How many passengers are in a Challenger?
If you mean NASA's Space Shuttle Challenger, it carried seven astronauts on its crewed flights. If you mean the Dodge Challenger automobile, it seats five passengers in standard configuration.
Two very different Challengers
Challenger is a name used for both a historic space vehicle and a modern American muscle car. Below, we break out the passenger counts for both to avoid confusion.
Space Shuttle Challenger
The Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099) was one of NASA's orbiters and routinely carried crew members into space. The crew size varied by mission, but the shuttle typically carried multiple astronauts, up to seven on the most common crewed flights.
Before listing the key points about its crew capacity, note the following summary:
- Maximum crew size: seven astronauts
- Typical mission crew: five to seven astronauts
- Notable case: STS-51-L (1986) carried seven crew members when Challenger was destroyed shortly after launch
Note: The following points summarize typical passenger (crew) counts for Challenger missions.
In practice, Challenger missions often featured seven crew members, with some missions operating with five to six depending on objectives and payloads.
Dodge Challenger (automobile)
The Dodge Challenger is a two-door sports car with seating for five passengers in standard configuration: two front seats and a rear bench for three.
Summary
Two very different Challengers share a name but differ dramatically in passenger capacity: NASA's Space Shuttle Challenger carried up to seven astronauts on crewed flights, while the Dodge Challenger automobile seats five passengers in its standard configuration.
