STS-8

Crew

Richard H. Truly

Commander

Status: Retired
11/12/1937 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 11/12/1981
Last Flight: 8/30/1983

Richard Harrison Truly is a retired Vice Admiral in the United States Navy, a former fighter pilot, former astronaut for both the United States Air Force and NASA, and was the eighth Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from 1989 to 1992. He was the first former astronaut to head the space agency.

After his departure from NASA, he led the Georgia Tech Research Institute from 1992 to 1997, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory from 1997 to 2005.

Daniel Brandenstein

Pilot

Status: Retired
1/17/1943 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 8/30/1983
Last Flight: 5/7/1992

Daniel Charles Brandenstein is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of United Space Alliance. He is a former Naval Aviator, test pilot and NASA astronaut, who flew four Space Shuttle missions.

Guion Bluford

Mission Specialist

Status: Retired
11/22/1942 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 8/30/1983
Last Flight: 12/2/1992

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.

Dale Gardner

Mission Specialist

Status: Deceased
11/8/1948 - 2/19/2014
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 8/30/1983
Last Flight: 11/8/1984

Dale Allan Gardner was a NASA astronaut who flew two Space Shuttle missions during the early 1980s.

William E. Thornton

Mission Specialist

Status: Deceased
4/14/1929 - 1/14/2020
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 8/30/1983
Last Flight: 4/29/1985

William Edgar Thornton is a former NASA astronaut.

Mission

STS-8

Type: Communications

STS-8 was the third mission of Space Shuttle Challenger. It deployed an Indian 10 and Weather satellite. It was the first night launch and night landing of the Shuttle program. It also carried the first African-American astronaut; Guion Bluford.

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