STS-61-E

STS-61-E

Mission duration	8 days, 22 hours, 2 minutes
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Columbia
Crew
Crew size	7
Members	Jon McBride Richard N. Richards Jeffrey A. Hoffman David Leestma Robert A. Parker Samuel T. Durrance Ronald A. Parise
Start of mission
Launch date	6 March 1986, 10:45 (1986-03-06UTC10:45Z) UTC
Launch site	Kennedy LC-39B
End of mission
Landing date	15 March 1986, 08:47 (1986-03-15UTC08:48Z) UTC
Landing site	Kennedy Runway 15
Orbital parameters
Inclination	28.5 degrees
Back row, L-R: Durrance, Parker, Hoffman, Parise. Front row, L-R: Richards, McBride, Leestma Space Shuttle program ← STS-51-L STS-61-F →

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.

Crew

Position	Astronaut
Commander	Jon A. McBride Second spaceflight
Pilot	Richard N. Richards First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1	Jeffrey A. Hoffman Second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2	David C. Leestma Second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 3	Robert A. Parker Second spaceflight
Payload Specialist 1	Samuel T. Durrance First spaceflight
Payload Specialist 2	Ronald A. Parise First spaceflight

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.

See also

• Cancelled Space Shuttle missions
• STS-35