STS-61-E

STS-61-E

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 Space Shuttle program ←  STS-51-L (25) STS-26  → Cancelled Shuttle missions STS-61-F  →

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

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

Backup crew

Position	Astronaut [1]
Payload Specialist	Kenneth H. Nordsieck Would have been first spaceflight

Mission objectives

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. ^[2]

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

• Spaceflight portal

• Canceled Space Shuttle missions
• STS-35

References

1. "STS-61E". Spacefacts. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
2. Evans, Ben (2005). Space Shuttle Columbia: Her Missions and Crews. Springer Science + Business Media. p. 99. ISBN   0-387-21517-4.