08/30/2026
TWO EARLY SHUTTLES LAUNCHED THIS AUG 30TH DATE: 1983 CHALLENGER AT NIGHT AND 1984 MAIDEN FLIGHT OF DISCOVERY--NINE ROOKIES TOTAL!
Two significant NASA history events happened on Aug. 30th: the first African-American, Guy Bluford, was launched to space in 1983, paving the way for all minorities; and the first launch of a Shuttle after a scary, on-pad abort in June 1984 on its maiden mission
And the Shuttle missions of STS-8 in 1983 and STS-41-D in 1984 had a total of 11 astronauts–nine of them rookies! Only the commanders, Dick Truly on STS-8 and Henry Hartsfield on STS-41D were experienced, each with one previous spaceflight.
STS-8 was the eighth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the third flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. It launched at 2:32 am August 30, 1983 and landed on September 5, conducting the first night launch and night landing of the Space Shuttle program. With Truly and Bluford, were Daniel Brandenstein, Dale Gardner and William Thornton.
STS-41-D was the first 6-person flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the first mission of Space Shuttle Discovery.
Discovery, which would become the workhorse of the fleet with 39 launches, blasted off at 8:41 am EDT on Aug. 30, 1984 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Commander Hartsfield led five rookies: Michael Coats, Richard Mullane, Steven Hawley, Judy Resnik and Charles Walker. Three commercial communications satellites were deployed into orbit during the six-day mission, and a number of scientific experiments were conducted.
NASA on STS-41D https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-41D.html
STS-8 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.
NASA on STS-8 https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-8.html
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