STS-51-C

Ken Mattingly

• Birthday: 03/17/1936
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/16/1972
• Last Flight: 01/24/1985

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

• Birthday: 09/23/1944
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 01/24/1985
• Last Flight: 07/31/1992

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

Gary Payton

• Birthday: 06/20/1948
• Role: Payload Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 01/24/1985
• Last Flight: 01/24/1985

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.

Ellison Onizuka

• Birthday: 06/24/1946
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 01/24/1985
• Last Flight: 01/28/1986

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

• Birthday: 06/20/1945
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 01/24/1985
• Last Flight: 09/12/1991

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

STS-51-C

• Type: Government/Top Secret
• Orbit: Low Earth Orbit
• Launch Cost: $450,000,000

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.

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.