STS-61-A

Henry 'Hank' Hartsfield

• Birthday: 11/21/1933
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 06/27/1982
• Last Flight: 10/30/1985

Henry Warren "Hank" Hartsfield Jr. was a United States Air Force officer and a USAF and NASA astronaut who logged o...

Steven R. Nagel

• Birthday: 10/27/1946
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 06/17/1985
• Last Flight: 04/26/1993

Steven Ray Nagel was an American astronaut, aeronautical and mechanical engineer, test pilot, and a United States Air Force p...

Ernst Messerschmid

• Birthday: 05/21/1945
• Role: Payload Specialist
• Nationality: Germany
• First Flight: 10/30/1985
• Last Flight: 10/30/1985

Ernst Willi Messerschmid (born May 21, 1945) is a German physicist and former astronaut.
From 1978 to 1982, he worked...

Reinhard Furrer

• Birthday: 11/25/1940
• Role: Payload Specialist
• Nationality: Germany
• First Flight: 10/30/1985
• Last Flight: 10/30/1985

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Alfred Furrer (25 November 1940 – 9 September 1995) was a German physicist and astronaut.
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Wubbo Ockels

• Birthday: 03/28/1946
• Role: Payload Specialist
• Nationality: Netherlands
• First Flight: 10/30/1985
• Last Flight: 10/30/1985

Dr Wubbo Johannes Ockels (28 March 1946 – 18 May 2014) was a Dutch physicist and an astronaut of the European Space Agency ...

Guion Bluford

• Birthday: 11/22/1942
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 08/30/1983
• Last Flight: 12/02/1992

Guion Stewart Bluford Jr., Ph.D. is an American aerospace engineer, retired U.S. Air Force officer and fighter pilot, and for...

James Buchli

• Birthday: 06/20/1945
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 01/24/1985
• Last Flight: 09/12/1991

James Frederick Buchli is a retired United States Marine aviator and former NASA astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle mis...

Bonnie J. Dunbar

• Birthday: 03/03/1949
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 10/30/1985
• Last Flight: 01/23/1998

Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar is a former NASA astronaut. She retired from NASA in September 2005 then served as president and CEO of ...

Mission

STS-61-A

• Orbit: Low Earth Orbit
• Launch Cost: $450,000,000

STS-61-A was the twenty-second space shuttle flight and ninth for Space Shuttle Challenger. It was a scientific spacelab mission funded entirely by West Germany. The payload operations were controlled from the German Space Operations Center as opposed to the regular NASA centers.

Location

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Find the best place to watch the launch from Florida

Launch Complex 39A has witnessed the launch of 208 rockets, including 207 orbital launch attempts. While Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA, has been the site for 266 rocket launches.

The John F. Kennedy Space Center, located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of NASA's ten field centers. Since 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of American spaceflight, research, and technology. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS).

Rocket

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.

Learn more about the Space Shuttle