STS-8

STS-8
NamesSpace Transportation System-8
Mission typeCommunications satellite deployment
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID1983-089A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.14312Edit this on Wikidata
Mission duration6 days, 1 hour, 8 minutes, 43 seconds
Distance travelled4,046,660 km (2,514,480 mi)
Orbits completed98
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSpace Shuttle Challenger
Launch mass110,108 kg (242,747 lb)
Landing mass92,508 kg (203,945 lb)
Payload mass12,011 kg (26,480 lb)
Crew
Crew size5
Members
Start of mission
Launch dateAugust 30, 1983, 06:32:00 (August 30, 1983, 06:32:00) UTC (2:32 am EDT)
Launch siteKennedy, LC-39A
ContractorRockwell International
End of mission
Landing dateSeptember 5, 1983, 07:40:43 (September 5, 1983, 07:40:43) UTC (12:40:43 am PDT)
Landing siteEdwards, Runway 22
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Perigee altitude348 km (216 mi)
Apogee altitude356 km (221 mi)
Inclination28.51°
Period90.60 minutes
Instruments
  • Evaluation of Oxygen Interaction with Materials
  • High Capacity Heat Pipe Demonstration

STS-8 mission patch

From left: Brandenstein, Gardner, Truly, Thornton and Bluford.
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STS-8 was the eighth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the third flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. It launched on August 30, 1983, and landed on September 5, 1983, conducting the first night launch and night landing of the Space Shuttle program. It also carried the first African-American astronaut, Guion Bluford. The mission successfully achieved all of its planned research objectives, but was marred by the subsequent discovery that a solid-fuel rocket booster had almost malfunctioned catastrophically during the launch.

The mission's primary payload was INSAT-1B, an Indian communications and weather observation satellite, which was released by the orbiter and boosted into a geostationary orbit. The secondary payload, replacing a delayed NASA communications satellite, was a four-metric-ton dummy payload, intended to test the use of the shuttle's Canadarm (remote manipulator system). Scientific experiments carried on board Challenger included the environmental testing of new hardware and materials designed for future spacecraft, the study of biological materials in electric fields under microgravity, and research into space adaptation syndrome (also known as "space sickness"). The flight furthermore served as shakedown testing for the previously launched TDRS-1 satellite, which would be required to support the subsequent STS-9 mission.