STS-9

STS-9

View of Columbia's payload bay, showing Spacelab.
Names	Space Transportation System-9 Spacelab 1
Mission type	Microgravity research
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1983-116A
SATCAT no.	14523
Mission duration	10 days, 7 hours, 47 minutes, 24 seconds (achieved)
Distance travelled	6,913,504 km (4,295,852 mi)
Orbits completed	167
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Columbia
Launch mass	112,918 kg (248,942 lb)
Landing mass	99,800 kg (220,000 lb)
Payload mass	15,068 kg (33,219 lb)
Crew
Crew size	6
Members	John Young Brewster H. Shaw Owen Garriott Robert A. Parker Ulf Merbold Byron K. Lichtenberg
Start of mission
Launch date	28 November 1983, 16:00:00 UTC
Rocket	Space Shuttle Columbia
Launch site	Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A
Contractor	Rockwell International
End of mission
Landing date	8 December 1983, 23:47:24 UTC
Landing site	Edwards Air Force Base, Runway 17
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	240 km (150 mi)
Apogee altitude	253 km (157 mi)
Inclination	57.00°
Period	89.50 minutes
STS-9 mission patch Owen Garriott, Byron K. Lichtenberg, Brewster H. Shaw, John Young, Ulf Merbold, Robert A. Parker Space Shuttle program ← STS-8 STS-41-B (10) →

STS-9 (also referred to Spacelab 1)^[1] was the ninth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the sixth mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Launched on 28 November 1983, the ten-day mission carried the first Spacelab laboratory module into orbit.

STS-9 was also the last time the original STS numbering system was used until STS-26, which was designated in the aftermath of the 1986 Challenger disaster of STS-51-L. Under the new system, STS-9 would have been designated as STS-41-A. STS-9's originally planned successor, STS-10, was canceled due to payload issues; it was instead followed by STS-41-B. After this mission, Columbia was taken out of service for renovations and did not fly again until STS-61-C in early January 1986.

STS-9 sent the first non-U.S. citizen into space on the Shuttle, Ulf Merbold, becoming the first ESA and first West German citizen to go into space.^[2]