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On Feb. 12, 1984, astronaut Bruce McCandless, ventured further away from the confines and safety of his ship than any previous astronaut had ever been. This space first was made possible by a nitrogen jet propelled backpack, previously known at NASA as the Manned Manuevering Unit or MMU.
After a series of test maneuvers inside and above Challenger's payload bay, McCandless went "free-flying" to a distance of 320 feet away from the Orbiter. This stunning orbital panorama view shows McCandless out there amongst the black and blue of Earth and space.
Space shuttle Challenger's third flight was the first to have its beginnings in darkness, as NASA's eighth space shuttle launch lit up the Florida sky at 2:32 a.m. EDT, Aug. 30, 1983. The STS-8 crew consisted of Commander Richard Truly, pilot Daniel Brandenstein, and mission specialists Dale Gardner, Guy Bluford and William Thornton.
On Jan. 28, 1986, Challenger and its crew were lost when a booster engine failed, causing the shuttle to break apart just 73 seconds after launch.
WASHINGTON -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will travel to his home state of South Carolina Monday, March 21, to participate in the dedication of the Dr. Ronald E. McNair Life History Center in LakeCity.
McNair, a LakeCity native, was a member of the space shuttle Challenger crew lost in the January 1986 accident.
Bolden, who was inspired by McNair to join the astronaut corps, will deliver remarks during a program beginning at at the center, which is located at the corner of Singletary Ave. and East Main St. in LakeCity. Also speaking are Sen. Lindsey Graham, LakeCity mayor The Honorable Lovith Anderson, and McNair’s widow Cheryl.
The Ronald E. McNair Memorial Foundation is sponsoring the event, which is open to the public and reporters. To attend, journalists should contact Grey Hautaluoma at grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov or 202-236-7965.
Bolden's biography is available at http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/bolden_bio.html.
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit http://www.nasa.gov.
Astronauts Story Musgrave, left, and Don Peterson float in the cargo bay of the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Challenger during their April 7, 1983, spacewalk on the STS-6 mission. Their "floating" is restricted via tethers to safety slide wires. Thanks to the tether and slide wire combination, Peterson is able to translate, or move, along the port side hand rails.
First called STA-099, Challenger was built to serve as a test vehicle for the Space Shuttle program. Challenger, the second orbiter to join NASA's Space Shuttle fleet, arrived at KennedySpaceCenter in Florida in July 1982.
Challenger launched on her maiden voyage, STS-6, on April 4, 1983 and saw the first spacewalk of the shuttle program, as well as the deployment of the first satellite--the Tracking and Data Relay System. The orbiter launched the first American woman, Sally Ride, into space on mission STS-7 and was the first to carry two U.S. female astronauts on mission STS-41-G.
The first orbiter to launch and land at night on mission STS-8, Challenger also made the first Space Shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center, concluding mission STS 41-B. Spacelabs 2 and 3 flew aboard the ship on missions STS 51-F and STS 51-B, as did the first German-dedicated Spacelab on STS 61-A. A host of scientific experiments and satellite deployments were performed during Challenger's missions.
Challenger's service to America's space program ended in tragedy on Jan. 28, 1986. Just 73 seconds into mission STS-51L, a booster failure caused an explosion that resulted in the loss of seven astronauts, as well as the vehicle.
This image taken by the panoramic camera aboard the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows the rover's empty lander, the Challenger Memorial Station, at Meridiani Planum, Mars. The image was acquired on the rover's 24 sol, or Martian day. Time. This mosaic image consists of 12 color images acquired with the camera's red, green and blue filters. The color balance has been set to approximate the colors that a human eye would see. Opportunity is celebrating its seventh anniversary on the Red Planet, having landed on Jan. 25, 2004, Universal Time (Jan. 24, Pacific Time), for what was to be a 90-day mission.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell This article was sponsored by Police Technology.
WASHINGTON -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver will lay a wreath at the ArlingtonNationalCemetery in Virginia at , Thursday, Jan. 27, to commemorate the agency's National Day of Remembrance.
NASA has an agency-wide Day of Remembrance every January to honor the fallen crews of Apollo 1, space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, and all of those who have given their lives in the cause of exploration.
Journalists who want to attend the wreath-laying ceremony must contact the ArlingtonNationalCemetery public affairs office at dave.foster1@us.army.mil by , Jan. 26, for access information.
At , NASA's Kennedy Space Center Director and former astronaut Bob Cabana will take part in a wreath-laying at the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The ceremony is open to media representatives and the general public.
At NASA's JohnsonSpaceCenter in Houston, Center Director Michael L. Coats will be joined by astronaut family members to lay a wreath at the Astronaut Memorial Tree Grove at on Jan. 27. Media representatives interested in covering the memorial should contact the Johnson newsroom by on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 281-483-5111.
Friday, Jan. 28, marks the 25th anniversary of the Challenger accident. At , the Astronauts Memorial Foundation will hold a remembrance service honoring the STS-51L crew members at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. NASA Television will provide live coverage of the event, which will take place at the visitor complex's Space Mirror Memorial.
Speakers at the event include Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for Space Operations; June Scobee Rodgers, widow of STS-51L Commander Dick Scobee; Robert Cabana, former astronaut and director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center; and Michael McCulley, former astronaut and chairman of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation.
Journalists interested in covering the Jan. 27th wreath-laying or the Jan. 28 memorial should contact Andrea Farmer at 321-449-4318 or Jillian McRae at 321-449-4273 for access information. The public also is invited to attend the service. The Kennedy Visitor Complex will provide flowers for all ceremony guests and visitors throughout the day to place at the memorial.
Challenger's seven astronauts died shortly after launch on Jan. 28, 1986. The crew consisted of Commander Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialists Judith A. Resnik, Ellison S. Onizuka, and Ronald E. McNair, and Payload Specialists Gregory B. Jarvis and Sharon Christa McAuliffe.
The Astronauts Memorial Foundation, a private, not-for-profit organization, built and maintains the Space Mirror Memorial. The memorial was dedicated in 1991 to honor all astronauts who lost their lives on missions or during training. It since has been designated a National Memorial by Congress.
To view an online tribute, including photographs, videos and information about the crew members on Apollo 1 and shuttle Challenger and Columbia, visit http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/dor11/.
For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.
On Feb. 12, 1984, astronaut Bruce McCandless, ventured further away from the confines and safety of his ship than any previous astronaut had ever been. This space first was made possible by a nitrogen jet propelled backpack, previously known at NASA as the Manned Manuevering Unit or MMU.
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