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From: lmc@cisden.UUCP (Lyle McElhaney)
Newsgroups: net.space,net.columbia
Subject: Re: The Lost Payloads
Message-ID: <496@cisden.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 9-Feb-86 00:03:54 EST
Article-I.D.: cisden.496
Posted: Sun Feb  9 00:03:54 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 12-Feb-86 20:55:52 EST
References: <661@tekigm.UUCP> <998@psivax.UUCP> <3102@umcp-cs.UUCP>
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Organization: ConTel Information Systems, Denver
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Xref: watmath net.space:5775 net.columbia:2292

> >>I  have  a question  concerning the Challenger's last  payload. I
> >>have heard from an uncertain source that the Hubble telescope was
> >>aboard. Is this true? If so, why no mention of this great loss?
> 
> >	False, it did have the only device the US was sending up to
> >view Halley's Comet though. So that is the end of *that*.
> 
> Actually, I don't think that's true either.  What was lost was some sort of
> UV 'scope.  The Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (known also as HUT-- it is
> accompanied by T-shirts showing a certain Star Wars character lounging in
> the cargo bay) was, if I remember this correctly, not scheduled to fly until
> March, when *it* would look at Halley (among other things).  I don't think
> it wat the payload that was lost.  In any case, it cannot be adapted to fly

Nope. What was lost was the TDRS-II satellite and the Spartan (that's an
acronym for something, but I don't have it here) Halley observer that was
to be deployed and (I think) recaptured before re-entry, to be reflown
several more times later. It was built at Colorado University, so there
was a lot of publicity about it (and Onazuka, a CU grad) hereabouts. The
company that I work for, ConTel, owns Spacecom (a separate division from
us) who owned the TDRS - as a result, the company published the press
releases from NASA about this flight. I had just picked up my copy and was
walking down the hall reading it when someone popped out of their office
and yelled that Challenger had blown up.....

Lyle McElhaney
...hao!cisden!lmc