Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. STS-8 was a Space Shuttle mission carried out in August-September 1983; it conducted the first night launch and night landing of the program, and flew the first African-American astronaut. The mission was a notable success, achieving 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. It was the eighth Shuttle mission and the third flight of the shuttle Challenger.