Aug 30 1983
From The Space Library
August 30-31: NASA STS-8 at 2:32:02 EDT August 30 from KSC after a 17-minute hold because of thunderstorms passing through. "Tropical disturbance" Barry had moved ashore August 26 about 40 miles south of the Cape and could have turned into a hurricane, but it bypassed the launch-pad area. This third flight of Shuttle Challenger was commanded by Navy Capt. Richard H. Truly, who was copilot of the second Shuttle mission two years ago; pilot for STS-8 was Navy Cdr. Daniel C. Brandenstein. Mission specialists were Navy Lt. Cdr. Dale A. Gardner; civilian physician William E. Thornton, oldest American in space; and U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Guion S. Bluford II, first black American in space.
This was also the first night Shuttle launch. NASA was testing its ability to launch at night from KSC, where weather was often more favorable than in the daytime. The DOD wanted a demonstration of night launch in case of needing the Shuttle for a military mission on short notice. And Challenger was carrying into orbit a $43 million India satellite to forecast weather and relay radio; television, and phone calls that required a night launch for proper location. NASA's first manned night launch had been December 7, 1972, when Apollo 17 lifted off at KSC on its way to the Moon; that launch had been visible to people in the Great Smoky Mountains more than 500 miles away.
NASA also planned to land STS-8 at night, another first, for the same reasons it launched at night. Landing would be at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave desert of California instead of KSC, because of the longer run-way and the greater probability of good weather there in midsummer. This would be the first time the public would not be allowed at the landing; NASA did not want "hundreds or even thousands of moving automobiles with headlights" to confuse Shuttle pilots descending out of total darkness toward the concrete runway.
About three hours after reaching orbit, the crew began communicating with mission control through the properly relocated $100 million TDRS launched from STS-6 in April, instead of using ground stations out of reach during most of their orbit. The first major task of the STS-8 mission would be deployment of INSAT-B, and the crew spent most of August 30 checking the performance of the 50-foot mechanical arm in the Shuttle's cargo bay that had entitled "a slightly arthritic reaction" in its elbow. The arm would grapple and move a heavy dummy-spacecraft package later in the mission in rehearsal for future release or retrieval of satellites.
INSAT-B was launched over the Indian Ocean August 31 at 7:49 GMT and successfully put into transfer orbit, according to the Indian Space Research Organization, which said that all on-board systems were working well and that the solar panel was partly deployed. (NASA Dly Acty Rpt, Aug 30/83; FBIS, Delhi Dom Svc in English, Aug 31/83; NY Times, Aug 3/83, A-10; Aug 31/83, A-l; W Post, Aug 25/83, A-8; Aug 26/83, A-10; Aug 30/83, A-1; Aug 31/83, A-8; USA Today, Aug 30/83, IA, 3A; W Times, Aug 30/83, 12A; Aug 30/83, IA; Intervia, Aug 83, 817)
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