Space Science

This montage consists of 8 individual STS-35 crew member portraits surrounding the mission’s insignia. Starting from top center, clockwise, are Vance D. Brand, commander; mission specialists Dr. Robert A. R. Parker, John M. (Mike) Lounge, and Dr. Jeffery A. Hoffman; Colonel Guy S. Gardner, pilot; and payload specialists Dr. Kenneth H. Nordsieck, Dr. Samual T. Durrance, and Dr. Ronald A. Parise. The crew of 8 launched aboard the Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia on December 2, 1990 at 1:19:01am (EST). The primary objective of the mission was round the clock observation of the celestial sphere in ultrviolet and X-Ray astronomy with the Astro-1 observatory which consisted of four telescopes: the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT); the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE); the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT); and the Broad Band X-Ray Telescope (BBXRT). Due to loss of data used for pointing and operating the ultraviolet telescopes, Marshall Space Flight Center ground teams were forced to aim the telescopes with fine tuning by the flight crew.