rjnoe@ihlts.UUCP (Roger Noe) (04/06/84)
Space shuttle Challenger launched on time at 0858 EST (1358 GMT) this morning, April 6, 1984 from Kennedy Space Center, and began a direct insertion into a 250 nautical mile apogee orbit, higher than all previous space shuttle orbits. The orbiter will reach a high point of 285 nautical miles on this mission. This is the eleventh STS flight, and the fifth for the Challenger. This also sets a record for the most humans in space at one time; there are five Soviets and one Indian currently aboard Salyut-7 and they are now joined by the five Americans aboard Challenger: commander Robert L. Crippen, who is making his third space shuttle flight, pilot Francis R. Scobee, and mission specialists George D. Nelson, Terry J. Hart, and James D. van Hoften. On Saturday the astronauts will deploy the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF-1), a 10.5 ton payload about 30 feet long. This satellite, which contains 57 experiments, will be left in orbit for retrieval next year. On Sunday the Challenger will ascend to its higher orbit and Nelson will use the Manned Maneuvering Unit (which was tested on the previous shuttle mission) to rendezvous with the disabled Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) satellite. Nelson will stop the 2.5 ton satellite's uncontrolled spinning and then Hart will use the shuttle's Remote Manipulator System to berth SMM in Challenger's payload bay. Nelson and van Hoften will then repair the faulty SMM attitude control unit. On Tuesday, the astronauts will use another EVA to attempt to repair other electronic components of SMM. If these repairs are successful, the SMM will be redeployed on Wednesday, otherwise it will return to Earth with Challenger. Landing is currently set for 0810 EST at Kennedy Space Center next Thursday after 92 Earth revolutions. -- Roger Noe ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe
alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) (04/07/84)
Everyone knows by now that the shuttle launched, so I will just complement that by saying that there is nothing like seeing it first hand. With binoculars from the guest grandstands (about 4 miles away), you get just as big a view as on TV, and the sound has no comparison (the carbon-based microphones don't reproduce the sound very well as there is a lot of low-frequency vibrations).