1984 American crewed spaceflight to the Solar Maximum Mission satellite
STS-41-C
|
Names
| Space Transportation System
-41C
STS-13
|
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|
Mission type
| Satellite deployment
Satellite repair
|
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Operator
| NASA
|
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COSPAR ID
| 1984-034A
|
---|
SATCAT
no.
| 14897
|
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Mission duration
| 6 days, 23 hours, 40 minutes, 7 seconds (achieved)
|
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Distance travelled
| 4,620,000 km (2,870,000 mi)
|
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Orbits completed
| 108
|
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|
|
|
Spacecraft
| Space Shuttle
Challenger
|
---|
Launch mass
| 115,328 kg (254,255 lb)
|
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Landing mass
| 89,346 kg (196,974 lb)
|
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Payload mass
| 15,345 kg (33,830 lb)
[1]
|
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|
|
|
Crew size
| 5
|
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Members
| |
---|
EVAs
| 2
|
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EVA
duration
| 10 hours, 6 minutes
First: 2 hours, 59 minutes
Second: 7 hours, 7 minutes
|
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|
|
|
Launch date
| April 6, 1984, 13:58:00
UTC
|
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Rocket
| Space Shuttle
Challenger
|
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Launch site
| Kennedy Space Center
,
LC-39A
|
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Contractor
| Rockwell International
|
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|
|
|
Landing date
| April 13, 1984, 13:38:07
UTC
|
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Landing site
| Edwards Air Force Base
,
Runway 17
|
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|
|
|
Reference system
| Geocentric orbit
[2]
|
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Regime
| Low Earth orbit
|
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Perigee altitude
| 222 km (138 mi)
|
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Apogee altitude
| 428 km (266 mi)
|
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Inclination
| 28.50°
|
---|
Period
| 91.40 minutes
|
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|
STS-41-C mission patch
Robert Crippen
,
Terry Hart
,
James van Hoften
,
George Nelson
,
Dick Scobee
|
STS-41-C
(formerly STS-13) was
NASA
's eleventh
Space Shuttle
mission, and the fifth mission of
Space Shuttle
Challenger
. The launch, which took place on April 6, 1984, marked the first direct ascent trajectory for a Space Shuttle mission. During the mission,
Challenger
'
s crew captured and repaired the malfunctioning
Solar Maximum Mission
("Solar Max") satellite, and deployed the
Long Duration Exposure Facility
(LDEF) experimental apparatus. STS-41-C was extended one day due to problems capturing the Solar Max satellite, and the landing on April 13, 1984, took place at
Edwards Air Force Base
, instead of at
Kennedy Space Center
as had been planned. The flight was
originally numbered STS-13
.
[3]
[4]
Crew
[
edit
]
Spacewalks
[
edit
]
- EVA 1
- Personnel
: Nelson and van Hoften
- Date
: April 8, 1984 (14:18?17:17 UTC)
- Duration
: 2 hours, 59 minutes
[5]
- EVA 2
- Personnel
: Nelson and van Hoften
- Date
: April 11, 1984 (08:58?16:05 UTC)
- Duration
: 7 hours, 7 minutes
[5]
Crew seating arrangements
[
edit
]
Seat
[6]
|
Launch
|
Landing
|
Seats 1?4 are on the Flight Deck. Seats 5?7 are on the Middeck.
|
S1
|
Crippen
|
Crippen
|
S2
|
Scobee
|
Scobee
|
S3
|
Hart
|
Nelson
|
S4
|
van Hoften
|
van Hoften
|
S5
|
Nelson
|
Hart
|
Mission summary
[
edit
]
STS-41-C launched successfully at 8:58 a.m.
EST
on April 6, 1984. The mission marked the first direct ascent trajectory for the Space Shuttle;
Challenger
reached its 533 km (331 mi) - high orbit using its Orbiter Maneuvering System (OMS) engines only once, to circularize its orbit. During the ascent phase, the main computer in
Mission control center
(MCC) failed, as did the backup computer. For about an hour, the controllers had no data on the orbiter.
[7]
The flight had two primary objectives. The first was to deploy the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF), a passive, retrievable, 12-sided experimental cylinder. The 9,700 kg (21,400 lb) LDEF was 4.3 m (14 ft) in diameter and 9.1 m (30 ft) long, and carried 57 scientific experiments. The second objective of STS-41-C was to capture, repair and redeploy the malfunctioning
Solar Maximum Mission
satellite ("Solar Max"), which had been launched in 1980.
On the second day of the flight, the LDEF was grappled by the
Remote Manipulator System
(
Canadarm
) and successfully released into orbit. Its 57 experiments, mounted in 86 removable trays, were contributed by 200 researchers from eight countries. Retrieval of the passive LDEF was initially scheduled for 1985, but schedule delays and the
Challenger
disaster of 1986
postponed the retrieval until January 12, 1990, when
Columbia
retrieved the LDEF during
STS-32
.
On the third day of the mission,
Challenger
'
s orbit was raised to about 560 km (350 mi), and it maneuvered to within 61 m (200 ft) of the stricken Solar Max satellite. Astronauts Nelson and van Hoften, wearing
space suits
, entered the payload bay. Nelson, using the
Manned Maneuvering Unit
(MMU), flew out to the satellite and attempted to grasp it with a special capture tool, called the Trunnion Pin Acquisition Device (TPAD). Three attempts to clamp the TPAD onto the satellite failed. Solar Max began tumbling on multiple axes when Nelson attempted to grab one of the satellite's solar arrays by hand, and the effort was called off. Crippen had to perform multiple maneuvers of the orbiter to keep up with Nelson and Solar Max, and nearly ran out of RCS fuel.
[7]
During the night of the third day, the Solar Max Payload Operations Control Center (POCC), located at
Goddard Space Flight Center
(GSFC),
Greenbelt, Maryland
, was able to establish control over the satellite by sending commands ordering the satellite's
magnetorquers
to stabilize its tumbling. This was successful, and Solar Max went into a slow, regular spin. The next day, Crippen maneuvered
Challenger
back to Solar Max, and Hart was able to grapple the satellite with the RMS. They placed Solar Max on a special cradle in the payload bay using the RMS. Nelson and van Hoften then began the repair operation, replacing the satellite's
attitude control
mechanism and the main electronics system of the
coronagraph
instrument. The ultimately successful repair effort took two separate
spacewalks
. Solar Max was deployed back into orbit the next day. After a 30-day checkout by the Goddard POCC, the satellite resumed full operation.
Other STS-41-C mission activities included a student experiment located in a middeck locker which found that
honeybees
can successfully make
honeycomb
cells in a
microgravity environment
. Highlights of the mission, including the LDEF deployment and the Solar Max repair, were filmed using an
IMAX
movie camera, and the results appeared in the 1985 IMAX movie
The Dream is Alive
.
The 6 days, 23 hours, 40 minutes, and 7 seconds mission ended on April 13, 1984, at 5:38 a.m.
PST
, when
Challenger
landed safely on Runway 17, at Edwards Air Force Base, having completed 108 orbits.
Challenger
was returned to KSC on April 18, 1984.
-
The launch of STS-41-C on 6 April 1984
-
The deployed
Long Duration Exposure Facility
(LDEF), which became an important source of information on the small-particle space debris environment.
-
George Nelson attempts to capture the Solar Maximum Mission satellite.
-
STS-41-C touches down at Runway 17, Edwards Air Force Base, on 13 April 1984.
Wake-up calls
[
edit
]
NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the
Project Gemini
, and first used music to wake up a flight crew during
Apollo 15
. 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.
[9]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"NASA shuttle cargo weight summary"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on August 31, 2000
. Retrieved
August 15,
2015
.
- ^
"SATCAT"
. Jonathan's Space Report
. Retrieved
March 23,
2014
.
- ^
James D. A. van Hoften
NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. December 5, 2007, Retrieved July 20, 2013
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
Terry J. Hart
NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. April 10, 2003, Retrieved July 20, 2013
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
a
b
"STS-41-C"
. Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from
the original
on March 19, 2002
. Retrieved
March 23,
2014
.
- ^
"STS-41C"
. Spacefacts
. Retrieved
February 26,
2014
.
- ^
a
b
Hale, Wayne (May 28, 2012).
"Ground Up Rendezvous"
. Wayne Hale's Blog
. Retrieved
July 20,
2013
.
- ^
Evans, Ben (2007).
Space Shuttle Challenger: Ten Journeys into the Unknown
. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 114.
ISBN
978-0-387-49679-5
.
- ^
Fries, Colin (June 25, 2007).
"Chronology of Wakeup Calls"
(PDF)
. NASA. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on December 20, 2023
. Retrieved
August 13,
2007
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
STS-41-C
.
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Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Crewed flights are indicated in
underline
. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in
italics
. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets).
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