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Launch Failure

Space Shuttle Challenger / OV-099 | STS-51-L

January 28, 1986 at 4:38 PM UTC

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Space Shuttle Challenger / OV-099 | STS-51-L launch image
Mission imagery · Space Shuttle

Launch details

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T−00d00h00m00s

January 28, 1986 at 4:38 PM UTC

Status: Launch Failure · Live feed refreshes every 30 seconds

Launch Complex 39B

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA · 28.6271, -80.6210

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Launch site
Launch Complex 39B

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch probability
-1%
Window opens
January 28, 1986 at 4:38 PM UTC
Window closes
January 28, 1986 at 4:38 PM UTC
Feed updated
June 14, 2023 at 8:54 AM UTC

Mission description

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).

Mission media

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The Challenger Disaster: STS-51-L Countdown and Launch

Full video record
Vehicle

Space Shuttle

Height

56.1 m

Diameter

8 m

LEO capacity

27,500 kg

Successful launches

133

Launch complex

Launch Complex 39B

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

The John F. Kennedy Space Center, located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of NASA's ten field centers. Since 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of American spaceflight, research, and technology. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS).

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