STS-6, Challenger's first launch & landing (4-4-83)

STS-6, the first flight of the orbiter Challenger. April 4, 1983.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• STS-6

[RJY4356]

Irony- the CAPCOM relaying calls to Challenger on her first flight was the commander on her last flight- Dick Scobee.

[jetfreak4]

I can't believe these are a thing of the past. It's too unreal.

[WhiteFalcon83]

Wow... lol, this is the launch that my dad missed because I was being born ^_^

[ceredigio]

@oreoweb6 Hugh Harris' last launch (that i know of) was STS-30 in May 1989 (the Magellan deploy flight). As is evident from the Spacecraft Films DVD of the mission, George Diller did some commentary in the early stages of the count for that launch. (The first actual launch sequence he did was STS-28, a DOD mission in August of '89.)

[ceredigio]

@Zoomer30 The last manned launches Hugh Harris did were STS-27 (DOD flight) and STS-30 (Magellan). I am not sure if he did any unmanned ones after that or if STS-30 was his last commentary ever. I like to call him 'the Jack King of the 80s' :-) The Challenger ascent guy, Steve Nesbitt did the ascent for STS-26 as well, and did not do another commentary till the launch of STS-86 in September 1997 (an Atlantis docking mission to Mir), I think he still works at the JSC public affairs office tho.

[ceredigio]

@400exNick Scobee did not fly on this flight, he was the ascent capcom, so he said 'you are go at throttle up'. But yes it is sad to think he would be Challenger's last commander. (The crew on this mission was Paul Weitz, Bo Bobko, Story Musgrave and Don Petersen.)

[greenseaships]

@RJY4356 Did not know that. Wow. More trivia. Astronaut Pinky Nelson flew on the mission immediately before and after Challenger. I think that's the only time that ever happened.

[400exNick]

Yeah it def sounds like Scobee saying " roger go at throttle up". So sad that those would be his last words a few years later:(.

[ceredigio]

This was Jack Riley's first ascent commentary since Skylab 3 in July 1973.