Jarvis was Payload Specialist 2 on STS-51-L which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 11:38:00 EST on January 28, 1986. The crew on board the Orbiter Challenger included the spacecraft commander, Dick Scobee, pilot Michael J. Smith (USN), mission specialists Dr. Ronald McNair, Lieutenant Colonel Ellison Onizuka (USAF), Dr. Judith Resnik, and fellow civilian payload specialist, Christa McAuliffe. The entire STS-51-L crew died on January 28, 1986, when Challenger exploded during launch.
After being honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1973, with the rank of Captain, he joined the Hughes Aircraft Company's Space and Communications group, where he worked as a Communications Subsystem Engineer on the MARISAT Program.