STS-51-C (Discovery)
STS-51-C (Discovery)
Launch Date
January 24, 1985
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
5
STS-51-C (Discovery)
STS-51-C (Discovery)
Launch Date
January 24, 1985
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
5
Overview
The first classified Department of Defense Space Shuttle mission. Discovery was launched at or near the minimum air temperature the Solid Rocket Boosters were certified for at the time. After launch, it was discovered that a significant anomaly with all the O-ring seals on both Solid Rocket Boosters had occurred. All O-rings were found to be burned. In one place, the hot gasses from the rocket boosters had burned completely through the primary O-ring and nearly burned through the secondary seal -- which would have caused a Challenger-like failure. Morton Thiokol (who built the solid rockets) and NASA upper management both dismissed concerns raised by this finding. The Space Shuttle kept flying.
Crafts
Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The first reusable launch and landing spacecraft, the Space Shuttle began a new chapter of human space exploration. It launched like a rocket but landed on a runway like a plane. Shuttle crews deployed dozens of commercial satellites and two interplanetary probes to Venus and Jupiter. The Shuttle served as a mini space station and hosted hundreds of biomedical, psychological, physiological, materials science, and physics experiments that have directly benefited life on Earth. The five flight-worthy Shuttles -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour -- flew 135 missions over 30 years. The Shuttles helped construct the Russian Mir space station and brought nearly 80% of the International Space Station to orbit. Shuttles also deployed and serviced the Hubble Space Telescope.