Spacecraft Space Shuttle Columbia Landing site Kennedy Runway 15 Dates 6 Mar 1986 – 15 Mar 1986 Landing date 15 March 1986 | Launch site Kennedy LC-39B Inclination 28.5° Launch date 6 March 1986 Crew size 7 | |
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Mission duration 8 days, 22 hours, 2 minutes Members Jon McBride, Richard N. Richards, Jeffrey A. Hoffman | ||
STS-61-E was a United States Space Shuttle mission planned to launch on March 6, 1986 using Columbia. It was cancelled after the Challenger disaster.
Mission objectives
Columbia was to carry the ASTRO-1 observatory, which would be used to make astronomical observations including observations of Comet Halley. ASTRO-1 consisted of three ultraviolet telescopes mounted on two Spacelab pallets, controlled by the Instrument Pointing System which was first tested on STS-51-F.
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 Brand replaced McBride as the commander while Guy Gardner and Mike Lounge replaced Richards and Leestma, respectively.