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The shuttle pallet satellite was a satellite bus designed to be deployed and then retrieved for return to Earth on NASA's
File:ORFEUS-SPAS-2.jpg, ORFEUS-SPAS II after being deployed from ''Columbia'' on STS-80
File:STS-7_SPAS-1.jpg, The first SPAS on the RMS of ''Challenger'' during the STS-7 mission
File:STS-39_SPAS-II.jpg, IBSS-SPAS after being deployed from ''Discovery''s payload bay during the STS-39 mission
File:CRISTA-SPAS-1.jpg, CRISTA-SPAS 1 on ''Atlantis'' RMS before release on the STS-66 mission
The shuttle pallet satellite was a satellite bus designed to be deployed and then retrieved for return to Earth on NASA's 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 na ...
. It carried a variety of payloads both scientific and military in nature.
It was made by Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm
Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) was a West German aerospace manufacturer. It was formed during the late 1960s as the result of efforts to consolidate the West German aerospace industry; aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt AG merged with the civ ...
and first flew in 1983. It was carried for the first time during the STS-7 mission and called SPAS-01 carrying 10 payloads. It flew again on the STS-39 mission in 1991 called IBSS-SPAS (Infrared Background Signature Survey – Shuttle Palette Satellite) for the DOD testing various ballistic missile detection sensors.
SPAS flew for the third time with the STS-51 mission in 1991 called ORFEUS-SPAS (Orbiting & Retrievable Far & Extreme UV Spectrometer – Shuttle Palette Satellite) with ultraviolet instruments. ORFEUS-SPAS was flown again on the STS-80 mission.
SPAS was flown for the second to last time with the CRISTA-SPAS (Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers & Telescopes for the Atmosphere – Shuttle Palette Satellite) payload on STS-66 in 1994 mounting several infrared sensors looking at the Earths atmosphere, and that payload flew again on STS-85 in 1997.
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