Mission Summary
Challenger lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at 8 am EST on 3 February 1984. Two communications satellites were deployed about 8 hours after launch; one, WESTAR, was for Western Union, and the other, Palapa B-2, for Indonesia. However, the Payload Assist Modules (PAM) for both satellites malfunctioned, placing them into a lower-than-planned orbit. Both satellites were retrieved successfully the following November, during STS-51-A, by the orbiter Discovery.
The STS 41-B crew included commander Vance D. Brand, making his second Shuttle flight; pilot Robert L. Gibson; and mission specialists Bruce McCandless II, Ronald E. McNair and Robert L. Stewart.
On the fourth day of the mission, astronauts McCandless and Stewart performed the first untethered spacewalk, operating the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) for the first time. McCandless, the first human Earth-orbiting satellite, ventured out 320 feet (98 m) from the orbiter, while Stewart tested the "work station" foot restraint at the end of the Remote Manipulator System. On the seventh day of the mission, both astronauts performed an EVA to practice capture procedures for the Solar Maximum Mission satellite retrieval and repair operation, which was planned for the next mission, STS-41-C.
STS 41-B also achieved the reflight of the West German-sponsored SPAS-l pallet/satellite, which had originally flown on STS-7. This time, however, it remained in the payload bay due to an electrical problem in the RMS. The mission also carried five GAS canisters, six live rats in the middeck area, a Cinema-360 camera and a continuation of the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System and Monodisperse Latex Reactor experiments.
The 7-day, 23-hour, 15-minute, 55-second flight ended on 11 February 1984, at 7:15 am EST; at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility – the first landing of a spacecraft at its launch site. The uncredited landing of STS-41-B is shown at the beginning of the IMAX documentary The Dream is Alive. During STS-41-B, Challenger completed 127 orbits and traveled 2.8 million miles.
Read more about this topic: STS-41-B
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