STS-6:background

The STS-6 flight, the first space voyage of Challenger, is symbolized by the hexagonal shape of its crew emblem. The overall color theme of the patch is a patriotic red, white and blue. It has a border of royal blue, which surrounds an inner band of white. This inner band is bordered on the interior by a thin red line. This band lists, in royal blue to match the border, the surnames of Challengerâ€™s four crew members â€“ astronauts Paul J. Weitz, Karol J. Bobko, F. Story Musgrave, and Donald H. Peterson â€“ along with the missionâ€™s sequence numeral and the name of the spacecraft in the inner lineâ€™s red color.

The center area of the patch is dominated by a spacescape, which depicts the orbiter flying in the foreground as it creates an orbital path from behind the Earth. The planet is depicted as a large, light-blue sphere, rimmed with a slightly darker blue. The orbiter is seen in a side â€“ and slightly frontal â€“ view with the payload bay doors open. The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, combined with the Inertial Upper Stage, is depicted during its deployment from the Challengerâ€™s cargo bay. It trails a white streamer behind the far side of the globe, just as Challenger trails a red one. Both the orbiter and the TDRS are shown in shades of white, with light blue shading and black detail. The IUS has got a band of red on its exterior.

Slightly above and behind Challenger are shining white stars which form the constellation Virgo. These six stars against a background of deep navy blue represent the mission sequence number â€“ whereby the five stars to the right of the vertical tail symbolize Columbiaâ€™s five trips into space, the lone star to the left the first use of the newest member of the Space Shuttle fleet. Virgo itself is also symbolic of the maiden flight of Challenger.

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In actuality, the spacecraft Challenger was the â€œEarly Birdâ€ of Americaâ€™s Space Transportation Systemâ€™s Earth-orbiting fleet. Structural fabrication of Challenger had commenced on January 6, 1975, about a year earlier than the origin of Columbia. In several transitional periods Challenger went from structural assembly to becoming the Structural Test Article (STA-099), then back into manufacturing modification period for renovation and uprating to â€œflight worthyâ€ status to final assembly.

Rockwellâ€™s original $2.6 billion contract had authorized the building of a pair of static test articles (MPTA-098 and STA-099) and two initial flight test vehicles (OV-101 and OV-102). The 1978 decision not to modify Enterprise from her ALT configuration would leave only one space-rated orbiter. This vehicle, Columbia, was rolled out of the Palmdale plant on March 8, 1979.

While Enterprise and MPTA-098 were undergoing tests, Lockheed-California in Palmdale was busy trying to verify the structural integrity of STA-099. On February 4, 1978, Rockwell had delivered the nearly-complete airframe to the Lockheed-California Company located across the runway at Plant 42. Twelve months of testing would take place in a 43-ton steel rig built especially for the Space Shuttle test program.

The test rig contained 256 hydraulic jacks, distributed over 836 load application points, which simulated various stress levels under control of a computer. These stress levels duplicated the launch, ascent, on-orbit, reentry and landing phases of flight. Three 1,000,000 pound-force hydraulic cylinders were used to simulate the thrust from the Space Shuttle Main Engines. Heating and cooling simulations were conducted along with the stress tests.

In the meantime, on January 5, 1979, NASA awarded Rockwell a supplemental contract to modify STA-099 into a space-rated orbiter (OV-099), and followed this on January 29, 1979, with an order to construct two additional vehicles (OV-103 and OV-104). This $1.9 billion contract also covered modifying OV-102 following the orbital flight test series (STS-1 thru STS-4).

Testing was completed successfully and Challenger was returned to Rockwell on November 7, 1979, for conversion into OV-099. This conversion, while easier than it would have been to convert Enterprise, still involved a major disassembly of the vehicle. Within a month of arriving back from Lockheed, the payload bay doors, elevons and body flap had been removed so they could be returned to the original vendors for modifications. By January 18, 1980, the vertical stabilizer had been removed and shipped back to Fairchild-Republic in New York for rework.

Challenger had been built with a simulated crew module (which had arrived at Palmdale on January 28, 1977), and the forward fuselage halves had to be separated to gain access to the crew module. This had occurred on February 1981, and the upper forward fuselage was subsequently sent to Downey for rework. The construction of a space-worthy crew module design had already started with long-lead fabrication on January 2, 1979. This had been followed by the start of crew module assembly on June 21, 1979, followed by installation of initial systems on November 3, 1980. On July 14, 1981, the crew module arrived at Palmdale for integration into the vehicle structure. The lower fuselage was modified in Palmdale. The entire aft fuselage was removed and sent to Downey for modifications, returning to Palmdale on July 21, 1981.

On October 15, 1976, the mid-fuselage for STA-099 had arrived at Palmdale for integration with the rest of the vehicleâ€™s components. Following the structural test program, preparations for the modifications to the mid-fuselage were begun on January 28, 1980. On May 26, 1977, the aft payload bay doors for STA-099 had arrived at Palmdale, followed by the forward doors on July 22. On December 7, 1979, after completion of the STA program, the doors were demated from Challenger for rework to orbital certification. By January 25, 1980, the doors had arrived at Rockwell, Tulsa, for rework operations, and were delivered for configuration on Challenger on July 10, 1981.

The final assembly of the vertical tail had begun on October 1, 1976, the structure being delivered on dock at Palmdale on April 6, 1977. It had been mated to STA-099 on September 30, 1977, and, after the structural test program, was demated and delivered back to Fairchild, New York, on January 18, 1980, for rework. It was on dock at Palmdale again on March 26, 1981, for mating to Challenger.

The body flap for Challenger had arrived on dock at Palmdale on May 31, 1977, and after the STA program was demated by December 14, 1979, for rework, returning to Downey on January 25, 1980. On September 1, 1980, modifications to the body flap were begun. The modifications were completed by July 17 and the unit was placed on dock at Palmdale on July 24, 1981, for final installation activities.

The final assembly of the original STA-099 wings had begun at the prime contractor on October 1, 1976, and the units had arrived on dock at Palmdale on March 16, 1977. Following the completion of the STA program, the elevons were demated on December 21, 1979 and returned to the prime contractor for rework on February 1, 1980. Three days later the preparations for the wing modifications were started, this part of the program being completed by November 21 of the same year. By March 30, 1981, the rework on the elevons had been completed at Palmdale, and these units were installed on Challengerâ€™s wings.

Additionally the wings were modified to incorporate lessons learned from the static testing. Part of the new loads data base analysis also allowed Rockwell to relax the requirements for the wing design on OV-103 and OV-104 in order to achieve a slight weight reduction. Challenger would end up some 2,486 pounds lighter than Columbia, in spite of having additional operational equipment installed, including two heads-up displays in the cockpit.

On November 7, 1977, the Forward Reaction Control System (FRCS) for STA-099 had arrived on dock at Palmdale, and was demated by February 8, 1980, following completion of the STA program. By March 21, 1980, the forward RCS had arrived at Downey for rework to flight standard. On February 2, 1981, installation of the system components started, the package finally arriving at Palmdale on January 31, 1982, for installation in Challenger.

The first set of OMS pods for Challenger arrived early in 1982 at Palmdale for installation of the TPS. The right-hand pod was delivered on February 15, and the left-hand pod on March 3. Following this activity the pods were transported to KSC on September 3, 1982, for installation on Challenger for its first mission.

By October 23, 1981, the airframe had been modified to flight standard, and on October 26 the initial series of powered subsystems tests was started. An unpowered subsystems test was begun on November 2, and by January 29, 1982, the initial subsystems tests series had been completed. On April 16 the Challengerâ€™s subsystems were cleared for operational use, and on April 30, 1982, the final acceptance test was completed at the Palmdale plant. In June 1982 Challenger received her final certifications before delivery. On June 4 the post-checkout operations were successfully completed, as was the configuration inspection 17 days later.

On June 30, 1982, the vehicle was officially rolled out of the Palmdale facility, completing more than 7 1/2 years work, so bringing it up to operational standard as the second flight vehicle. On July 1, 1982, as her sister ship Columbia was orbiting the Earth during the fourth flight day of the fourth shuttle mission, Challenger was transported by road in a 38-mile journey from the Palmdale plant to Edwards Air Force Base for attachment to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for its journey to KSC.

Challenger was the first orbiter delivered with a name on the upper right wing and the â€œUSAâ€ and American flag on the left. The new stylized NASA logo and the name Challenger appeared on the right wing. The name of the vehicle was also positioned beneath the cockpit windows on the side of the forward fuselage, which remained visible with payload bay doors open for on-orbit identification.

Shortly after Columbia STS-4 landed at Edwards AFB, completing the fourth flight of the program and its OFT series, Challenger was sent on its way to KSC by President Reagan, the vehicle taking to the air for the first time on the USAâ€™s 206th birthday, July 4, 1982. Literally millions first saw Challenger when, atop the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, the orbiterâ€™s right wing was dipped during a nationally televised low-pass salute to President and Mrs. Reagan at Edwards Air Force Base.

The SCA flew to Florida in two stages, taking the orbiter to Ellington Field, Texas, for an overnight stop and finally, on July 5, from Ellington Field to Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Following demate from the SCA Challenger was moved to the OPF to begin final preparations for its first flight on STS-6 early in 1983.