"6_2_2_3_9.TXT" (2165 bytes) was created on 01-02-89

STS-8

        Challenger was back in space on Aug. 30, 1983, after it lifted off
at 2:32 a.m. EDT, following a 17-minute delay due to bad weather. It
was the first night launch in the Space Shuttle program.  A night
launch required for tracking requirements for the primary payload,
the Indian National Satellite, INSAT 1B, a multipurpose satellite
owned by India that was deployed successfully on the second day of
the flight.

        The 5-member crew, included the first black American to fly in
space, mission specialist Guion S. Bluford Jr.  The commander was
Richard H. Truly, making his second Shuttle flight; Daniel C.
Brandenstein, was the pilot, while Bluford, Dale A. Gardner and
William Thornton served as mission specialists.

        In addition to INSAT, the payload bay carried 12 GAS canisters.
Four contained experiments while the remaining eight canisters
contained special STS-8 postal covers.  Two other boxes of covers
were mounted on an instrument panel, bringing the total number of the
special philatelic covers on board to 260,000.  These were later sold
to collectors by the Postal Service.

        The fourth Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System experiment was
flown, using live human cells from a pancreas, kidney and pituitary
gland.  Also, six live rats were carried in an enclosure module being
tested for the first time.

        Other activities during the mission included a test of the RMS arm,
using a special 7,460-lb. Development Flight Instrumentation Pallet.
Numerous tests of the orbiter's S-band and Ku-band antenna systems
were performed with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite.  Thornton
carried out biomedical experiments on himself and other members of
the crew in a continuation of the Space Adaptation Syndrome studies
begun by Thagard during the STS-7 mission.

STS-8 also conducted the first night landing in the program at 12:40
a.m. PDT, Sept. 5, 1983, on Runway 22 at Edwards AFB.  The mission
lasted 6 days, 1 hour, 8 minutes, 43 seconds.  Challenger had
traveled 2.2 million miles and orbited the Earth 97 times.  It was
back at KSC in the record-breaking time of 4 days after its
California landing.