The Flickr Sts7 Image Generatr

Space Shuttle Challenger's STS-7 crew poses for a group portrait on the forward flight deck. Left to right are Mission Specialist Sally Ride, Commander Robert Crippen, Pilot Frederick Hauck, Mission Specialist Norman Thagard and Mission Specialist John Fabian. Sally Ride was the first American woman to fly in space and NASA's youngest astronaut at the time.

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Credit: NASA
Image Number: s07-30-1574
Date: June 21, 1983

An Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engine firing caused this bright glow at the aft end of the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Challenger on June 18, 1983. Also visible in the 70mm exposure are parts of the Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS-01), the experiment package for NASA's Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications (OSTA-2), the protective cradles for the Indonesian Palapa-B and Telesat Canada Anik C2 satellites, some getaway special (GAS) canisters and the Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS). The firing took place less than an hour after deployment of Anik.

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Credit: NASA
Image Number: STS007-18-0778
Date: June 18, 1983

(1983) Astronauts of the STS-7/Challenger mission are left to right first row: Sally K. Ride (mission specialist), Robert L. Crippen (commander), Frederick H. Hauck (pilot); rear row: John M. Fabian (left) and Norman E. Thagard (mission specialists). STS-7 launched the first five-member crew and the first American female astronaut into space on June 18, 1983.

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Credit: NASA
Image Number: S83-29016
Date: March 4, 1983

At NASA's Johnson Space Center, astronaut Sally Ride takes a break from training as a mission specialist for NASA's STS-7 spaceflight in Earth orbit.

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Credit: NASA
Image Number: s85-41007
Date: May 9, 1983

Space Shuttle Challenger's STS-7 mission landed on June 24, 1983 at Edwards Air Force Base, CA.

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Credit: NASA
Image Number: s83-35790
Date: June 24, 1983

Full view of Space Shuttle Orbiter Challenger in space, taken by the Space Pallet Satellite (SPAS). A heavily cloud-covered portion of the earth forms the backdrop for this scene of Challenger. Visible in the payload bay are the protective cradles for the Palapa-B and Telesat F communications satellites, the pallet for the NASA Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications (OSTA-2), the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) robot arm in the shape of the numeral seven and the KU- band antenna. A number of GetAway Special (GAS) canisters are also visible along the port side.

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Credit: NASA
Image Number: s07-32-1667
Date: June 22, 1983

On Shuttle Challenger's middeck, STS-7 Mission Specialist (MS) Sally Ride, wearing light blue flight coveralls and communications headset, floats alongside the middeck airlock hatch.

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Credit: NASA
Image Number: S07-02-020
Date: June 21, 1983

(June 1983) Astronaut Sally K. Ride, mission specialist on STS-7, monitors control panels from the pilot's chair on the Flight Deck. Floating in front of her is a flight procedures notebook.

NASA Media Usage Guidelines

Credit: NASA
Image Number: S83-35783
Date: June 18-24, 1983

Sally Ride was the first American woman in space. Born on May 26, 1951 in Los Angeles, California, she received a Bachelor in Physics and English in 1973 from Stanford University and, later, a Master in Physics in 1975 and a Doctorate in Physics in 1978, also from Stanford. NASA selected Dr. Ride as an astronaut candidate in January 1978. She completed her training in August 1979, and began her astronaut career as a mission specialist on STS-7, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on June 18, 1983. The mission spent 147 hours in space before landing on a lakebed runway at Edwards Air Force Base, California on June 24, 1983. Dr. Ride also served as a mission specialist on STS-41-G, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on October 5, 1984 and landed 197 hours later at Kennedy Space Center, Florida on October 13, 1984.

In June 1985, NASA assigned Dr. Ride to serve as mission specialist on STS-61-M. She discontinued mission training in January 1986 to serve as a member of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger accident, also known as the Rogers Commission. Upon completing the investigation she returned to NASA Headquarters as Special Assistant to the Administrator for Long Range and Strategic Planning, where she lead a team that wrote NASA Leadership and America's Future in Space:A Report to the Administrator in August 1987.

Dr. Ride also wrote a children's book, To Space and Back, describing her experiences in space, received the Jefferson Award for Public Service, and was twice awarded the National Spaceflight Medal. Her most recent books include Voyager: An Adventure to the Edge of the Solar System and The Third Planet: Exploring the Earth from Space. She was also a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), which investigated the February 1, 2003 loss of Space Shuttle Columbia, as well as a physics professor and Director of the California Space Institute at the University of California, San Diego. She died on July 23, 2012, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

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Credit: NASA
Image Number: 87-HC-129
Date: June 1984

“ASTRONAUT CANDIDATE IN WATER SURVIVAL TRAINING --- Mission Specialist/Astronaut Candidate Sally K. Ride watches a fellow pupil gliding over water survival training school at Homestead Air Force Base. Sixteen of the recently named group of 35 Shuttle astronaut candidates took part in the course. The event was designed to prepare the trainees for proper measures to take in the event of emergency ejection from an aircraft over water.

SINCE THIS PHOTOGRAPH WAS MADE: Dr. Ride and her 34 fellow class members from Astronaut Group 3 became full-fledged members of the JSC astronaut corps in September 1979. Dr. Ride has been named as mission specialist for STS-7.”

www.pbs.org/newshour/science/life-sally-ride-americas-fir...
Credit: PBS website

Taken much much too early, continue to Rest In Peace Dr. Ride...and Thank You:

www.nasa.gov/topics/people/features/ride.html

“Views of the STS-7 shuttle Challenger taken from the Shuttle pallet satellite (SPAS-01) include: Close-up view of shuttle Challenger payload bay with the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm bent in the shape of a seven.”

Above per the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) description/caption linked to below.

A great rarely seen closeup image. I was hoping to see an Astronaut’s face in one of the overhead windows but there only seems to be an external reflection of the Remote Manipulator System’s end effector/wrist area visible in the left window.

20/20 hindsight: The tiles, especially on the bottom of the orbiter, were of concern since day 1. This would’ve been an excellent opportunity – early on – to take a good look. It seems it would’ve been a simple matter to do a flip/pirouette of the spacecraft to allow the venerable Hasselblad camera system aboard SPAS-01 to capture some detailed images. Surely someone must’ve proposed it? Was it considered to be a risky move…due to losing line-of-sight? Isn’t that what the Ku-band radar, seen at the upper right corner of the payload bay, is for?
If brought up/considered, who knows what questionable, convoluted & egregious factors precluded such. Or was it an unconscionable 'head in the sand' mentality/culture? Since, if the tiles were severely damaged or missing, nothing could've been done anyhow?

Note the fondly nostalgic fiducial marks within the image…Long Live Apollo, and to lesser extent, Hasselblad. 😉

catalog.archives.gov/id/22489930
Credit: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) website

Astronaut Sally K. Ride, mission specialist on STS-7, monitors control panels from the pilot's chair on the Flight Deck. Floating in front of her is a flight procedures notebook.

“STS-7 SATELLITE VIEW OF ORBITER—The Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Challenger against the blackness of space was captured by a 70mm camera onboard the temporarily free-flying Shuttle pallet satellite (SPAS-01) during a busy day 5 on the STS-7 mission. Visible in the cargo bay are the protective cradles for the now-vacated Telesat Anik C2 and Palapa D communications satellites, the pallet for the NASA Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications (OSTA-2); the remote manipulator system (RMS) and the Ku-band antenna. The STS-7 astronaut crew with the RMS arm later retrieved the SPAS and returned it to a stowed position in the cargo bay for the return to Earth.”

pg. 11”

I’m rather disappointed that the sliver of earth & airglow has been cropped out…it’s what sets this image off…idiots. You can see how the ‘view/frame’ was shifted up/forward. I say again, CLUELESS IDIOTS.

At least – I’ll be damned - looky here. They actually have it! A Christmas miracle:

images.nasa.gov/details-S83-35803

“Full views of Challenger in space, taken by the SPAS satellite. A number of cloud-types form the backdrop for this scene of Challenger. Visible in the cargo bay are the protective cradles for the Palapa-B and Telesat F communications satellites, the pallet for the NASA Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications (OSTA-2), the remote manipulator system (RMS) arm in the shape of the numeral seven and the KU-band antenna.

- A number of getaway special (GAS) canisters are also visible along the port side (35799-800);
- In this view the Challenger is seen beyond the Earth's horizon. Its cargo bay is open, revealing its contents (35801);
- The Challenger is seen over a cloudy Earth with its horizon just ahead (35802);
- Close-up view of the Challenger framed against the blackness of space. Its cargo bay is open and the protective cradles for the now-vacated satellites, the OSTA-2, and RMS and the KU-band antenna are visible (35803);
- The Challenger's cargo bay and cabin are partially visible in this frame. Near the cabin are seen the RMS arm and the KU-band antenna. On the aft side are the OSTA-2 and the closed protective cradle for the now vacated Telesat F [and] Anik C2 satellite[s]. Some getaway special canisters are also visible along the port side. Clouds, mountains and rivers are visible in the background (35804).”

The above is a cleaned up version of the mash-up/train-wreck at:

science.ksc.nasa.gov/mirrors/images/images/pao/STS7/10061...

Coming full circle & bringing it home, a woefully inadequate ‘effort’ to detangle the above, demonstrating that indeed, two wrongs do not make a right. At least the (fairly iconic) image was there:

“Full views of "Challenger" in Space, taken by the Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS), also views of Cargo Bay and Remote Manipulator System (RMS) extended. 1. SHUTTLE - RMS (STS-7)”

At:

images.nasa.gov/details-S83-35801

Even the odd reference to “Telesat F”, an obscure nomenclature for “Anik C2”. There really didn’t appear to have been a minimum skill set required to write captions.

Conversely, an awesome STS-7 write-up:

forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=35731.60
Credit: ‘NASA Spaceflight’ website

The emulsion artifact is exaggerated by the scanner.

This week in 1983, space shuttle Challenger, mission STS-7, launched on a six-day mission to deploy two communications satellites, one for Canada and one for Indonesia. This was the first time the shuttle flew with a crew of five and the first time a U.S. woman was in space. Here, Sally Ride is seen on the flight deck of Challenger. Today, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is playing a vital role in the Artemis program by developing the Space Launch System, the backbone of NASA’s exploration plans and the only rocket capable of sending humans to the Moon and Mars. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage.

Image credit: NASA

#tbt #nasa #marshallspaceflightcenter #msfc #marshall #space #history #marshallhistory #STS7 #SpaceShuttleChallenger #Challenger #nasamarshall #nasahistory #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter

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“Astronaut Robert L. Crippen, is seen at the commander’s station of the Space Shuttle Challenger as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere on re-entry. The friction results in a pinkish glow visible through the forward windows on the flight deck. The scene was exposed with a 35mm camera.”

Launch: June 18, 1983
Landing: June 24, 1983 Edwards Air Force Base, Cal
Astronauts: Robert L. Crippen, Frederick H. Hauck, John M. Fabian, Sally K. Ride and Norman E. Thagard
Space Shuttle: Challenger

STS-7 carried the first American woman to space. Several experiments were carried out including studying the social behavior of an ant colony in space.

NASA Media Usage Guidelines

Credit: NASA
Image Number: S83-28355
Date: March 1983

Page 3-22 from Deorbit Prep Checklist, flown and used on Shuttle Challenger mission STS-7. As certified by Mission Specialist John Fabian:

"As the lead mission specialist astronaut on Challenger flight STS-7, I was required to perform a series of tasks to prepare the spacecraft for re entry. My duties were spelled out in the Deorbit Prep Checklist. The pilot and commander had many more procedures to perform. To facilitate our independent activities, I tore the pages containing my steps out of the book. This item is pages 3-21 and 3-22 of the checklist that I actually used during the final on-orbit stages of our mission. It has been in my possession as a part of my personal collection for more than 36 years."

A block of commemorative stamps signed by STS-7 Mission Specialist John Fabian.

The Postal Service commemorated the Challenger Space Shuttle mission STS-7 with the issuance of a 3-dollar stamp on June 22, 1995 in Anaheim, California.