| 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-51-L (25) | |
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.
| 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 | |
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.
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Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102)
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