October 5

A More Diverse View from Space

1984 — Challenger Launches a Mission of Firsts

11:03:00 UTC

Fifteen minutes before sunrise on October 5, 1984, Space Shuttle Challenger lifted from Kennedy Space Center carrying a crew unlike any that had flown before. There were seven people aboard—at the time, the largest crew ever launched together on a single spacecraft. Two were women. One was Canadian. One was an oceanographer whose principal laboratory for the next eight days would be the view through Challenger's windows. At 11:03:00 UTC, mission STS-41G began. The crew was commanded by veteran astronaut Robert Crippen, making his fourth journey into space. Jon McBride served as pilot. The three mission specialists were David Leestma, Sally Ride, and Kathryn Sullivan. Ride was already historic. In June 1983 she had become the first American woman in space. Now, for the first time, two women would fly together on the same space mission. The crew also included two payload specialists. Paul Scully-Power, an Australian-born American oceanographer, would concentrate much of his work on observing Earth's oceans from orbit. And Marc Garneau represented Canada. When Challenger reached space, Garneau became the first Canadian to travel beyond Earth. His presence also symbolized Canada's increasingly important role in the Space Shuttle program. Canadian engineering had already produced one of the Shuttle's most recognizable pieces of equipment—the Remote Manipulator System, better known as the Canadarm. STS-41G was therefore international in a way that foreshadowed the increasingly multinational character of human spaceflight. But the mission's principal subject was not the people aboard Challenger. It was the planet below them. STS-41G carried an extensive collection of instruments for observing Earth's atmosphere, oceans, land surfaces, and energy balance. Among the most important payloads was the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite—ERBS. Understanding Earth's climate requires understanding energy. Sunlight delivers energy to the planet. Some is reflected back into space by clouds, ice, land, and oceans. Some is absorbed by Earth's surface and atmosphere and later radiated outward as infrared energy. The balance between incoming and outgoing energy is fundamental to Earth's climate. ERBS was designed to measure that balance. Shortly after reaching orbit, Sally Ride used Challenger's Canadarm to lift the satellite from the payload bay. A problem appeared almost immediately. ERBS's solar arrays did not deploy properly. Mission Control suspected that the hinges had become too cold. Ride oriented the satellite toward the Sun and gently moved it with the robotic arm. The arrays opened. ERBS was released and eventually maneuvered into its operational orbit. Designed for a mission of roughly two years, it continued collecting data for more than two decades, contributing to the long-term study of Earth's radiation balance and climate. Challenger itself carried additional Earth-observation instruments. Radar examined portions of Earth's surface. Cameras recorded landscapes and atmospheric phenomena. Scully-Power concentrated on ocean structures visible from orbit—eddies, currents, waves, and other patterns that could reveal processes difficult to appreciate from ships or aircraft. The human eye itself had become a scientific instrument. Another historic moment came later in the mission. On October 11, Kathryn Sullivan and David Leestma left Challenger's cabin for an extravehicular activity lasting about three and a half hours. Sullivan thereby became the first American woman to walk in space. Their principal task was not ceremonial. They demonstrated equipment for transferring fluids in orbit—technology relevant to the possibility of refueling spacecraft and satellites in space. STS-41G therefore combined several different kinds of progress. It advanced Earth science. It tested technology. It expanded international participation. And its crew visibly broadened the group of people participating directly in human spaceflight. After more than eight days and 132 completed orbits, Challenger returned to Kennedy Space Center on October 13. It was only the second Shuttle mission to land there.

Why It Matters: STS-41G brought together several important developments in human spaceflight. It carried the first two women to fly together in space, made Marc Garneau the first Canadian in space, and later enabled Kathryn Sullivan to become the first American woman to perform a spacewalk. Just as importantly, the mission demonstrated the growing value of spaceflight for studying Earth itself, deploying a satellite and operating instruments that helped scientists investigate the planet's atmosphere, oceans, surface, and energy balance.

 

Also on This Day

1967 — Astronaut Clifton Williams Dies in a Training Accident

Time not established

On October 5, 1967, NASA astronaut and Marine Corps Major Clifton C. “C.C.” Williams Jr. died when the T-38 jet he was flying crashed near Tallahassee, Florida. He was 35 years old. Williams had joined NASA's third group of astronauts in 1963. Like many members of the early astronaut corps, he was an accomplished military test pilot. He had graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School and accumulated approximately 2,500 hours of flying time, most of it in jet aircraft. At NASA, Williams served as backup pilot for Gemini 10 and worked on launch operations and crew safety. He was also part of the developing Apollo program. Williams had been assigned to the backup crew for an early Apollo mission and was expected to remain within the rotation that could eventually lead to a lunar flight. On October 5, he was flying from Florida toward Houston in a NASA T-38. A mechanical failure led to a loss of control. Williams ejected, but he was traveling too fast and was too low for the escape to save him. His death came during an already painful year for the American space program. Only months earlier, on January 27, astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee had died in the Apollo 1 fire during a launch-pad test. Williams became another astronaut lost before he could fly in space. His place in the astronaut rotation was taken by Alan Bean. Bean later served as lunar module pilot of Apollo 12 and became the fourth human being to walk on the Moon. Williams was not forgotten by the crew. Apollo 12 commander Pete Conrad, who had served with Williams on the Gemini 10 backup crew, arranged for Williams's naval aviator wings to travel to the Moon. The insignia was left on the lunar surface in November 1969. Williams's name also appears on the Space Mirror Memorial at Kennedy Space Center, which honors astronauts who died while serving the American space program.

Why It Matters: Clifton Williams's death reminds us that the risks of human spaceflight extend beyond launches and missions. The astronaut corps depended upon constant aircraft training, testing, simulation, and preparation, all of which carried dangers of their own. Williams never reached space, but he was part of the generation whose work and sacrifice helped prepare the way for Apollo.

 

The Bigger Picture

October 5 is fundamentally about who participates in exploration—and what exploration is for. Clifton Williams belonged to the early astronaut corps, an organization drawn largely from a narrow population of American military test pilots. There were reasons for that. Early spacecraft were experimental vehicles, and test pilots possessed precisely the combination of engineering knowledge, flying skill, physical conditioning, and experience with dangerous machinery that NASA needed. But human spaceflight did not remain within that original model. STS-41G makes the change visible. Sally Ride was a physicist. Kathryn Sullivan was a geologist. Paul Scully-Power was an oceanographer. Marc Garneau was a Canadian engineer and naval officer. The Shuttle was becoming not merely a spacecraft piloted by astronauts but a working platform capable of carrying scientists, engineers, international partners, and specialists whose expertise lay outside traditional test piloting. That transition mattered because the purpose of going into space was changing as well. STS-41G spent much of its time looking down. The crew observed oceans. Radar mapped land. Instruments studied the atmosphere. ERBS measured the flow of energy into and out of the Earth system. This is one of the great recurring themes of the Space Age. Humanity went into space partly because we wanted to explore what lies beyond Earth. But once we arrived there, we discovered a remarkable new place from which to understand Earth itself. Weather satellites changed forecasting. Earth-observation spacecraft transformed geology, agriculture, oceanography, mapping, disaster response, and environmental science. Long-term measurements from orbit became essential to understanding climate. The view outward and the view homeward became complementary parts of the same enterprise. There is also a human progression visible between 1967 and 1984. Williams trained during an era when only a handful of nations had sent people into space. Seventeen years later, Challenger carried the first Canadian astronaut. Two women traveled together aboard the same spacecraft. A scientist specializing in Earth's oceans could look directly at those oceans from orbit. Exploration was becoming broader—not only in where humanity could go, but in who could participate and what questions they could ask once they arrived.

At a Glance

1967 — Time not established — NASA astronaut Clifton C. Williams Jr. dies in a T-38 training accident near Tallahassee, Florida; his place in the Apollo crew rotation will later be filled by future Moonwalker Alan Bean.

1984 — 11:03:00 UTC — Space Shuttle Challenger launches on STS-41G with a record seven-person crew, including Sally Ride and Kathryn Sullivan—the first two women to fly together in space—and Marc Garneau, the first Canadian in space.