STS-51-C

Name: Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-51-C
Start: 1985-01-24T13:04:00+00:00
End: 1985-01-24T14:04:00+00:00
Location: Launch Complex 39A

Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103

Lockheed Space Operations Company

Launch Status

Success

Thu • Jan 24th, 1985
1:04 PM UTC

Crew

Ken Mattingly

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

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.

Gary Payton

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.

Ellison Onizuka

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

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.

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.