Shuttle pallet satellite

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CRISTA-SPAS II in the payload bay of Space Shuttle Discovery before launch of the 1997 STS-85 mission KSC-97PC1192~orig.jpg
CRISTA-SPAS II in the payload bay of Space Shuttle Discovery before launch of the 1997 STS-85 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. It carried a variety of payloads both scientific and military in nature.

It was made by Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm and first flew in 1983. It was carried for the first time during the STS-7 mission and called SPAS-01 carrying 10 payloads. [1] It flew again on the STS-39 mission in 1991 called IBSS-SPAS (Infrared Background Signature Survey – Shuttle Pallet Satellite) for the DOD testing various ballistic missile detection sensors. [2]

SPAS flew for the third time with the STS-51 mission in 1991 called ORFEUS-SPAS (Orbiting & Retrievable Far & Extreme UV Spectrometer – Shuttle Pallet Satellite) with ultraviolet instruments. ORFEUS-SPAS was flown again on the STS-80 mission. [3]

SPAS was flown for the second to last time with the CRISTA-SPAS (Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers & Telescopes for the Atmosphere – Shuttle Pallet 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. [4]

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References

  1. "SPAS 01". space.skyrocket.de. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  2. "IBSS-SPAS". space.skyrocket.de. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  3. "ORFEUS-SPAS 1, 2". space.skyrocket.de. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  4. "CRISTA-SPAS 1, 2". space.skyrocket.de. Retrieved 2018-11-09.