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This question was prompted by articles mentioning that a majority of Space Shuttle launches had scrubbed launches.

Which STS mission had the largest amount of accidents and/or failures?

If relevant, this question may be separated into categories like on-pad scrubs and in-flight issues that did not result in mission aborts.

Speedphoenix
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    I don't have a good sense of all the Shuttle missions, but STS-93 seems like it deserves a mention – Erin Anne Nov 21 '22 at 00:00
  • "A majority ... had leak issues"? Reference? – Organic Marble Nov 21 '22 at 01:02
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    The "largest amount of ...failures" is boring anyway. It will be a long litany of chipped tiles and stuck middeck locker doors. Ask about the most impactful failures. That would be a fun answer to write. – Organic Marble Nov 21 '22 at 01:25
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    @OrganicMarble I can guess that answer “yeah so this one blew up right after launching” – Topcode Nov 21 '22 at 14:40
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    @Topcode excellent point. The most impactful non-fatal failures. – Organic Marble Nov 21 '22 at 14:40
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    @OrganicMarble The majority having leak issues was bad memory on my side. I remembered this paragraph from Ars Technica wrong

    "Over its lifetime, due to this complexity, the shuttle on average scrubbed nearly once every launch attempt. Some shuttle flights scrubbed as many as five times before finally lifting off. For launch controllers, it never really got a whole lot easier to manage the space shuttle's complex fueling process, and hydrogen was frequently a culprit."

     – Speedphoenix Nov 21 '22 at 23:18
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    That article's spot on, 1.9 launch attempts per mission on average https://space.stackexchange.com/a/37189/6944 Although 2 flights had 6 scrubs. – Organic Marble Nov 21 '22 at 23:38
  • @OrganicMarble The point of this question was to satiate curiosity on a hard-to-google metric. I know two specific missions had at least one failure each, and I imagine there are many anecdotes and articles on the other notable ones too. Minor failures are much harder to get a grasp on how frequent they are. – Speedphoenix Nov 21 '22 at 23:39
  • I did post this question though, now that you prompted it https://space.stackexchange.com/q/61049/29286 – Speedphoenix Nov 21 '22 at 23:39
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    Awesome, thanks. I've been thinking about how to write that one up. – Organic Marble Nov 21 '22 at 23:40
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    @Speedphoenix: Regarding the hydrogen leaks, you might have been thinking of the 1990 "Summer of Hydrogen" and the issues with the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate, both of which were frequently mentioned in the context of SLS in the last weeks and months. – Jörg W Mittag Nov 21 '22 at 23:48
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    @JörgWMittag "summer of leaks" discussed in detail here https://space.stackexchange.com/a/46799/6944 – Organic Marble Nov 22 '22 at 00:07
  • Ask about the most impactful failures. You get three guesses and the first two don't count. So what's the third? Because that's just a list of all of them. – Mazura Nov 23 '22 at 03:30
  • Ha, Mazura brings up a good point. How do you count the failure of “mission was abandoned because the Shuttle wouldn’t let us”? This includes failures of Shuttle schedules, failures of Shuttle incompatibilities and complications, and… failures of insufficient funds, because the Shuttle flight per se would cost too much, and the Shuttle program as a whole bled NASA dry? – caInstrument Mar 21 '23 at 14:18
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    Just as a point of reference for evaluating answers, the STS-001 Postflight Mission Report lists about 70 failures. The report doesn't include details of thermal protection tile issues found during post landing inspections. https://archive.org/details/48011357STS1OrbiterFinalMissionReport – Organic Marble Mar 21 '23 at 22:26

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I assume you don't count the Challenger and Columbia disastors, otherwise those win. Assuming you don't I can't decide which one as they had different types of problems but here are some troubled missions:

  1. STS-93:It was scrubbed three times before launch. Then it launched without 897 lb of LOX. Then, the wiring failed and caused problems with a bunch of sensors. Finally, there was a deactivated LOX post in the main injector. Of course, the biggest of all was that, during ingnition, a gold pin hit the nozzle extension, causing a nozzle leak. Due to a bunch of luck, disaster was averted. There are more, but those were the biggest.
  2. STS-26: The flight after the Challenger disaster. It was scrubbed once before launch. A couple of problems occured. First, the FES (Flash Evaporator System) iced up and shut down leaving the crew in a shuttle with temperatures of around 87°F (31°C) until day 4 of the mission. Second, a Ku-band antenna deployed on day 2 but failed to respond. Gradual improvement.
  3. STS-27:During the ascent, it appears that a piece of foam hit the shuttle, like in the Columbia disaster. The crew believed it to be unsurvivable. Luckily for them, the tiles that they hit covered something else that was steel, and therefore it didn't burn up on reentry. Lucky break. Gradual worsening.
  4. STS-28:1 launch delay. First, a pyro initair circuit had an issue and failed. Then, an Exhaust Temp had an issue. Next, a regulator pressure dropped. Also, some recorders had issues, as did a camera which couldn't focus. Additionally, measuerer fuel was malfunctioning, as was the pitch and yaw actuators. The TPS (Thermal Protection System) also sustained some damage, although that is common. Then, a fuel cell's sensor failed. Also, the side hatch wasn't working as was very hard for the crew to operate. Finally, an airlock pin did not latch. Improvement, but a bunch of annoying minor issues.

Fortunately, STS-29 did not have any notable issues (about time). So, these are what I would call some of the 3 biggest cursed launches of the shuttle program.

Starship - On Strike
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