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Space Shuttle Challenger / OV-099 | STS-51-L
Lockheed Space Operations CompanyLaunch Failure

STS-51-L

Space Shuttle

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Historical mission record

This page records Space Shuttle Challenger / OV-099 | STS-51-L and its reported outcome: Launch Failure. The date above is a historical record.

Source record updated . This is a source update, not a confirmed launch time.

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Mission status
Launch Failure

Status reported by the mission data provider.

LAUNCH SITEKennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Mission

The tenth mission for Challenger, STS-51-L was scheduled to deploy the second in a series of Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, carry out the first flight of the Shuttle-Pointed Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN-203) / Halley's Comet Experiment Deployable in order to observe Halley's Comet, and carry out several lessons from space as part of the Teacher in Space Project and Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP).

Launch vehicle
Space Shuttle
Mission type
Human Exploration
Destination orbit
Low Earth Orbit
Spacecraft
Space Shuttle Challenger
Destination
Low Earth Orbit
Launch pad
Launch Complex 39B
Provider
Lockheed Space Operations Company
Programs
Space Shuttle

The vehicle

Published configuration and flight history.

Space Shuttle
Launch vehicle

Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.

Height
56.1 m
Diameter
8 m
Stages
2
Recorded launches
135
First flight
1981-04-12

Recorded timing

This is a mission record, not an upcoming calendar appointment.

Instantaneous windowPublished target
SCHEDULED MOMENT

A single scheduled moment. The schedule may change before launch.

Mission update

During the ascent phase, 73 seconds after liftoff, the vehicle experienced a catastrophic structural failure resulting in the loss of crew and vehicle. The Rogers Commission later determined the cause of the accident to have been the failure of the primary and secondary (backup) O-ring seals on Challenger's right Solid Rocket Booster.

Launch site & orbit

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

The mission in perspective

Launch site & orbit

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Understand this orbit
NASA Blue Marble map of Earth's continents and oceans
Representative orbit · accelerated illustrationNo live tracking or simulated ascent. NASA Blue Marble.

Coverage & sources

Links supplied by the mission data provider.
Coverage and times may change.

Further reading

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