STS-62-A
| Mission type | Satellite deployment |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Discovery |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 7 |
| Members |
Robert L. Crippen Guy S. Gardner Richard M. Mullane Jerry L. Ross Dale A. Gardner Edward C. Aldridge, Jr. Brett Watterson |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 15 July 1986 Not launched |
| Launch site | Vandenberg SLC-6 |
| End of mission | |
| Landing site | Vandenberg Runway 12 |
|
 Front row (l to r): Guy Gardner, Mike Mullane, Jerry Ross, and Dale Gardner. Back row (l to r): Pete Aldridge, Jr, Robert Crippen, and Brett Watterson |
|
STS-62-A was a planned Space Shuttle mission to deliver a reconnaissance payload (Teal Ruby) into polar orbit. It was expected to use Discovery. It would have been the first manned launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and the first manned mission to go into polar orbit. The mission designation, 62-A, meant: 6=fiscal year 1986, 2=Vandenberg (1=Kennedy Space Center), and A=first flight in that fiscal year.
The destruction of Challenger and subsequent halt of the Space Shuttle Program led to the cancellation of the mission.
Guy Gardner, Jerry Ross, and Mike Mullane were members of the second post-Challenger mission STS-27—a classified mission for the DoD—during which the Lacrosse-1 radar reconnaissance spacecraft was allegedly deployed.
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