Status
Success
Rocket
Vehicles
Mission Details
STS-8
The mission's primary payload was INSAT-1B, an Indian communications and weather observation satellite, which was released by the orbiter and boosted into a geostationary orbit. The secondary payload, replacing a delayed NASA communications satellite, was a four-metric-ton dummy payload, intended to test the use of the shuttle's "Canadarm" remote manipulator system. Scientific experiments carried onboard Challenger included the environmental testing of new hardware and materials designed for future spacecraft, the study of biological materials in electric fields under microgravity, and research into space adaptation syndrome (also known as "space sickness").
Total Mass: 12,011.0 kg
Low Earth Orbit
Location
LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA
Stats
1983
90th orbital launch attempt
Space Shuttle
8th mission
3rd mission of 1983
8th successful mission