Mission type Satellite deployment Launch site Kennedy LC-39B Inclination 28.5° Launch date 24 June 1986 Crew size 7 | Spacecraft Space Shuttle Columbia Landing site Kennedy Runway 15 Dates 24 Jun 1986 – 1 Jul 1986 Landing date 1 July 1986 | |
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Mission duration 7 days, 7 hours, 51 minutes, 51 seconds Members Michael Coats, John E. Blaha, Robert C. Springer, Anna Lee Fisher, James Buchli, Pratiwi Sudarmono | ||
STS-61-H was a United States Space Shuttle mission planned to launch on June 24, 1986 using Columbia. However, it was cancelled after the Challenger disaster.
Mission objectives
The main task of the mission was to bring two commercial satellites into orbit – Palapa B3 and Westar 6S, and military communication satellite - Skynet 4A, The British Skynet and the Indonesian Palapa were supposed to be accompanied by an astronaut from the two countries.
After the Challenger disaster the deployment of commercial satellites by the Space Shuttle was stopped, also for several years no international astronauts were nominated anymore. Thus neither the British nor the Indonesian payload specialists got a second chance for a spaceflight. The NASA crew however stayed together and participated in a 56-hour-long simulated mission known as STS-61-MT in 1986. The crew finally flew on STS-29, with Anna Fisher being replaced by James Bagian.
Skynet 4A was launched on 1 January 1990 with a Titan III, Westar 6S was renamed Galaxy 6 and launched on 12 October 1992 by an Ariane 44L. Palapa B3 was renamed to Palapa B2P and was launched on 20 March 1987 with a Delta-3920.