![]() ![]() Most notable of these modifications was the addition of the SILTS (Shuttle Infrared Leeside Temperature Sensing) pod atop Columbia's vertical stabilizer, which used an infrared camera to observe reentry heating on the shuttle's left wing and part of its fuselage. STS-61-C saw Columbia return to flight for the first time since the STS-9 mission in November 1983, after having undergone major modifications over the course of 18 months by Rockwell International in California. (Pilot Charles Bolden served as Administrator of NASA from 17 July 2009 to 20 January 2017 and Bill Nelson is the currently serving as Administrator of NASA). ![]() The STS-61-C flight has the distinction of having two members of its crew who later became Administrator of NASA. It was the last shuttle mission before the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, which occurred just ten days after STS-61-C's landing. "Bill" Nelson ( D-FL), and the first Costa Rican-born astronaut, Franklin R. ![]() Bolden, the second sitting politician to fly in space, Representative Clarence W. STS-61-C's seven-person crew included 2 future Administrator of NASA: the second African-American shuttle pilot, Charles F. The mission launched from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on 12 January 1986, and landed six days later on 18 January 1986. It was the first time that Columbia, the first space-rated Space Shuttle orbiter to be constructed, had flown since STS-9. STS-61-C was the 24th mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the seventh mission of Space Shuttle Columbia. ![]()
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