Names | Space Transportation System |
---|---|
Mission type | Observations of the Comet of Halley |
Operator | NASA |
Mission duration | 8 days, 22 hours, 2 minutes (planned) |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Columbia (planned) |
Launch mass | 1,217,990 kg (2,685,210 lb) |
Landing mass | 90,584 kg (199,704 lb) |
Payload mass | 21,937 kg (48,363 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 7 |
Members | Jon A. McBride Richard N. Richards Jeffrey A. Hoffman David C. Leestma Robert A. Parker Samuel T. Durrance Ronald A. Parise |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 6 March 1986, 10:45 UTC (planned) |
Rocket | Space Shuttle Columbia |
Launch site | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B |
Contractor | Rockwell International |
End of mission | |
Landing date | 15 March 1986, 08:47 UTC (planned) |
Landing site | Kennedy Space Center |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit (planned) |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Perigee altitude | 285 km (177 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 295 km (183 mi) |
Inclination | 28.45° |
Period | 90.40 minutes |
![]() STS-61-E mission patch ![]() Back row: Samuel T. Durrance, Robert A. Parker, Jeffrey A. Hoffman, Ronald A. Parise Front row: Richard N. Richards, Jon A. McBride, David C. Leestma |
STS-61-E was a NASA Space Shuttle mission planned to launch on 6 March 1986 using Columbia. It was canceled after the Challenger disaster.
Crew
[edit]Position | Astronaut | |
---|---|---|
Commander | Jon A. McBride Would have been second spaceflight | |
Pilot | Richard N. Richards Would have been first spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 1 | Jeffrey A. Hoffman Would have been second spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 2 | David C. Leestma Would have been second spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 3 | Robert A. Parker Would have been second spaceflight | |
Payload Specialist 1 | Samuel T. Durrance Would have been first spaceflight | |
Payload Specialist 2 | Ronald A. Parise Would have been first spaceflight |
Mission objectives
[edit]Columbia was to carry the ASTRO-1 observatory, which would be used to make astronomical observations including observations of Halley's Comet. ASTRO-1 consisted of three ultraviolet telescopes mounted on two Spacelab pallets, controlled by the Instrument Pointing System (IPS) which was first tested on STS-51-F.[1]
After the Challenger disaster, the flight was remanifested as STS-35 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
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Evans, Ben (2005). Space Shuttle Columbia: Her Missions and Crews. Springer Science + Business Media. p. 99. ISBN 0-387-21517-4.