Mission Summary
On 4 April 1983, STS-6, the first Challenger mission, lifted off at 13:30 EST. It marked the first use of a new lightweight external tank and lightweight SRB casings.
STS-6 carried a crew of four – Paul J. Weitz, commander; Karol J. Bobko, pilot; Donald H. Peterson and Story Musgrave, both mission specialists. Using new spacesuits designed specifically for the Space Shuttle program, Peterson and Musgrave successfully accomplished the program's first extravehicular activity (EVA), performing various tests in the orbiter's payload bay. Their spacewalk lasted 4 hours and 17 minutes.
Although the 5,000-pound (2,300 kg) TDRS was successfully deployed from Challenger, its two-stage booster rocket, the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), tumbled out of control, placing the satellite into a low elliptical orbit. But the satellite contained extra propellant beyond what was needed for its attitude control thrusters, and during the next several months the thrusters were fired at carefully planned intervals, gradually moving TDRS-l into its geosynchronous operating orbit, thus saving the $100-million satellite.
Other STS-6 cargo included three GAS canisters, and the continuation of the Mono-disperse Latex Reactor and Continuous Flow Electrophoresis experiments.
Challenger returned to Earth on 9 April 1983 at 10:53 am PST, landing on Runway 22 at Edwards AFB. During the mission, it completed 80 orbits, traveling 2 million miles in 5 days, 23 minutes and 42 seconds. It was flown back to KSC on 16 April 1983.
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The TDRS is deployed.
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Musgrave during the EVA.
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Musgrave, left, and Peterson float in Challenger's cargo bay during the EVA.
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