STS-8

Richard H. Truly

• Birthday: 11/12/1937
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 11/12/1981
• Last Flight: 08/30/1983

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

• Birthday: 01/17/1943
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/30/1983
• Last Flight: 05/07/1992

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.

Dale Gardner

• Birthday: 11/08/1948
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/30/1983
• Last Flight: 11/08/1984

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

William E. Thornton

• Birthday: 04/14/1929
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/30/1983
• Last Flight: 04/29/1985

William Edgar Thornton is a former NASA astronaut.

Guion Bluford

• Birthday: 11/22/1942
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• 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 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.

STS-8

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

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.

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A has witnessed the launch of 174 rockets, including 173 orbital launch attempts, while Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA, has been the site for 232 rocket launches.

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.