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Crippen Hart Nelson Scobee van Hoften

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STS-41-C Credit - NASA Media Gallery

6 April 1984 13:58 GMT. Landing Date: 1984-04-13 13:38:05. Flight Time: 6.99 days. Flight Up: STS-41-C. Flight Back: STS-41-C. Call Sign: Challenger. Crew: Crippen, Hart, Nelson, Scobee, van Hoften. Program: STS.

Of note: First repair on-orbit of a satellite.

On the lighter side: The mission was originally numbered STS-13. The crew's alternate patch flaunted the 'Apollo 13 curse' by showing a black cat, the number 13 and a Shuttle flying from underneath the cat. The crew nicknames were listed: Crip, Dick, TJ, Ox, Pinky.

What went wrong: Experienced erosion of the primary O-ring in the right-hand nozzle joint. Manned five crew. First repair on orbit of a satellite, Solar Maximum Mission, by James van Hoften and George Nelson. Deployed LDEF. Payloads:Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) repair, manned maneuvering unit (MMU) satellite support, deployment of Long-Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) in earth orbit free drift. LDEF contained 57 experiments and weighed about 10,000 kg. Cinema 360 and IMAX 70-mm cameras.

Orbits of Earth: 107. Distance traveled: 4,618,817 km. Orbiter Liftoff Mass: 115,361 kg. Orbiter Mass at Landing: 89,344 kg. Payload to Orbit: 17,357 kg. Payload Returned: 7,652 kg. Landed at: Runway 17 dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, . Landing Speed: 394 kph. Touchdown miss distance: 582 m. Landing Rollout: 2,656 m. EVA: James van Hoften and George Nelson. EVA No. 1 duration 2 hours, 59 minutes, EVA No. 2 duration 7 hours, 7 minutes. Manned maneuvering unit (MMU) operating time, George Nelson 42 minutes, James van Hoften 28 minutes.

Mission Name: 41-C (11)
CHALLENGER (5)
Pad 39-A (23)
11th Shuttle mission
5th Flight OV-099
Extended mission
Diverted landing

Crew:
Robert L. Crippen (3), Commander
Francis R. Scobee (1), Pilot
George D. Nelson (1), Mission Specialist
James D. A. van Hoften (1), Mission Specialist
Terry J. Hart (1), Mission Specialist

Milestones:
OPF - Feb. 11,1984
VAB - March 14, 1984
PAD - March 19, 1984

Payload:
LDEF-1,SSIP(x1),RME,IMAX-camera(1)
Mission Objectives:

Launch:
April 6, 1984, 8:58:00 a.m. EST. Launch proceeded as scheduled with no delays. Launch Weight: 254,254 lbs.
Orbit:
Altitude: 313nm
Inclination: 28.5 degrees
Orbits: 108
Duration: Six days, 23 hours, 40 minutes, seven seconds.
Distance: 2,870,000 miles

Hardware:
SRB: BI-012
SRM: 011MW(HPM)
ET : 12/LWT-5
MLP : 1
SSME-1: SN-2109
SSME-2: SN-2020
SSME-3: SN-2012

Landing:
April 13, 1984, 5:38:07 a.m. PST, Runway 17, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Rollout distance: 8,716 feet. Rollout time: 48 seconds. Landed revolution 108. Mission extended one day when astronauts unable to grapple Solar Maximum Mission Spacecraft. Planned landing at KSC scrubbed. Mission extended one revolution to facilitate landing at Edwards. Orbiter returned to KSC April 18, 1984. Landing Weight: 196,975 lbs.

Mission Highlights:
First direct ascent trajectory for Space Shuttle. Using manned maneuvering unit, astronauts replaced altitude control system and coronagraph/polarimeter electronics box in the Solar Max satellite while it remained in orbit. Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) deployed, carrying 57 experiments. Left on orbit with intention of retrieving during later mission. Other payloads: IMAX camera; Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME); Cinema 360; Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSlP) experiment.

• 1984 Apr 6 - STS-41-C  Crew: Crippen, Hart, Nelson, Scobee, van Hoften. Spacecraft: Challenger. Payload: Challenger F05 / LDEF 1 / MMU 3. Mass: 17,357 kg (38,265 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Duration: 6.99 days. Perigee: 222 km (137 mi). Apogee: 468 km (290 mi). Inclination: 28.50 deg. Period: 91.40 min.

  Manned five crew. First repair on orbit of a satellite, Solar Maximum Mission, by James van Hoften and George Nelson. Deployed LDEF. Payloads:Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) repair, manned maneuvering unit (MMU) satellite support, deployment of Long-Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) in earth orbit free drift. LDEF contained 57 experiments and weighed about 10,000 kg. Cinema 360 and IMAX 70-mm cameras.

• 1984 Apr 8 - EVA STS-41-C  Crew: Nelson, van Hoften. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.12 days. Spacecraft: Challenger.

  Attempted capture of Solar Max satellite.

• 1984 Apr 11 - EVA STS-41-C  Crew: Nelson, van Hoften. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.30 days. Spacecraft: Challenger.

  Successfully captured and repaired Solar Max satellite.

• 1984 Apr 13 - Landing of STS-41-C 

  STS-41-C landed at 13:38 GMT.

• McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page, Harvard University, 1997-present. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited and over 20,000 rocket launches Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.

• USAF Satellite Database, USAF Institute of Technology, 1995. Accessed at: ftp://archive.afit.af.mil/pub/space/.

• Krebs, Gunter, Gunter's Space Page, University of Frankfurt, 1996. Accessed at: http://www.skyrocket.de/space.

• Wilson, Keith T., Spaceflight, "EVA Log 1965-1997", 1998, Volume 40, page 85.

• JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. Accessed at: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html.

• NASA Shuttle Mission Press Kits, NASA, 1981-present. Accessed at: http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/presskit/presskit.htm.

• Furniss, Tim, Manned Spaceflight Log, Jane's, London, 1986. ISBN: 0710604025. Summary of all manned spaceflights up to 1986. Pre-Glasnost, so many 'war stories' of Soviet manned spaceflight are not included. More at amazon.com...

• NASA Report, Press Kit, . Accessed at: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/shuttle_pk/pk/Flight_011_STS-41C_Press_Kit.pdf. -right click to download pdfs!