There’s nearly half a world between India and the U.S., geographically speaking. You knew that, didn’t you? That means that our time-zones are kind of yin-yang, with most Americans sleeping when we go about our daily duties, and vice versa. If you know folks who work along with American counterparts on a daily basis and see them scheduling their calls, or if you’ve ever tried to wish a friend or a relative residing in the U.S. on their birthday, you might have experienced this first hand.
The final orbital location chosen for INSAT-1B dictated a night time launch and landing for the Challenger, a first in the Shuttle programme. Brandenstein and Mission Specialists Dale A. Gardner and Guion S. Bluford – who were first time flyers. William E. Thornton to conduct in-flight studies and medical investigations to better understand the phenomenon.
Because of this yin-yang connection between the two nations, funnily enough, the first night time launch and landing of a NASA mission was necessitated. Because the primary payload of the STS-8 mission was a satellite to be deployed for India and tracking requirements led to the unusual choice of timings, this was. When NASA first announced the crew for STS-8 in April 1982, it was to be a four-member crew comprising Commander Richard H. Truly, a veteran who had flown aboard the STS-2 mission and three others – Pilot Daniel C. The four-man crew for a three-day mission in July 1983 eventually turned into a five-man crew for a six-day mission in August-September 1983. As one among every three astronauts on early space shuttle missions had experienced space motion sickness, it was decided in December 1982 to assign physician-astronaut Dr. The 90-minute ceremony was broadcast live to the entire nation, thanks to INSAT-1B.
“The country is proud of you all”, she said, congratulating the space scientists, engineers, and everyone involved for the successful operation of the INSAT system.
With time of the essence, the technicians worked doubly fast to ensure what was then a record turnaround time. As if all this wasn’t enough, the stack had to ride out Hurricane Barry, which made its landfall just south of KSC, while it was on the pad. The moment the shuttle cleared the launch tower, the flight’s control shifted from KSC to NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston.
Because the INSAT-1B, built by Ford Aerospace for the Indian Space Research Organisation, failed to deploy its solar array for starters, this was. Following the end of the STS-7 mission and the Challenger’s return to Earth in California on June 24, 1983 , it arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida five days later. The orbiter was refurbished, mated with its twin Solid Rocket Boosters and External Tank and the stack was rolled out to Launch Complex 39A, all before August 2. It all proved worth it as the successful launch of STS-8 took place on the night of August 30, making it just the second night launch among American human spaceflights, following Apollo 17 in 1972. It was only in mid-September that Ford and the Indian controllers turned the tide, successfully deploying the solar array and stationing it at 74°E in place of INSAT-1A.
