STS-6

Crew

Paul J. Weitz

Commander

Status: Deceased
7/25/1932 - 10/22/2017
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 5/25/1973
Last Flight: 4/4/1983

Paul Joseph Weitz was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, who flew into space twice. He was a member of the three-man crew who flew on Skylab 2, the first manned Skylab mission. He was also Commander of the STS-6 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle Challenger flights.

Karol J. Bobko

Pilot

Status: Retired
12/23/1937 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 4/4/1983
Last Flight: 10/3/1985

Karol Joseph "Bo" Bobko is an American aerospace engineer, retired U.S. Air Force officer, test pilot, and a former USAF and NASA astronaut.

Story Musgrave

Mission Specialist

Status: Retired
8/19/1935 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 4/4/1983
Last Flight: 11/19/1996

Franklin Story Musgrave, M.D. is an American physician and a retired NASA astronaut. He is a public speaker[2] and consultant to both Disney's Imagineering group and Applied Minds in California. In 1996 he became only the second astronaut to fly on six spaceflights, and he is the most formally educated astronaut with six academic degrees.

Donald H. Peterson

Mission Specialist

Status: Deceased
10/22/1933 - 5/27/2018
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 4/4/1983
Last Flight: 4/4/1983

Donald Herod Peterson was a United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut. Peterson was originally selected for the Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program, but, when that was canceled, he became a NASA astronaut in September 1969. He was a mission specialist on STS-6 on board Challenger. During the mission Peterson performed a spacewalk to test the new airlock and space suits. He logged 120 hours in space. Peterson retired from NASA in 1984.

Mission

STS-6

Type: Communications

STS-6 was the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. It deployed the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite into orbit for NASA, forming an integral part of NASAs in-space 10. It was also the first Space Shuttle mission involving a spacewalk. It was the first mission in which the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) was used.

Location

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

185 rockets have launched from Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA.

Rocket

Space Shuttle Challenger OV-099

Length: 38.1 meters
Diameter: 8.4 meters
First Launch: April 4, 1983

Space Shuttle Challenger was the second orbiter of NASA’s space shuttle program to be put into service following Columbia. Its maiden flight, STS-6, started on April 4, 1983. It launched and landed nine times before breaking apart 73 seconds into its tenth mission, STS-51-L, on January 28, 1986, resulting in the death of all seven crew members, including a civilian school teacher. It was the first of two shuttles to be destroyed in flight, the other being Columbia in 2003.

The Space Shuttle Challenger OV-099 rocket has been launched a total of 10 times with 9 successful and 1 failed launches.

Agency

Rockwell International

Type: Commercial
Abbreviation: ROI

Country: USA