Author Topic: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops  (Read 65922 times)

Offline Ares67

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And another trip back to 1984  ;) 

STS 41-G - No daring satellite rescue this time, but a large crowd of five men and two women aboard Challenger, releasing NASA's Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS), conducting extensive earth-observation tasks themselves, and even sending two crew members out for a satellite refueling experiment. Canada sent its first man into space and Bob Crippen, only 5 1/2 month after returning from his latest trip, got another chance to finally land a space shuttle orbiter at KSC...
« Last Edit: 01/04/2012 06:21 pm by Ares67 »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #1 on: 01/04/2012 05:21 pm »

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #3 on: 01/04/2012 05:33 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #4 on: 01/04/2012 05:53 pm »
1961 - The first man in space - Russian Yuri Gagarin - was followed by Alan Shepard, the first American in space.

1963 - Russian Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. America sent Sally Ride into orbit in 1983.

1965 - The first walk in space was conducted by a Russian - Alexei Leonov - with American Ed White following hard on his heels.

When NASA announced its plans for Mission 41-G, one remarkable task on the agenda was a spacewalk by Kathy Sullivan - which would have made her the first woman to do so.

But the Russians had other plans: They launched a woman into space aboard Soyuz T-12 on July 17, 1984. And guess what: On July 25, 1984, Svetlana Savitskaya (35) left the Salyut 7 space station for nearly four hours - becoming the first female spacewalker in history.

The Cold War at its best...  ::)
« Last Edit: 01/05/2012 03:28 pm by Ares67 »

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #5 on: 01/04/2012 06:12 pm »
September 13, 1984 – Rollout minus one engine

Challenger returned to launch pad 39A minus its No. 3 engine. It made the 3-1/2 mile trip in just under seven hours, arriving at 5:10 p.m. EDT, according to KSC spokesman George Diller. The engine was removed earlier in the week so technicians could replace potentially defective blades in two high-pressure turbo pumps. Since additional testing remains on one of the pumps, KSC engineers chose to reinstall the engine on the pad. Once on the pad, workers began attaching ground-to-ship cables and conduits, and preparing the craft for a test-firing of its on-board hydraulics-driving auxiliary power units early on the morning of the 14th, followed by a test countdown and an engine ignition test scheduled for the 15th.(Today, Sep. 14, 1984)
« Last Edit: 01/04/2012 06:14 pm by Ares67 »

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #6 on: 01/04/2012 06:17 pm »

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #7 on: 01/04/2012 06:19 pm »
September 15, 1984 – Ready when you are

Shuttle flight and ground teams successfully completed a mock launch Countdown, clearing the way for the impending departure of Challenger in early October. Mock ignition of Challenger's main engines came on time at 11 a.m. EDT.The test came just two days after the shuttle was brought to launch pad 39A. That's the shortest interval yet between rolling the shuttle to the pad and staging the countdown simulation. The mission, labeled Flight 41-G by NASA, is Challenger's sixth and 13th in the shuttle program. Asked at a padside press conference if he Knew when Challenger would go, Crippen replied, "It'll be ready when the launch team tells us it's ready. But whenever it is, we'll be ready to go." Joining Crippen on the October flight [his fourth] will be mission specialist Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. Ride and Crippen flew together aboard Challenger in June 1983, and the upcoming flight marks the first time two experienced shuttle fliers. (Today, Sep. 16, 1984)

On September 17 NASA set October 5 as the launch date for Mission 41-G.
« Last Edit: 01/04/2012 06:50 pm by Ares67 »

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #8 on: 01/04/2012 06:44 pm »
October 5, 1984 - Launch Day

Offline Ares67

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #9 on: 01/04/2012 06:49 pm »
PAO: This is Shuttle Launch Control, we have now joined history’s largest crew of astronauts in the Operations & Checkout building as they wait for their breakfast. The seven-person crew is the largest ever to be launched into space by any nation, and in fact is as large as the entire Mercury program astronaut corps was 21 years ago. At the head table in the center is Mission Commander Bob Crippen. And the other members are displayed about him on either side. To Bob Crippen’s immediate left is Sally Ride on her second trip into space. Bob Crippen of course has completed three trips. This will be his fourth mission in space. Seated to Commander Crippen’s right is Kathy Sullivan. She is a space rookie of course on her first mission. And to her right is Canadian Marc Garneau. And we’ll be panning around the table here to see the other crew members as well. This is Jon McBride and Paul Scully-Power, noticeable for his beard. He is a payload specialist and Jon McBride is the pilot on this particular flight. At the opposite end of the table is Mission Specialist 3 David Leestma.

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #10 on: 01/04/2012 06:55 pm »

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #11 on: 01/04/2012 06:57 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #12 on: 01/04/2012 07:02 pm »

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #13 on: 01/04/2012 07:07 pm »
PAO: And we understand that the crew is at this point beginning to make their way out of the crew quarters. And we see Commander Bob Crippen and Sally Ride leaving their crew quarters, followed by Kathy Sullivan and Marc Garneau of Canada, distinctive with a maple leaf flag on his flight suit, Paul Scully-Power with the beard and also followed by George Abbey, several other support team astronauts and security personnel – all climbing into the elevator to go down to the ground floor.

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #14 on: 01/04/2012 07:11 pm »

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #15 on: 01/04/2012 07:15 pm »

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #16 on: 01/04/2012 07:20 pm »

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #17 on: 01/04/2012 07:26 pm »
PAO: Crew now leaving the Operations & Checkout Building lead by the two women on this flight, Kathy Sullivan and Sally Ride. Commander Crippen and all the other crew members are history’s largest astronaut crew, climbing into the astronaut van, which is a modified camper-style vehicle. Incidentally that camper vehicle was purchased by NASA because of the increasing size of Shuttle flight crews. The former vehicles were proofing just too small to carry all the people for the 9-mile trip out to the launch pad. The crew is being sent off by a crowd of media representatives and employees which traditionally gather at the walkway leaving the Operations & Checkout Building. And the astrovan will move off in just a few seconds for the 9-mile trip out to launch pad 39A.

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #18 on: 01/04/2012 07:28 pm »

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Re: Challenger STS 41-G - Earth Watching and Refueling Stops
« Reply #19 on: 01/04/2012 07:31 pm »

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