Space Shuttle Challenger, which was destroyed with all hands on board during the launch of the STS-51-L mission on 28 January 1986.

See also

• Space exploration
• Space Shuttle program
• Space Shuttle Challenger
• Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
• Spacelab
• List of space shuttle missions
• List of human spaceflights chronologically

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

External links

• NASA mission summary
• STS-61A Video Highlights
• German-run shuttle mission successful