STS-61-A

STS-61-A

Guion Bluford, Reinhard Furrer, and Ernst Messerschmid in Spacelab Module LM2, serving as the Spacelab D1 laboratory.
Names	Space Transportation System-22 Spacelab D-1
Mission type	Microgravity research
Operator	NASA / ESA (West Germany)
COSPAR ID	1985-104A
SATCAT no.	16230
Mission duration	7 days, 0 hour, 44 minutes, 51 seconds (achieved)
Distance travelled	4,682,148 km (2,909,352 mi)
Orbits completed	112
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Challenger
Launch mass	110,568 kg (243,761 lb)
Landing mass	97,144 kg (214,166 lb)
Payload mass	14,451 kg (31,859 lb)
Crew
Crew size	8
Members	Henry W. Hartsfield Jr. Steven R. Nagel Bonnie J. Dunbar James Buchli Guion Bluford Reinhard Furrer Ernst Messerschmid Wubbo Ockels
Start of mission
Launch date	October 30, 1985, 17:00:00 UTC
Rocket	Space Shuttle Challenger
Launch site	Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A
Contractor	Rockwell International
End of mission
Landing date	November 6, 1985, 17:44:51 UTC
Landing site	Edwards Air Force Base, Runway 17
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	319 km (198 mi)
Apogee altitude	331 km (206 mi)
Inclination	57.00°
Period	91.00 minutes
STS-61-A mission patch Back: Steven R. Nagel, Guion Bluford, Ernst Messerschmid, Wubbo Ockels Front: Reinhard Furrer, Bonnie J. Dunbar, James Buchli, Henry W. Hartsfield Jr. Space Shuttle program ← STS-51-J (21) STS-61-B (23) →

STS-61-A (also known as Spacelab D-1) was the 22nd mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program. It was a scientific Spacelab mission, funded and directed by West Germany – hence the non-NASA designation of D-1 (for Deutschland-1). STS-61-A was the ninth and last successful flight of Space Shuttle Challenger before the disaster. STS-61-A holds the current record for the largest crew—eight people—aboard any single spacecraft for the entire period from launch to landing.

The mission carried the NASA/European Space Agency (ESA) Spacelab module into orbit with 76 scientific experiments on board, and was declared a success.^[1] Payload operations were controlled from the German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, West Germany, instead of from the regular NASA control center.^[2] This was the first spaceflight to include multiple crewmembers from any single country other than the United States or Soviet Union.