STS-61-F

STS-61-F
Mission type Spacecraft deployment
Operator NASA
Mission duration 4 days, 2 hours, 10 minutes, 4 seconds
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft Space Shuttle Challenger
Crew
Crew size 4
Members Frederick H. Hauck
Roy D. Bridges
John M. Lounge
David C. Hilmers
Start of mission
Launch date 15 May 1986, 20:10:00 (1986-05-15UTC20:10Z) UTC
Launch site Kennedy LC-39B
End of mission
Landing date 19 May 1986, 22:20:04 (1986-05-19UTC22:20:05Z) UTC
Landing site Kennedy SLF Runway 15
Orbital parameters
Inclination 28.45 degrees


Left to right: Lounge, Bridges, Hauck, Hilmers

Space Shuttle program
← STS-61-E STS-61-G →

STS-61-F was a United States Space Shuttle mission planned to launch on 15 May 1986 using Challenger. It was cancelled after Challenger was destroyed earlier that year.

Crew

Position Astronaut
Commander Frederick H. Hauck
Third spaceflight
Pilot Roy D. Bridges
Second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1 John M. Lounge
Second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2 David C. Hilmers
Second spaceflight

Mission objectives

The main objective of STS-61-F was to deploy the Ulysses solar probe, which would travel to Jupiter and use it as a gravitational slingshot in order to be placed into polar orbit around the Sun. This mission would have marked the first use of the Centaur-G liquid-fueled payload booster, which would also be used on the subsequent mission to send the Galileo probe in orbit around Jupiter.

Due to the use of the Centaur-G and its volatile propellants, this mission was considered to be one of the most dangerous shuttle flights attempted, with Chief Astronaut John Young referring to the two Centaur flights as the "Death Star" flights.[1] The flight was risky enough that commander Hauck even gave his crewmates an option to leave the crew if they considered the mission to be too unsafe.[2]

After the loss of Challenger, most of the crew (sans Bridges, who left NASA in 1986) would fly as the crew of the first post-Challenger mission, STS-26. Bridges was replaced by Dick Covey and a third Mission Specialist (George Nelson) was added to the crew. Ulysses was eventually deployed from Discovery on STS-41, using the solid-fueled Inertial Upper Stage and PAM-S instead of the Centaur, which had been cancelled after the Challenger disaster.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bergin, Chris (26 October 2005). "Flights of the 'Death Star'". NASA Spaceflight.com. Retrieved 18 July 2013. 'John Young called it the 'Death Star'. Behind the dark humour, however, lay real concern for the then-chief of NASA's astronaut corps.
  2. ↑ Bergin, Chris (26 October 2005). "Flights of the 'Death Star'". NASA Spaceflight.com. Retrieved 18 July 2013. 'Safety is being compromised and, if any of you want to take yourself off this flight, I will support you.'
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