alb (04/15/83)
The Challenger is scheduled to land at KSC at the end of the next mission (STS-7) Ideally, it will land wherever it has to next take off (KSC or VAFB) However, EAFB and White Sands will always be ready as emergency abort sites (for landings right after launch disasters) and emergency landing sites (for things like bad weather at KSC or VAFB)
rjnoe@ihlts.UUCP (Roger Noe) (10/15/84)
The main landing gear of the space shuttle Challenger touched down on runway 33 at Kennedy Space Center at 12:26:33 EDT October 13 followed 15 seconds later by the orbiter's nose gear for a total mission elapsed time of 8 days 5 hours 23 minutes 48 seconds. The highly successful mission puts NASA back on the mission a month pace they have tried to set. Damage to the vehicle was minor, apparently consisting only of some loose thermal insulation which was probably either from the jolt of liftoff or collision with a bird on reentry. NASA has yet to diagnose the cause of failure of one of the 44 reaction control system thrusters, which happened early in the mission. The next shuttle launch will be on November 7. Frederick Hauck will command and David Walker will pilot the Discovery on mission 51-A. Mission specialists Joseph Allen, Anna Fisher and Dale Gardner will also be aboard to participate in the major mission goal of retrieving satellites Westar 6 and Palapa B-2 which were sent into improper orbits 8 months ago when their payload assist modules failed. The satellites will be refurbished for future use. -- Roger Noe ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe