STS-41-G, the first shuttle mission to carry a crew of seven in 1984
On this day during on October 05, 1984, STS-41-G, became the first shuttle mission to carry a crew of seven. Including the first crew with two women, the first American EVA involving a woman. There is also the first Australian-born person to journey into space and the first astronaut with a beard and the first Canadian astronaut.
STS-41-G
STS-41-G (formerly STS-17) was the 13th flight of NASA’s Space Shuttle program and the sixth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger.
Challenger launched on 5 October 1984, from Kennedy Space Center LC-39A at 07:03 A.M. It landed at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. Challenger became the second shuttle mission to land there on October 13, 1984, at 12:26 P.M EDT.
STS-41-G was the third shuttle mission to carry an IMAX camera on board to document the flight. Launch and in-orbit footage from the mission (including Sullivan and David Leestma’s EVA) appeared in the 1985 IMAX movie The Dream is Alive.
Crew
In the STS-41-G mission, onboard were seven crew members and the largest flight crew ever to fly on a single spacecraft at that time. They included commander, Robert L. Crippen, making his fourth Shuttle flight and second in six months. Crippen became the first American astronaut to complete two space missions in the same calendar year.
Pilot Jon A. McBride; three mission specialists – David C. Leestma, Sally K. Ride, and Kathryn D. Sullivan – and two payload specialists, Paul Scully-Power and Marc Garneau. Marc Garneau became the first Canadian citizen to serve as a Shuttle crew member, as well as the first Canadian in space.
This mission also marked the first time two female astronauts (Sally Ride and Kathryn Sullivan) had flown together.
Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space when she and Leestma performed a 3-hour EVA on 11 October.
Paul Scully-Power became the first Australian-born person to journey into space and the first astronaut with a beard.
Mission
During the 8-day, 5-hour, 23-minute, 33-second mission, STS-41-G traveled 3,289,444 miles (5,293,847 km) and completed 132 orbits.
Spacecraft Properties
- Spacecraft : Space Shuttle Challenger
- Launch mass : 110,120 kilograms (242,780 lb)
- Landing mass : 91,746 kilograms (202,266 lb)
- Payload mass : 8,573 kilograms (18,901 lb)
