1981-1989 Space Exploration

1. 1981-1989 Space Exploration Dylan Clinton, Morgan Cobb

2. First Space Shuttle Launch • April 12, 1981 • Columbia • 1st manned mission of Space Transportation System • Test flight • Returned on April 14 • Orbited Earth 37 times • Crew of two • Culmination of atmospheric testing

3. Voyager 2 Arrives at Saturn • August 25, 1981 • Began to send images of planet, moons • Measured rotation (length of day):10 hours and 39 seconds • Cameras spotted • Long-lived ovals • Tilted features • East-west shear zones • Measured temperature and density • Minimum temperatures: 82 Kelvins (-312 degrees F) • Temperature increased:143 Kelvins (-202 degrees F)

4. Voyager’s Images

5. First Venus Soil Samples • March 1, 1982 • Soviet Venera 13 spacecraft lands on Venus • Provides 1st scientific analysis of Venusian soil • Transmitted first color pictures of surface • Fifth robot craft to land from Soviet Union • Landed in mountainous region called Phoebe

6. New Space Endurance Record • May 13, 1982 • Soviet cosmonauts: • Anatoli N. Berezovoi, Valentin V. Lebedev • Launched in Soyuz T-5 to rendezvous with Salyut 7 • Became first team to inhabit space station • Returned in Soyuz T-7 • Set new duration record of 211 days

7. First Operational Space Shuttle Mission • November 11, 1982 • Columbia begins 5th mission • STS-5 launches with 4 member crew • Five day mission • Deployed two commercial communications satellites into orbit • Performed scientific experiments • Largest crew at time to enter space • Launched from Kennedy Space Center

8. Maiden Voyage of Challenger • April 4, 1983 • America’s 2nd Space Shuttle • 2nd mission into space • First space walk in nine years • Lasted 4 hours and 17 minutes • Deployment of first satellite in Tracking and Data Rely System constellation

9. First American Woman in Space June 19, 1983 Sally K. Ride Born in Los Angeles, California May 26, 1951- July 23, 2012 Traveled on Shuttle Challenger Served as a mission specialist Mission STS-7 Deployed satellites for Canada and Indonesia

10. First Untethered Spacewalk • February 3, 1984 • Astronauts • Captain Bruce McCandless II • Col. Robert L. Stewart • STS-41B mission • 300- pound nitrogen propelled backpacks known as Manned Maneuvering Units (MMU) • Performed tests with MMU to practice planned procedures for capture and repair of a malfunctioning satellite on a future mission • Able to complete two spacewalks in mission

11. Maiden Voyage of Discovery • August 30, 1984 • Maiden Voyage of Discovery • Third orbiter of American Space Shuttle fleet • Mission STS-41D • 6 person crew • Launched three communications satellites • Conducted an experiment on crystal growth in microgravity • Test new solar panel array

12. Maiden Voyage of Atlantis • Launched on October 3, 1985 • NASA’s 4th space-rated space shuttle, OV-104 • Construction began on March 3rd, 1980 • Completed final assembly, in about 1/2 the time spent on Columbia shuttle • Weighs 151,315 pounds • Delivered to Kennedy Space Center on April 13, 1985 • Carried classified payload for the U.S. Department of Defense. • Also served as the on-orbit launch site for many noteworthy space crafts.

13. Voyager 2 Encounters Uranus • Encountered Uranus on January 24, 1986 • Gave thousands of images of planet, moons, rings, atmosphere, interior, and magnetic environment • Revealed complex surfaces of five largest moons • Indicative of varying geologic pasts • Detected ten previously unseen moons • Gave fine details of ring system, found two new rings • Calculated rotation: 17 hours 14 minutes

14. Challenger Disaster • Occurred on January 28, 1986 • Broke apart 73 seconds into its flight • Lead to deaths of 7crew members • The space craft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean at 11:38 AM • Disintegration began with • O-ring seal in its SRB(solid rocket booster) failed at lift off • Caused a break in the SRB joint it sealed, allowing pressurized hot gas from within solid rocket motor to reach outside and strike upon the SRB attachment hardware and external fuel tank • Led to the separation of the right-hand SRBs aft attachment and the structural failure of external tank

15. Mir Space Station Launched • Russian space station • 15 years in orbit (3 times planned lifetime) • Raised first crop of wheat to be grown by seed in outer space • Suffered from: dangerous fires, a nearly catastrophic collision, darkened periods of out of control tumbling • First large-scale partnership between Russia and United States • After Cold War

16. Newer Space Endurance Record • Cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko • Wrote 20 songs while in space station • 326 days • Took off February 6, 1987 • Returned December 30, 1987 • Soyuz TM-3 capsule • Mir Space station

17. Space Shuttle Returns to Flight September 29, 1988 Space Shuttle Discovery Mission STS-26 Shuttles return to flight after 2.5 years since Challenger accident NASA redesigned solid rocket boosters to make them safer Made operational procedural changes to prevent communications breakdown Successfully deployed a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite

18. Voyager 2 Arrives at Neptune • Summer 1989 • Only human-made object to fly by Neptune • Discovered five moons, four rings • Saw a “Great Dark Spot” • Vanished by the time Hubble took images • Largest moon, Triton, found to be coldest known planet body • Nitrogen ice “volcanoes” on surface