STS-8Space Shuttle Challenger / OV-099 Rockwell International Launch Status Success Tue · Aug 30th, 1983 2:32 AM EDT Watch Online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4whYuh8t8IM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI8jzHHEyG0 Crew Richard H. Truly Commander Status: Retired 11/12/1937 - Nationality: American Type: Government Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration 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 Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration 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 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. Dale Gardner Mission Specialist Status: Deceased 11/8/1948 - 2/19/2014 Nationality: American Type: Government Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Dale Allan Gardner was a NASA astronaut who flew two Space Shuttle missions during the early 1980s. William E. Thornton Mission Specialist Status: Retired 4/14/1929 - Nationality: American Type: Government Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration 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 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 Rockwell International Type: Commercial Abbreviation: ROI Administration: Founded: Launchers: Spacecraft: Country: USA View Rocket Launch Schedule