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Bobko Grabe Hilmers Pailes Stewart

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STS-51-J Credit - NASA Media Gallery

3 October 1985 15:21 GMT. Landing Date: 1985-10-07 17:07:06. Flight Time: 4.07 days. Flight Up: STS-51-J. Flight Back: STS-51-J. Call Sign: Atlantis. Crew: Bobko, Grabe, Hilmers, Pailes, Stewart. Program: STS.

Of note: First flight of shuttle Atlantis. Manned five crew. Atlantis (first flight); deployed USA 11, USA 12. Reusable space transportation system.

Orbits of Earth: 63. Landed at: Runway 23 dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, . Touchdown miss distance: 754.00 m. Landing Rollout: 2,455.00 m. Payloads: Classified DoD Mission - Record altitude (as of 5/93).

NASA Official Mission Narrative

Mission Name: 51-J (21)
Atlantis (1)
Pad 39-A (33)
21st Shuttle mission
1st Flight OV-104

Crew:
Karol J. Bobko (3), Commander
Ronald J. Grabe (1), Pilot
David C. Hilmers (1), Mission Specialist 1
Robert L. Stewart (2), Mission Specialist 2
William A. Pailes (1), Payload Specialist 1

Milestones:
OPF - April 14, 1985
VAB - May 10, 1985
(storage)
OPF - May 28, 1985
VAB - July 18, 1985
(storage)
OPF - July 30, 1985
VAB - Aug. 12, 1985
PAD - Aug. 30, 1985

Payload:
DoD(2)
Mission Objectives:

Launch:
October 3, 1985, 11:15:30 am EDT. Launch delayed 22 minutes, 30 seconds due to main engine liquid hydrogen prevalve close remote power controller showing faulty 'on' indication. Launch Weight: Classified.
Orbit:
Altitude: 319nm
Inclination: 28.5 degrees
Orbits: 64
Duration: 4 days, 1 hour, 44 minutes, 38 seconds.
Distance: 1,725,000 miles

Hardware:
SRB: BI-021
SRM: L021(HPM)
ET : 25/LWT-18
MLP : 2
SSME-1: SN-2011
SSME-2: SN-2019
SSME-3: SN-2017

Landing:
October 7,1985,10:00:08 a.m. PDT, Runway 23, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Rollout distance: 8,056 feet. Rollout time: 65 seconds. Orbiter returned to KSC Oct. 11,1985. Landing Weight: 190,400 lbs.

Mission Highlights:
Second mission dedicated to Department of Defense.

• 1985 Oct 3 - STS-51-J  Crew: Bobko, Grabe, Hilmers, Pailes, Stewart. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Payload: Atlantis F01 / DSCS-3 2 / DSCS-3 3 [IUS]. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Duration: 4.07 days. Perigee: 476 km (295 mi). Apogee: 486 km (301 mi). Inclination: 28.50 deg. Period: 94.20 min.

  Manned five crew. Atlantis (first flight); deployed USA 11, USA 12. Reusable space transportation system.

  Orbits of Earth: 63. Landed at: Runway 23 dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, . Touchdown miss distance: 754.00 m. Landing Rollout: 2,455.00 m. Payloads: Classified DoD Mission - Record altitude (as of 5/93).

• 1985 Oct 7 - Landing of STS-51-J 

  STS-51-J landed at 17:07 GMT.

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

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

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

• 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/.