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STS-51-L
Mission insignia
Mission statistics
Mission name:	STS-51-L
Shuttle:	Challenger
Crew size:	7
Launch pad:	39-B
Launch:	1986-01-28 16:38:00 UTC
Landing:	1986-02-03 17:12 UTC (planned)
Duration:	73 seconds (6 days 34 minutes planned)
Number of Orbits:	Failed to achieve orbit (96 planned)
Orbit altitude:	150 nautical miles (280 km) (planned)
Crew photo
Back row (L-R): Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik. Front row (L-R): Michael J. Smith, Francis "Dick" Scobee, Ronald McNair.
Related missions
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The iconic image of Space Shuttle Challenger's smoke plume after its breakup 73 seconds after launch. The accident caused the death of all seven crew members of the STS-51-L mission.

STS-51-L was the twenty-fifth flight of the American Space Shuttle program, which marked the first time a civilian had flown aboard the Space Shuttle. The mission used Space Shuttle Challenger, which lifted off from Launch Complex 39-B on January 28, 1986 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The mission ended in disaster following the destruction of Challenger 73 seconds after lift-off because of the failure of an O-ring seal on Challenger's right Solid Rocket Booster (SRB). The failure of the seal allowed a blow-torch like flare to impinge upon one of two aft SRB attach struts, which eventually failed, freeing the booster to pivot about its remaining attachment points. Subsequently, the forward part of the booster cylinder impacted the external tank (ET) intertank area, leading to a structural failure of the ET - the core structural component of the entire stack. A rapid burning of liberated propellants ensued. With the structural "backbone" of the stack compromised and breaking up, the SRBs flew off on their own, as did the orbiter, which rapidly disintegrated due to the overwhelming aerodynamic forces.

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). The flight also marked the first American manned mission to involve in-flight fatalities, and the first ever manned mission to launch and fail to reach space.

• Francis "Dick" Scobee (2), Commander
• Michael J. Smith (1), Pilot
• Judith Resnik (2), Mission Specialist
• Ellison Onizuka (2), Mission Specialist
• Ronald McNair (2), Mission Specialist
• Gregory Jarvis (1), Payload Specialist
• Sharon Christa McAuliffe (1), Spaceflight Participant (Teacher in Space)

(1) number of spaceflights each crew member has completed, including this mission.

In the event McAuliffe was disqualified from flight, she would have been replaced by her NASA-selected backup, Barbara Morgan.

• Deployment of Tracking Data Relay Satellite-B (TDRS-B) with an Inertial Upper Stage booster
• Flight of Shuttle-Pointed Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN-203)/Halley's Comet Experiment Deployable
• Fluid Dynamics Experiment (FDE)
• Comet Halley Active Monitoring Program (CHAMP)
• Phase Partitioning Experiment (PPE)
• Three Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP) experiments
• Two lessons for the Teacher in Space Project (TISP).

None of the mission objectives were accomplished.

Challenger launches at the start of STS-51-L.

• Mass:
  • Orbiter Liftoff: 121 778 kg
  • Orbiter Landing: 90 584 kg (planned)
  • Payload: 21 937 kg
• Perigee: ~285 km (planned)
• Apogee: ~295 km (planned)
• Inclination: 28.45° (planned)
• Period: ~90.4 min (planned)
• Duration: 73 seconds (6 days 0 hours 34 minutes planned)

The STS-51-L crewmembers designed the insignia seen above to represent their participation in NASA's mission aboard Challenger, depicted launching from Florida and soaring into space to carry out a variety of goals. Among the prescribed duties of the five astronauts and two payload specialists (represented by the seven stars of the US flag) was observation and photography of Halley's Comet, backdropped against the U.S. flag in the insignia. Surnames of the crewmembers encircle the scene, with the payload specialists being recognized below. Surname of the first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe, is followed by a symbolic apple.

• Space science
• Space shuttle
• Space Shuttle Challenger disaster during this mission

• Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident

v • d • e STS-51-L
Main articles	Space Shuttle Challenger · Space Shuttle Challenger disaster · STS-51-L Mission timeline · Space Shuttle Challenger launch decision
Crew	Scobee (Cmdr) · Smith · Resnik · Onizuka · McNair · Jarvis · McAuliffe