Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-51C) Poster

On January 24, 1985, STS-51C was launched into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery to conduct the first mission totally dedicated to the Department of Defense. STS-51C crewmembers were Commander Thomas K. Mattingly II, Pilot Loren J. Shriver, and Mission Specialists Ellison S. Onizuka, James F. Buchli, and Gary E. Payton. Because STS-51C was a classified Department of Defense mission, no information about the primary payloads has been released. According to an Air Force announcement, the classified payload was deployed successfully and boosted into operational orbit by an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) booster. Life Sciences experiments on this mission included multiple Detailed Supplementary Objectives (DSOs). A DSO is a NASA-sponsored investigation performed by Space Shuttle crewmembers, who serve as the test subjects. These studies required minimal crew time, power and stowage. Biomedical DSOs focus on operational concerns, including space motion sickness, cardiovascular deconditioning, muscle loss, changes in coordination and balance strategies, radiation exposure, pharmacokinetics and changes in the body's biochemistry. The Shuttle Discovery touched down at Kennedy Space Center on January 27, 1985. The total duration of the mission was three days, one hour, and thirty-three minutes.