NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Mission: Spacelab-2
Space Shuttle: Challenger
Launch Pad: 39A
Launch Weight: 252,855 pounds
Launched: July 29, 1985 at 5:00:00 p.m. EDT
Landing Site: Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
Landing: August 6, 1985 at 12:45:26 p.m. PDT
Landing Weight: 204,169 pounds
Runway: 23
Rollout Distance: 8,569 feet
Rollout Time: 55 seconds
Revolution: 127
Mission Duration: 7 days, 22 hours, 45 minutes, 26 seconds
Returned to KSC: August 11, 1985
Orbit Altitude: 173 nautical miles
Orbit Inclination: 49.5 degrees
Miles Traveled: 3.3 million

Crew Members

                   

Image above: STS-51F Crew photo with Commander Gordon Fullerton, Pilot Roy D. Bridges, Jr., Mission Specialists F. Story Musgrave, Anthony W. England, Karl G. Henize and Payload Specialists Loren W. Acton and John-David F. Bartoe. Image Credit: NASA

Mission Objectives

The Spacelab-2 payload consisted of an igloo and three pallets in the payload bay, containing scientific instruments dedicated to life sciences, plasma physics, astronomy, high-energy astrophysics, solar physics, atmospheric physics and technology research.

A major objective of the mission was to verify the performance of the Spacelab systems with the orbiter as well as to measure the environment created by the vehicle in space.

Launch Highlights

The launch countdown July 12 halted at T-3 seconds after main engine ignition when a malfunction of the number two space shuttle main engine (SSME) coolant valve caused a shutdown of all three main engines. The launch on July 29 was delayed 1 hour, 37 minutes due to a problem with the table maintenance block update uplink. 5 minutes, 45 seconds into ascent, the number one main engine shutdown prematurely, resulting in an Abort To Orbit (ATO) trajectory.

Mission Highlights

Three communications satellites, all attached to the Payload Assist Module-D (PAM-D) motors, were deployed: MORELOS-A, for Mexico; ARABSAT-A, for Arab Satellite Communications Organization; and TELSTAR-3D, for AT&T. Also flown: deployable/retrievable Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN-1); six Get Away Special canisters; Strategic Defense Initiative experiment called the High Precision Tracking Experiment (HPTE); a materials processing furnace called Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (ADSF); and two French biomedical experiments.

NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center