STS-7

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STS-7
STS007-32-1702.jpg
Challenger as photographed by the SPAS-1 satellite on 22 June 1983
NamesSpace Transportation System-7
Mission typeCommunications satellites deployment
Microgravity research
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID1983-059A
SATCAT no.14132
Mission duration6 days, 2 hours, 23 minutes, 59 seconds (achieved)
Distance travelled3,570,000 km (2,220,000 mi)
Orbits completed97
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSpace Shuttle Challenger
Launch mass113,025 kg (249,177 lb)
Landing mass92,550 kg (204,040 lb)
Payload mass16,839 kg (37,124 lb)
Crew
Crew size5
Members
Start of mission
Launch date18 June 1983, 11:33:00 UTC
RocketSpace Shuttle Challenger
Launch siteKennedy Space Center, LC-39A
ContractorRockwell International
End of mission
Landing date24 June 1983, 13:56:59 UTC
Landing siteEdwards Air Force Base,
Runway 15
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Perigee altitude299 km (186 mi)
Apogee altitude307 km (191 mi)
Inclination28.30°
Period90.60 minutes
Instruments
Getaway Special (GAS) canisters
Space adaptation syndrome (SAS)
STS-7 patch.svg
STS-7 mission patch
Sts-7-crew.jpg
Sally K. Ride, John M. Fabian, Robert L. Crippen, Norman E. Thagard, Frederick H. Hauck
Space Shuttle program
← STS-6
STS-8 →
 

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 18 June 1983, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base on 24 June 1983. STS-7 carried Sally K. Ride, America's first female astronaut.

Crew[]

Position Astronaut
Commander Robert L. Crippen
Second spaceflight
Pilot Frederick H. Hauck
First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1 John M. Fabian
First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2 Sally K. Ride
First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 3 Norman E. Thagard
First spaceflight

Support crew[]

Crew seat assignments[]

Seat [1] Launch Landing
STS-121 seating assignments.png

Seats 1–4 are on the Flight Deck. Seats 5–7 are on the Middeck.
S1 Crippen Crippen
S2 Hauck Hauck
S3 Fabian Fabian
S4 Ride Ride
S5 Thagard Thagard

Mission summary[]

STS-7 began on 18 June 1983, with an on-time liftoff at 07:33:00 a.m. EDT. It was the first spaceflight of an American woman (Sally K. Ride), the largest crew to fly in a single spacecraft up to that time (five people), and the first flight that included members of NASA's Group 8 astronaut class, which had been selected in 1978 to fly the Space Shuttle. President Ronald Reagan also sent his personal favourite Jelly Belly jelly beans with the astronauts, making them the first jelly beans in space.

The crew of STS-7 included Robert L. Crippen, commander, making his second Shuttle flight; Frederick H. Hauck, pilot; and Sally K. Ride, John M. Fabian and Norman E. Thagard, all mission specialists. Thagard conducted medical tests concerning Space adaptation syndrome, a bout of nausea frequently experienced by astronauts during the early phase of a space flight.

Two communications satellitesAnik C2 for Telesat of Canada, and Palapa B1 for Indonesia – were successfully deployed during the first two days of the mission. The mission also carried the first Shuttle pallet satellite (SPAS-1), which was built by the West German aerospace firm Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB). SPAS-1 was unique in that it was designed to operate in the payload bay or be deployed by the Remote Manipulator System (Canadarm) as a free-flying satellite. It carried 10 experiments to study formation of metal alloys in microgravity, the operation of heat pipes, instruments for remote sensing observations, and a mass spectrometer to identify various gases in the payload bay. It was deployed by the Canadarm and flew alongside and over Challenger for several hours, performing various maneuvers, while a U.S.-supplied camera mounted on SPAS-1 took pictures of the orbiter. The Canadarm later grappled the pallet and returned it to the payload bay.

STS-7 also carried seven Getaway Special (GAS) canisters, which contained a wide variety of experiments, as well as the OSTA-2 payload, a joint U.S.-West Germany scientific pallet payload. Finally, the orbiter's Ku-band antenna was able to relay data through the U.S. tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS) to a ground terminal for the first time.

STS-7 was scheduled to make the first Shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center's then-new Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF). However, unacceptable weather forced a change to Runway 15 at Edwards Air Force Base. The landing took place on 24 June 1983, at 06:56:59 a.m. PDT. The mission lasted 6 days, 2 hours, 23 minutes, and 59 seconds, and covered about 3,570,000 km (2,220,000 mi) during 97 orbits of the Earth. Challenger was returned to KSC on 29 June 1983.

Incidents[]

External Tank serial number 6 after jettison from Challenger on 18 June 1983. The arrow indicates the white area on the left bipod ramp where foam had broken off.

STS-7 experienced the first known Space Shuttle external tank (ET) bipod ramp foam shedding event during launch. This was the root cause of the eventual loss of Columbia during STS-107 almost two decades later. While Challenger was on-orbit, one of its windows was damaged non-critically by space debris.[2]

Mission insignia[]

The seven white stars in the black field of the mission patch, as well as the arm extending from the shuttle in the shape of a 7, indicate the flight's numerical designation in the Space Transportation System's mission sequence. The five-armed symbol on the right side illustrates the four male/one female crew.

Wake-up calls[]

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.[3]

Flight Day Song Artist/Composer Played for
Day 2 "University of Texas Fight Song" University of Texas band Bob Crippen
Day 3 "Tufts Tonia's Day" The Tufts University Beelzebubs Rick Hauck
Day 4 "When You're Smiling"
Day 5 "Washington State University Cougar Fight Song" Washington State University Band John Fabian
Day 6 "Stanford Hymn" Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band Sally Ride
Day 7 "Florida State University Fight Song" Florida State University Marching Chiefs. Norm Thagard

Gallery[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "STS-7". Spacefacts. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  2. ^ "Orbital Debris Photo Gallery". NASA. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 12 August 2010. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ Fries, Colin (25 June 2007). "Chronology of Wakeup Calls" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 13 August 2007. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

External links[]

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