STS-51-C

Crew

Ken Mattingly

Commander

Status: Retired
3/17/1936 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 4/16/1972
Last Flight: 1/24/1985

Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II better known as Ken Mattingly, is a former American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, Rear Admiral in the United States Navy and astronaut who flew on the Apollo 16, STS-4 and STS-51-C missions. He had been scheduled to fly on Apollo 13, but was held back due to concerns about a potential illness (which he did not contract). He later flew as Command Module Pilot for Apollo 16, making him one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon.

Loren Shriver

Pilot

Status: Retired
9/23/1944 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 1/24/1985
Last Flight: 7/31/1992

Loren James Shriver is a former NASA astronaut, aviator, and a retired US Air Force Colonel.

Ellison Onizuka

Mission Specialist

Status: Lost In Flight
6/24/1946 - 1/28/1986
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 1/24/1985
Last Flight: 1/28/1986

Ellison Shoji Onizuka (鬼塚 承次 Onizuka Shōji) was an American astronaut from Kealakekua, Hawaii, who successfully flew into space with the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51-C. He died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger, on which he was serving as Mission Specialist for mission STS-51-L. He was the first Asian American and the first person of Japanese ancestry to reach space.

James Buchli

Mission Specialist

Status: Retired
6/20/1945 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 1/24/1985
Last Flight: 9/12/1991

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

Gary Payton

Payload Specialist

Status: Retired
6/20/1948 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 1/24/1985
Last Flight: 1/24/1985

Colonel Gary Eugene Payton, USAF, (born June 20, 1948) is an American former astronaut.
Payton flew on the STS-51-C mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in January 1985 which launched and returned to land at the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. STS-51C was the first dedicated Space Shuttle Department of Defense mission. Payton traveled over 1.2 million miles in 48 Earth orbits, and logged more than 73 hours in space.

Mission

STS-51-C

Type: Government/Top Secret

STS-51-C was the fifteenth flight of the shuttle program and third for the Space Shuttle Discovery. It was the first space shuttle mission dedicated to the United States Department of Defense and therefore, the mission details remain classified.

Location

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

185 rockets have launched from Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA.

Rocket

Space Shuttle Discovery OV-103

Length: 38.1 meters
Diameter: 8.4 meters
First Launch: August 30, 1984

Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the orbiters from NASA’s Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service it launched and landed 39 times, gathering more spaceflights than any other spacecraft to date.

The Space Shuttle Discovery OV-103 rocket has been launched a total of 38 times with 38 successful and 0 failed launches.

Agency

Lockheed Space Operations Company

Type: Commercial
Abbreviation: LSOC

Country: USA