USA 1983 Motif SPACE Shuttle STS-8 Challenger, Crew Signed Edwards Landing Cover

Please note that I have more nice US Space Shuttle covers for selling on Ebay !

Mailed STS-8 Landing Cover - Ex "Claus Ulrich / Berlin /Germany" Collection !

Superb  condition !
For condition check and enlarge all photos !
Click on the images for larger photos !

For large Photos also scroll down to the end !

Shipping by trackable registered priority airmail !
We combine shipping charges !
Shipping cover only, no album page !

NOTE: We have more nice Space and other Stamps in our Store !
 

STS-8 was the eighth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the third flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. It launched on August 30, 1983, and landed on September 5, 1983, conducting the first night launch and night landing of the Space Shuttle program. It also carried the first African-American astronaut to go into space, Guion Bluford. The mission successfully achieved all of its planned research objectives, but was marred by the subsequent discovery that a solid-fuel rocket booster had almost malfunctioned catastrophically during the launch.

The mission's primary payload was INSAT-1B, an Indian communications and weather observation satellite, which was released by the orbiter and boosted into a geostationary orbit. The secondary payload, replacing a delayed NASA communications satellite, was a four-metric-ton dummy payload, intended to test the use of the shuttle's Canadarm (remote manipulator system). Scientific experiments carried on board Challenger included the environmental testing of new hardware and materials designed for future spacecraft, the study of biological materials in electric fields under microgravity, and research into space adaptation syndrome (also known as "space sickness"). The flight furthermore served as shakedown testing for the previously launched TDRS-1 satellite, which would be required to support the subsequent STS-9 mission.

Crew:
Commander     Richard H. Truly (Second and last spaceflight)
Pilot     Daniel Brandenstein (First spaceflight)
Mission Specialist 1     Guion Bluford (First spaceflight)
Mission Specialist 2   Flight Engineer Dale Gardner (First spaceflight)
Mission Specialist 3     William E. Thornton (First spaceflight)

This mission had a crew of five, with three mission specialists. It was the second mission (after STS-7) to fly with a crew of five, the largest carried by a single spacecraft up to that date. The crew was historically notable for the participation of Guion Bluford, who became the first African-American to fly in space.

The commander, Truly, was the only veteran astronaut of the crew, having flown as the pilot on STS-2 in 1981 and for two of the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) aboard Enterprise in 1977. Prior to this, he had worked as a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) for all three Skylab missions and the ASTP mission. Brandenstein, Gardner and Bluford had all been recruited in 1978, and been training for a mission since 1979. The mission had originally been planned for a crew of four, with Thornton added to the crew as a third mission specialist in December 1982, eight months after the crew was originally named. As with Truly, he was an Apollo-era recruit, having joined NASA in 1967. His participation on the mission included a series of tests aimed at gathering information on the physiological changes linked with Space Adaptation Syndrome, more commonly known as "space sickness"; this had become a focus of attention in NASA, as astronauts succumbed to it during Shuttle missions.

The orbiter carried two Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMUs) for use in case of an emergency spacewalk; if needed, they would be used by Truly and Gardner. (Source: Wikipedia)