Buchli

Mattingly

Onizuka

Payton

Shriver

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STS-51-C Credit - NASA

24 January 1985 19:55 GMT. Landing Date: 1985-01-27 21:28:25 PM. Flight Time: 3.06 days. Flight Up: STS-51-C. Flight Back: STS-51-C. Call Sign: Discovery. Crew: Buchli, Mattingly, Onizuka, Payton, Shriver. Program: STS.

Of note: First shuttle military mission.

What went wrong: Experienced blow-by in both nozzle joints and erosion and blow-by in two case joints. The calculated O-ring temperature was 12 degrees C, the coldest prior to the loss of Challenger on STS-51-L. The flight hardware evidenced the worst case of "blow-by" experienced by any Shuttle flight. The primary nozzle joint O-rings were not damaged. There was black grease (sooted) behind the primary O-ring over a 110° arc and the secondary O-ring was affected (but not eroded) by heat over a 75 cm span. Manned five crew. Deployed USA 8 (Aquacade ELINT spacecraft). Orbits of Earth: 48. Landed at: Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Landing Speed: 342 kph. Touchdown miss distance: 839.00 m. Landing Rollout: 2,240.00 m. Payloads: Department of Defence classified payloads.

NASA Official Mission Narrative

Mission Name: 51-C (15)
DISCOVERY (3)
Pad 39-A (27)
15th Shuttle mission
3rd Flight OV-103
4th KSC landing

Crew:
Thomas K. Mattingly II (3), Commander
Loren J. Shriver (1), Pilot
Ellison S. Onizuka (1), Mission Specialist 1
James F. Buchli (1), Mission Specialist 2
Gary E. Payton (1), Payload Specialist 1

STS-51-C Credit- www.spacefacts.de

Milestones:
OPF - Nov. 16,1984
VAB - Dec. 21, 1984
PAD - Jan. 5,1985

Payload:
DoD 85-1
Mission Objectives:

Launch:
January 24, 1985, 2:50:00 p.m. EST. Launch Jan. 23 scrubbed due to freezing weather conditions. (Orbiter CHALLENGER scheduled for Mission 51-C, but thermal tile problems forced substitution of Discovery.) Launch Weight: 250,891 lbs
Orbit:
Altitude: 220nm
Inclination: 28.5 degrees
Orbits: 49
Duration: 3 days, 1 hour, 33 minutes, 23 seconds.
Distance: 1,250,000 miles

Hardware:
SRB: BI-015
SRM: 015LW(HPM)
ET : 14/LWT-7
MLP : 1
SSME-1: SN-2109
SSME-2: SN-2018
SSME-3: SN-2012

Landing:
January 27, 1985, 4:23:23 p.m. EST, Runway 15, Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Rollout distance: 7,352 feet. Rollout time: 50 seconds. Landing Weight: classified.

Mission Highlights:
First mission dedicated to Department of Defense. U.S. Air Force Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) booster deployed and met mission objectives.

• 1985 Jan 24 - STS-51-C  Crew: Buchli, Mattingly, Onizuka, Payton, Shriver. Spacecraft: Discovery. Payload: Discovery F03 / Magnum 1 [IUS]. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Duration: 3.06 days. Perigee: 332 km (206 mi). Apogee: 341 km (211 mi). Inclination: 28.40 deg. Period: 91.30 min.

  Manned five crew. Deployed USA 8 (Aquacade ELINT spacecraft). Orbits of Earth: 48. Landed at: Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Landing Speed: 342 kph. Touchdown miss distance: 839.00 m. Landing Rollout: 2,240.00 m. Payloads: Department of Defence classified payloads.

• 1985 Jan 27 - Landing of STS-51-C 

  STS-51-C landed at 21:28 GMT.