STS-8

STS-8
	INSAT-1B is deployed from Space Shuttle Challenger
Names	Space Transportation System-8
Mission type	Communications satellite deployment
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1983-089A
SATCAT no.	14312
Mission duration	6 days, 1 hour, 8 minutes, 43 seconds (achieved)
Distance travelled	4,046,660 km (2,514,480 mi)
Orbits completed	98
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Challenger
Launch mass	110,108 kg (242,747 lb)
Landing mass	92,508 kg (203,945 lb)
Payload mass	12,011 kg (26,480 lb)
Crew
Crew size	5
Members	Richard Truly; Daniel Brandenstein; Guion Bluford; Dale Gardner; William E. Thornton;
Start of mission
Launch date	August 30, 1983, 06:32:00 UTC
Rocket	Space Shuttle Challenger
Launch site	Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A
Contractor	Rockwell International
End of mission
Landing date	September 5, 1983, 07:40:43 UTC
Landing site	Edwards Air Force Base,; Runway 22
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	348 km (216 mi)
Apogee altitude	356 km (221 mi)
Inclination	28.51°
Period	90.60 minutes
Instruments
	Evaluation of Oxygen Interaction with Materials; High Capacity Heat Pipe Demonstration;
	; STS-8 mission patch; ; Seated: Daniel Brandenstein, Pilot, Richard Truly, Commander, and Guion Bluford, Mission Specialist. Standing: Dale Gardner, Mission Specialist, and William E. Thornton, Mission Specialist. Space Shuttle program ← STS-7 STS-9 →

STS-8 was the eighth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the third flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. It launched on August 30, 1983, and landed on September 5, 1983, conducting the first night launch and night landing of the Space Shuttle program. It also carried the first African-American astronaut, Guion Bluford. The mission successfully achieved all of its planned research objectives, but was marred by the subsequent discovery that a solid-fuel rocket booster had almost malfunctioned catastrophically during the launch.

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 on board 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"). The flight furthermore served as shakedown testing for the previously launched TDRS-1 satellite, which would be required to support the subsequent STS-9 mission.