| Names | Space Transportation System |
|---|---|
| Mission type | TDRS-D satellite deployment (planned) |
| Operator | NASA |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Challenger (planned) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 6 |
| Members | Loren J. Shriver Bryan D. O'Connor Mark C. Lee Sally K. Ride William Frederick Fisher Robert Wood |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | July 15, 1986 (planned) [1] Not launched |
| Rocket | Space Shuttle Challenger |
| Launch site | Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A |
| Contractor | Rockwell International |
| 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 |
 Space Shuttle patch Cancelled Shuttle missions | |
STS-61-M was a proposed NASA Space Shuttle program mission, planned for July 1986 but canceled following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (STS-51-L).
Contents
The payload manifest was to have been TDRS-D, INSAT-1C, and EOS-1 (Electrophoresis Operations in Space). [1] EOS-1 was a payload developed by McDonnell Douglas that would have demonstrated the production in space of ultra-pure erythropoietin through electrophoresis. [2] Robert Wood, a McDonnell Douglas engineer, was assigned as the payload specialist for EOS-1 with fellow engineer Charles D. Walker assigned as his backup. [3]
If flown, this would have been Sally Ride's third spaceflight. After the Challenger disaster, Ride was named to the Rogers Commission investigating the disaster and left NASA afterwards in 1987. [4]
