STS-61-C

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Mission emblem
Mission emblem STS-61-C
Mission dates
Mission: STS-61-C
COSPAR-ID : 1986-003A
Crew: 7th
Begin: January 12, 1986, 11:55:00  UTC
Starting place: Kennedy Space Center , LC-39A
Landing: January 18, 1986, 13:58:51 UTC
Landing place: Edwards Air Force Base , Runway 22
Flight duration: 6d 2h 3m 51s
Earth orbits: 98
Track height: 393 km
Orbit inclination : 28.5 °
Covered track: 4.0 million km
Payload: SATCOM KU-1
Team photo
v. l. No. Robert Cenker, Charles Bolden, Bill Nelson, Steven Hawley, George Nelson, Robert Gibson, Franklin Chang-Diaz
v. l. No. Robert Cenker, Charles Bolden, Bill Nelson, Steven Hawley, George Nelson, Robert Gibson, Franklin Chang-Diaz
◄ Before / After ►
STS-61-B STS-51-L

STS-61-C ( english S pace T ransportation S ystem ) is a mission designation for the US Space Shuttle Columbia ( OV -102) of NASA . The launch took place on January 12, 1986. It was the 24th space shuttle mission and the seventh flight of the Columbia space shuttle.

team

Main team

replacement

  • Gerard Magilton for Cenker

Start preparations

The original launch date of December 18, 1985 was postponed several times, first by one day, because the Columbia's cargo bay could not be closed. During the take-off attempt on December 19, an incorrect display of a sensor on the launch ramp forced the launch to be aborted at T-14 seconds. A next attempt on January 6th was aborted at T-31 seconds because 1,800 kg of liquid oxygen had been pumped out of the external tank by mistake. On January 7, two emergency landing sites in Spain and Senegal reported poor weather conditions, so the countdown had to be stopped at T-9 minutes. A broken liquid oxygen sensor on the launch pad was responsible for the aborted take-off on January 9, which threatened to block a valve in the shuttle's main engine. Finally, the start date set for January 10 had to be postponed by another two days due to heavy rain in Cape Canaveral .

Mission overview

The mission of the STS-61-C was to put the communications satellite SATCOM KU-1 into orbit. A program for observing Comet Halley could not be carried out as planned due to battery problems in the camera. There were also other experiments on board the shuttle, three of which were part of NASA's SSIP student program.

The landing was originally scheduled for January 17th at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida . In view of the delays at the start, the mission management decided to shorten the mission by one day in order to save time for maintenance work between flights. However, the weather in Florida did not allow a landing on January 16 or on the two following days. Finally, after an additional orbit around the world, the space shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California .

The Columbia was transported back to the Kennedy Space Center for refueling on January 22nd and 23rd by means of one of the two shuttle carrier aircraft with several stopovers.

See also

Web links

Commons : STS-61-C  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Space Shuttle Chronology. NASA, accessed January 30, 2018 .
  2. ^ Shuttle Columbia STS-61-C (24). In: Vectors. Greg Goebel, January 1, 2017, accessed January 30, 2018 .