STS-61-ASpace Shuttle Challenger / OV-099 Lockheed Space Operations Company Launch Status Success Wed · Oct 30th, 1985 12:00 PM EST Watch Online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bxBjqvnmjM Crew Guion Bluford Mission Specialist Status: Retired 11/22/1942 - Nationality: American Type: Government Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Guion Stewart Bluford Jr., Ph.D. is an American aerospace engineer, retired U.S. Air Force officer and fighter pilot, and former NASA astronaut, who was the first African American in space.[1] Before becoming an astronaut, he was an officer in the U.S. Air Force, where he remained while assigned to NASA, rising to the rank of Colonel. He participated in four Space Shuttle flights between 1983 and 1992. In 1983, as a member of the crew of the Orbiter Challenger on the mission STS-8, he became the first African American in space as well as the second person of African ancestry in space, after Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez. Henry 'Hank' Hartsfield Commander Status: Deceased 11/21/1933 - 7/14/2014 Nationality: American Type: Government Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Henry Warren "Hank" Hartsfield Jr. was a United States Air Force officer and a USAF and NASA astronaut who logged over 480 hours in space. Hartsfield became a NASA astronaut in September 1969. Hartsfield was the pilot on STS-4, the fourth and final orbital test flight of the shuttle Columbia. James Buchli Mission Specialist Status: Retired 6/20/1945 - Nationality: American Type: Government Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration James Frederick Buchli is a retired United States Marine aviator and former NASA astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle missions. Steven R. Nagel Pilot Status: Deceased 10/27/1946 - 8/21/2014 Nationality: American Type: Government Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Steven Ray Nagel was an American astronaut, aeronautical and mechanical engineer, test pilot, and a United States Air Force pilot. Bonnie J. Dunbar Mission Specialist Status: Retired 3/3/1949 - Nationality: American Type: Government Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar is a former NASA astronaut. She retired from NASA in September 2005 then served as president and CEO of The Museum of Flight until April 2010. From January 2013 - December 2015, Dr. Dunbar lead the University of Houston's STEM Center (science, technology, engineering and math) and was a faculty member in the Cullen College of Engineering.[1] Currently, she is a professor of aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University and serves as Director of the Institute for Engineering Education and Innovation (IEEI), a joint entity in the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and the Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. Reinhard Furrer Payload Specialist Status: Deceased 11/25/1940 - 9/9/1995 Nationality: German Type: Government Agency: German Aerospace Center Prof. Dr. Reinhard Alfred Furrer (25 November 1940 – 9 September 1995) was a German physicist and astronaut. In 1977 Furrer applied for selection as an astronaut for the first Spacelab mission. He made it into the final round of candidates, although Ulf Merbold was finally selected. In 1982, the astronauts for the first German Spacelab mission were selected from the finalists for the first mission, and Furrer was one of the two chosen. He was a payload specialist on STS-61-A (D1), which was launched on 30 October 1985. The other payload specialists on the flight were Ernst Messerschmid and Wubbo Ockels (Netherlands). Ernst Messerschmid Payload Specialist Status: Retired 5/21/1945 - Nationality: German Type: Government Agency: German Aerospace Center Ernst Willi Messerschmid (born May 21, 1945) is a German physicist and former astronaut. From 1978 to 1982, he worked at the DFVLR (the precursor of the DLR) in the Institute of Communications Technology in Oberpfaffenhofen on space-borne communications. In 1983, he was selected as one of the astronauts for the first German Spacelab mission D-1. He flew as payload specialist on STS-61-A in 1985, spending over 168 hours in space. Wubbo Ockels Payload Specialist Status: Deceased 3/28/1946 - 5/18/2014 Nationality: Dutch Type: Government Agency: European Space Agency Dr Wubbo Johannes Ockels (28 March 1946 – 18 May 2014) was a Dutch physicist and an astronaut of the European Space Agency (ESA). In 1985 he participated in a flight on the Space Shuttle Challenger, STS-61-A, making him the first Dutch citizen in space. Mission STS-61-A Location Launch Complex 39A Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA 182 launches have been at this location. Rocket Space Shuttle Challenger OV-099 Length: 38.1 meters Diameter: 8.4 meters First Launched: 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 Lockheed Space Operations Company Type: Commercial Abbreviation: LSOC Administration: Founded: Launchers: Spacecraft: Country: USA View Rocket Launch Schedule