STS-7 was NASA's seventh Space Shuttle mission, and the second mission for the Space Shuttle Challenger. During the mission, Challenger deployed several satellites into orbit. The shuttle launched from Kennedy Space Center on June 18, 1983, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base on June 24, 1983. STS-7 carried Sally Ride, America's first female astronaut.
![]() Challenger as photographed by the SPAS-1 satellite on June 22, 1983 | |
Names | Space Transportation System-7 |
---|---|
Mission type |
|
Operator | NASA |
COSPAR ID | 1983-059A ![]() |
SATCAT no. | 14132 |
Mission duration | 6 days, 2 hours, 23 minutes, 59 seconds (achieved) |
Distance travelled | 3,570,000 km (2,220,000 mi) |
Orbits completed | 97 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Challenger |
Launch mass | 113,025 kg (249,177 lb) |
Landing mass | 92,550 kg (204,040 lb) |
Payload mass | 16,839 kg (37,124 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 5 |
Members | |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | June 18, 1983, 11:33:00 UTC |
Rocket | Space Shuttle Challenger |
Launch site | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A |
Contractor | Rockwell International |
End of mission | |
Landing date | June 24, 1983, 13:56:59 UTC |
Landing site | Edwards Air Force Base, Runway 15 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Perigee altitude | 299 km (186 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 307 km (191 mi) |
Inclination | 28.30° |
Period | 90.60 minutes |
Instruments | |
| |
![]() STS-7 mission patch ![]() Ride, Fabian, Crippen, Thagard, Hauck Space Shuttle program |
Position | Astronaut | |
---|---|---|
Commander | Robert Crippen Second spaceflight | |
Pilot | Frederick Hauck First spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 1 | John M. Fabian First spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 2 | Sally Ride First spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 3 | Norman Thagard First spaceflight |
Seat [1] | Launch | Landing | ![]() >Seats 1–4 are on the Flight Deck. Seats 5–7 are on the Middeck. |
---|---|---|---|
S1 | Crippen | Crippen | |
S2 | Hauck | Hauck | |
S3 | Fabian | Fabian | |
S4 | Ride | Ride | |
S5 | Thagard | Thagard |
STS-7 began on June 18, 1983, with an on-time liftoff at 07:33:00 a.m. EDT. It was the first spaceflight of an American woman (Ride), the largest crew to fly in a single spacecraft up to that time (five people), and the first flight that included members of NASA's Group 8 astronaut class, which had been selected in 1978 to fly the Space Shuttle. President Ronald Reagan also sent his personal favorite Jelly Belly jelly beans with the astronauts, making them the first jelly beans in space. The crew had already ate lunch with the president at the White House on June 1, the first time that a crew did so before launch rather than after.[2]
The crew of STS-7 included Robert Crippen, commander, making his second Shuttle flight; Frederick Hauck, pilot; and Sally Ride, John M. Fabian and Norman Thagard, all mission specialists. Thagard conducted medical tests concerning Space adaptation syndrome, a bout of nausea frequently experienced by astronauts during the early phase of a space flight.
Two communications satellites – Anik C2 for Telesat of Canada, and Palapa B1 for Indonesia – were successfully deployed during the first two days of the mission; both were Hughes-built HS-376-series satellites. The mission also carried the first Shuttle pallet satellite (SPAS-1), which was built by the West German aerospace firm Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB). SPAS-1 was unique in that it was designed to operate in the payload bay or be deployed by the Remote Manipulator System (Canadarm) as a free-flying satellite. It carried 10 experiments to study formation of metal alloys in microgravity, the operation of heat pipes, instruments for remote sensing observations, and a mass spectrometer to identify various gases in the payload bay. It was deployed by the Canadarm and flew alongside and over Challenger for several hours, performing various maneuvers, while a U.S.-supplied camera mounted on SPAS-1 took pictures of the orbiter. The Canadarm later grappled the pallet and returned it to the payload bay.
STS-7 also carried seven Getaway Special (GAS) canisters, which contained a wide variety of experiments, as well as the OSTA-2 payload, a joint U.S.-West Germany scientific pallet payload. Finally, the orbiter's Ku-band antenna was able to relay data through the U.S. tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS) to a ground terminal for the first time.
STS-7 was scheduled to make the first orbiter landing at Kennedy Space Center's then-new Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF). Unacceptable weather forced a change to Runway 15 at Edwards Air Force Base. The landing took place on June 24, 1983, at 06:56:59 a.m. PDT. The mission lasted 6 days, 2 hours, 23 minutes, and 59 seconds, and covered about 3,570,000 km (2,220,000 mi) during 97 orbits of the Earth. Challenger was returned to KSC on June 29, 1983.
STS-7 experienced the first known Space Shuttle external tank (ET) bipod ramp foam shedding event during launch. This was the root cause of the eventual loss of Columbia during STS-107 almost two decades later. While Challenger was on-orbit, one of its windows was damaged non-critically by space debris.[3]
The seven white stars in the black field of the mission patch, as well as the arm extending from the orbiter in the shape of a 7, indicate the flight's numerical designation in the Space Transportation System's mission sequence. The five-armed symbol on the right side illustrates the four male/one female crew.
NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the Project Gemini, and first used music to wake up a flight crew during Apollo 15. Each track is specially chosen, often by the astronauts' families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.[4]
Flight Day | Song | Artist/Composer | Played for |
---|---|---|---|
Day 2 | "University of Texas Fight Song" | University of Texas band | Bob Crippen |
Day 3 | "Tufts Tonia's Day" | The Tufts University Beelzebubs | Rick Hauck |
Day 4 | "When You're Smiling" | ||
Day 5 | "Washington State University Cougar Fight Song" | Washington State University Band | John Fabian |
Day 6 | "Stanford Hymn" | Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band | Sally Ride |
Day 7 | "Florida State University Fight Song" | Florida State University Marching Chiefs. | Norm Thagard |
Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099) | ||
---|---|---|
Flights | ||
Status |
| |
Related |
|
U.S. Space Shuttle missions | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Completed (crews) |
| ||||||||||
Cancelled |
| ||||||||||
Orbiters |
| ||||||||||
|
← 1982 · Orbital launches in 1983 · 1984 → | |
---|---|
Kosmos 1428 | Kosmos 1429 · Kosmos 1430 · Kosmos 1431 · Kosmos 1432 · Kosmos 1433 · Kosmos 1434 · Kosmos 1435 · Kosmos 1436 | Kosmos 1437 | Unnamed | IRAS · PIX-2 | Kosmos 1438 | Sakura 2a | Kosmos 1439 | OPS 0252 · OPS 0252 SSU-1 · OPS 0252 SSU-2 · OPS 0252 SSU-3 · LIPS-2 | Kosmos 1440 | Kosmos 1441 | Tenma | Kosmos 1442 | Kosmos 1443 | Kosmos 1444 | Molniya-3 No.34 | Ekran No.18L | Kosmos 1445 | Kosmos 1446 | Molniya-1-56 | Astron | Kosmos 1447 | NOAA-8 | Kosmos 1448 | Kosmos 1449 | Molniya-1 No.68 | STS-6 (TDRS-1) | Kosmos 1450 | Gran' No.23L | Kosmos 1451 | Satcom 1R | Kosmos 1452 | OPS 2925 | Rohini RS-D2 | Kosmos 1453 | Soyuz T-8 | Kosmos 1454 | Kosmos 1455 | Kosmos 1456 | Kosmos 1457 | Kosmos 1458 | GOES 6 | Kosmos 1459 | Kosmos 1460 | Kosmos 1461 | Kosmos 1462 | Kosmos 1463 | Intelsat V F-6 | Kosmos 1464 | Kosmos 1465 | Kosmos 1466 | EXOSAT | Kosmos 1467 | Venera 15 | Venera 16 | Kosmos 1468 | OPS 6432 · OPS 6432 SSU-1 · OPS 6432 SSU-2 · OPS 6432 SSU-3 | Kosmos 1469 | ECS-1 · OSCAR-10 | STS-7 (Anik C2 · Palapa B1 · SPAS-01 · OSTA-2) | OPS 0721 · OPS 3899 | Kosmos 1470 | Soyuz T-9 | HILAT | Kosmos 1471 | Galaxy 1 | Gorizont No.17L | Prognoz 9 | Kosmos 1472 | Kosmos 1473 · Kosmos 1474 · Kosmos 1475 · Kosmos 1476 · Kosmos 1477 · Kosmos 1478 · Kosmos 1479 · Kosmos 1480 | Kosmos 1481 | Kosmos 1482 | OPS 7994 | Molniya-1 No.66 | Kosmos 1483 | Kosmos 1484 | Kosmos 1485 | Telstar 301 | OPS 7304 | Kosmos 1486 | Kosmos 1487 | Sakura 2b | Kosmos 1488 | Kosmos 1489 | Kosmos 1490 · Kosmos 1491 · Kosmos 1492 | Progress 17 | Fanhui Shi Weixing 6 | Kosmos 1493 | Gran' No.24L | STS-8 (INSAT-1B) | Molniya-3 No.32 | Kosmos 1494 | Kosmos 1495 | Kosmos 1496 | Satcom 2R | Kosmos 1497 | Kosmos 1498 | Kosmos 1499 | Galaxy-2 | Soyuz 7K-ST No. 16L | Kosmos 1500 | Ekran No.25L | Kosmos 1501 | Kosmos 1502 | Kosmos 1503 | Kosmos 1504 | Intelsat V F-7 | Progress 18 | Kosmos 1505 | Kosmos 1506 | Meteor-2 No.10 | Kosmos 1507 | Kosmos 1508 | Kosmos 1509 | OPS 1294 | Molniya-1 No.48 | Kosmos 1510 | STS-9 | Kosmos 1511 | Gorizont No.18L | Kosmos 1512 | Kosmos 1513 | Kosmos 1514 | Kosmos 1515 | Molniya-3 No.35 | Kosmos 1516 | Kosmos 1517 | Kosmos 1518 | Kosmos 1519 · Kosmos 1520 · Kosmos 1521 | |
Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Crewed flights are indicated in underline. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets). |