STS-61-E was a
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...
mission planned to launch on 6 March 1986 using
''Columbia''. It was canceled after the
''Challenger'' disaster.
Crew
Mission objectives
''Columbia'' was to carry the ASTRO-1 observatory, which would be used to make
astronomical observation
Observational astronomy is a division of astronomy that is concerned with recording data about the observable universe, in contrast with theoretical astronomy, which is mainly concerned with calculating the measurable implications of physical m ...
s including observations of
Halley's Comet
Halley's Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–79 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the on ...
. ASTRO-1 consisted of three
ultraviolet telescopes mounted on two
Spacelab pallet
Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier, ...
s, controlled by the Instrument Pointing System (IPS) which was first tested on
STS-51-F
STS-51-F (also known as Spacelab 2) was the 19th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the eighth flight of Space Shuttle ''Challenger''. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on July 29, 1985, and landed eight days later on Aug ...
.
After the ''Challenger'' disaster, the flight was remanifested as
STS-35
STS-35 was the tenth flight of Space Shuttle ''Columbia'', the 38th shuttle flight, and a mission devoted to astronomical observations with ASTRO-1, a Spacelab observatory consisting of four telescopes. The mission launched from Kennedy Spac ...
and several crew members were replaced. Both Richards and Leestma were reassigned to
STS-28 while McBride left NASA in 1989.
Vance D. Brand replaced McBride as the commander while
Guy S. Gardner and
John M. Lounge replaced Richards and Leestma, respectively.
See also
*
Canceled Space Shuttle missions
During NASA's Space Shuttle program, several missions were canceled. Many were canceled as a result of the ''Challenger'' and the ''Columbia'' disasters or due to delays in the development of the shuttle. Others were canceled because of change ...
*
STS-35
STS-35 was the tenth flight of Space Shuttle ''Columbia'', the 38th shuttle flight, and a mission devoted to astronomical observations with ASTRO-1, a Spacelab observatory consisting of four telescopes. The mission launched from Kennedy Spac ...
References
{{All U.S. Space Shuttle Missions
Cancelled Space Shuttle missions