Crew:
    Robert Overmyer [2], Commander
    Frederick Gregory [1], Pilot
    Don Lind [1], Mission Specialist
    Norman Thagard [2], Mission Specialist
    William Thornton [2], Mission Specialist
    Lodewijk van den Berg [1], Payload Specialist
    Taylor Wang [1], Payload Specialist

Launch:
    Pad: 39-A [17]
    Date: 29 April 1985
    Time: 16:02:18 UTC

Orbit:
    Altitude: 222 nm
    Inclination: 57 degrees
    Orbits: 111
    Duration: 7 days, 0 hours, 8 minutes, 46 seconds
    Distance: 2,890,383 miles

Landing:
    Location: Runway 17, Edwards Air Force Base, CA [11]
    Date: 6 May 1985
    Time: 16:11:04 UTC
    Rollout: 59 seconds (2,535 meters, 8,317 feet)

Highlights:
    Two monkeys and 24 rodents were flown for micro-gravity studies in the Spacelab habitable module (LM1).

    Later investigation led to the discovery that O-ring erosion, similar to what destroyed the Challenger on the 51-L mission, and brought the crew to within 3 seconds of a fatal disaster.

Crew

Archived NASA mission page for 51-B

Page last modified: 08 April 2024 16:03:38.