Space Patch of the Month: the Canceled STS-61F

In November 1985, NASA released a list of forty-four upcoming Space Shuttle missions in the NASA Mixed Fleet Flight Manifest. These missions would have deployed a variety of payloads, both military and civilian, including two to Jupiter. The Ulysses and Galileo probes would have launched in the spring of 1986 and utilized Shuttle-Centaur, a derivative of the Centaur upper stage designed to fit in the Space Shuttle orbiter's payload bay and propel spacecraft into deep space. These missions, STS-61F Challenger and STS-61G Atlantis were the most dangerous Shuttle missions planned, as a launch abort could cause an explosion (Centaur would need to be drained of propellant prior to landing and the valves to do so were located close to the Space Shuttle Main Engines).

STS-61F Challenger would have launched on May 15, 1986 to deploy Ulysses. The spacecraft would have used Jupiter as a gravitational slingshot to be placed in orbit around the sun. Due to the dangerous nature of the flight, it had a crew of four volunteers rather than seven astronauts assigned to the mission— commander Frederick Hauck, pilot Roy Bridges, and mission specialists David Hilmers and Mike Lounge. After the Challenger disaster in January 1986, most of the missions on the Mixed Fleet Flight Manifest were significantly delayed or canceled altogether. STS-61F was re-manifested as STS-41 Discovery with an entirely different crew in 1990 and did not use the Centaur upper stage.

Embroidered STS-61F patch (from my collection)

In the top left, the sun, Ulysses's ultimate destination, emerges from behind the Earth, indicating eastward travel (rockets launch to the east). The red, orange, yellow, and white exhaust represent the spacecraft's launch and flight to Jupiter, which is depicted as a striped orange disc to the right of the sun. The small silver rectangle in between the tip of the exhaust crescent and Jupiter is the Ulysses spacecraft, heading first to Jupiter. The names of the four astronauts line the right side of the insignia.

While artwork for STS-61F's patch existed prior to the mission's cancelation, embroidered patches were not produced. Only modern reproductions exist.

STS-61F crew with their mission artwork (spacefacts.de)

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Bibliography

• Avilla, Aeryn. "Return to Sender: Post-Challenger Canceled Space Shuttle Missions." SpaceflightHistories, July 2023. https://www.spaceflighthistories.com/post/cancelled-shuttle

• Lethbridge, Cliff. "Space Shuttle Missions Canceled or Remanifested Following STS-51L." Spaceline. https://www.spaceline.org/united-states-manned-space-flight/challenger-legacy-index/space-shuttle-missions-canceled-remanifested-sts-51l/ 

This post was written entirely without the use of AI (sorry HAL). Go Cats, onto Round 2!