Friday, April 3, 1998

STS-6 (Challenger)

 1983-026A


Challenger was prepared for its first mission for the remainder of the year, and was rolled out to the launch pad at the end of November. The first 20 second flight readiness firing was carried out in Dec 1982. During this firing, a hydrogen leak was detected in the aft compartment. A second firing in January, with extra instrumentation, led to the discovery of cracks in main engine fuel lines. The engines were changed out, and the go-ahead was given for a full-fledged launch attempt.

Challenger took off on its first flight on 1983 Apr 4. The external tank impacted at 28.2S, 80.34E. The TDRS-1 satellite was deployed early on Apr 5. On Apr 6 Challenger made an RCS burn in a rendezvous rehearsal. On Apr 7, the first Shuttle spacewalk took place. At 1740, the astronauts entered the airlock to begin a test of the spacesuits and inspect the payload bay. The airlock was depressurized at around 2105; Musgrave exited at 2121 and Peterson egressed at 2126. The astronauts returned to the airlock at 0053 and the airlock was repressurized after 4 h 17 min.


STS-6 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1982 Jul 5    OPF Bay 2 
1982 Nov 22    VAB 
1982 Nov 29   Mate with ET  VAB Bay 3 
1982 Nov 30   Rollout  LC39A 
1982 Dec 18   FRF  LC39A 
1983 Jan 25   FRF-2  LC39A 
1983 Feb 4   Begin SSME removal 
1983 Mar 11   SSMEs reinstalled 
1983 Apr 4  1830:00  Launch  LC39A 
 1832:09  SRB sep, 46.2 km   
 1838:19  MECO at 110.1 km 
 1838:38  ET sep, 111.6 km 
   86.09 4 x 156 x 28.5  
   86.11 4 x 157 x 28.5 (dV)  
 1840:20  OMS 1 (2:15) 66.4m/s  88.29 94 x 286 x 28.5  
 1842:35  OMS 1 CO  88.34 99 x 284 x 28.5 (dV) 
 1913:38  OMS 2 (1:56) 56.4m/s   
 1915:34  OMS-2 CO 
 1916  ET breakup 
 2005  PLBD open 90.27 284 x 291 x 28.47 
 2300  IUS tilt table up 
1983 Apr 5  0431:58  TDRS deploy 
 0450:53  OMS 3 (21s) 12m/s sep  90.71 290 x 327 x 28.5 
 2003:47  OMS 4 (23s) 13m/s  90.21 280 x 289 x 28.5 
  RCS 
1983 Apr 6   RCS 
1983 Apr 7  0618   90.22 279 x 290 x 28.5 
 2103  Battery power 

2105:00  Depress begin 
 2115?  Depress complete 

2121  HO 

2122Peterson egress  
 2126  Musgrave egress 
1983 Apr 8  0050  Ingress Peterson 
 0053  Ingress Musgrave 
 0055?  HC 
 0115  Repress (MR) 
 0122  Off battery power 
  RCS burn (rv practice) 3m/s  90.12 276 x 284 x 28.5 
 1930   90.13 277 x 284 x 28.5 
1983 Apr 9  1018   90.14 276 x 286 x 28.5 

1436  PLBD close 
 1755:00  OMS DO (145s) 89.0m/s 
 1757:25  OMS DO CO 
 1823:27  Entry 
 1853:42  Landed  RW22 EAFB 
 1853:54  NGTD 
 1854:31  Wheels stop 
1983 Apr 14  1200  SCA 905  EAFB 
 1800SCA 905  Kelly AFB, TX 
1983 Apr 16  1745  SCA 905  KSC SLF 

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