STS-51-F ( also known as Spacelab 2 ) was the nineteenth flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the eighth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger.

A special part of the modular Spacelab system, the " igloo ", which was located at head of a three-pallet train, provided on-site support to instruments mounted on pallets.

The main mission objective was to verify performance of Spacelab systems, determine the interface capability of the orbiter, and measure the environment created by the spacecraft.

Despite mission replanning necessitated by Challenger < nowiki >'</ nowiki > s abort to orbit trajectory, the Spacelab mission was declared a success.

The Spacelab Infrared Telescope ( IRT ) was also flown on the mission.

At this point Columbia was joined by Challenger, which performed the next three shuttle missions, while Columbia underwent modifications for the first Spacelab mission.

In 1983, Columbia, under the command of John Young for his sixth spaceflight, undertook its second operational mission ( STS-9 ), in which the Spacelab science laboratory and a six-person crew was carried, including the first non-American astronaut on a space shuttle, Ulf Merbold.

Its ample size — much greater than that of the shuttle alone, or even the shuttle plus Spacelab — was enough, with some modifications, for up to seven astronauts of both sexes, and experiments needing a long duration in space ; even a movie projector for recreation was possible.

Another proposal was based on the Spacelab habitation modules, which provided 32 seats in the payload bay in addition to those in the cockpit area.

He was selected as one of four payload specialists for Spacelab 2 on August 9, 1978, and after seven years of training he flew on STS-51-F / Spacelab-2.

With a permanent space station as an objective, the Space Shuttle was developed as a reusable transportation vehicle, and with it came Spacelab and other experimental activities making use of the Shuttle ’ cargo bay.

MSFC was also responsible for Spacelab, the research facility carried in the Shuttle's cargo bay on certain flights.

* Spacelab 1 was flown on STS-9, launched November 28, 1983.

Construction of Spacelab was started in 1974 by the ERNO ( daughter of VFW-Fokker GmbH, after merger with MBB named MBB / ERNO, and since 2003 part of EADS SPACE Transportation ).

A Spacelab Pallet was transferred to the Swiss Museum of Transport for permanent display on 5 March 2010.

On spaceflight where a habitable module was not flown, but pallets were flown, a pressurized cylinder known as the igloo carried the subsystems needed to operate the Spacelab equipment.

An igloo component was flown on Spacelab 2, Astro-1, ATLAS-1, ATLAS-2, ATLAS-3, and Astro-2.

Science work was to be moved to the International Space Station and Spacehab module, a pressurized carrier similar to the Spacelab Module.

A Spacelab Pallet was recommissioned in 2002 for flight on STS-99.

The " Spacelab Pallet-Deployable 1 ( SLP-D1 ) with Canadian Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, Dextre " was launched on STS-123.

" Spacelab Pallet-Deployable 2 ( SLP-D2 )" was scheduled for STS-127.

STS-9 ( also known as STS-41A and Spacelab 1 ) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission which carried the first Spacelab laboratory module into orbit.

After Skylab's demise, the focus shifted to the reusable Spacelab module, an orbital workshop that could be deployed from the Space Shuttle and returned to Earth.

Columbia carried to orbit the second reusable German Spacelab on the STS-55 mission and demonstrated the shuttle's ability for international cooperation, exploration, and scientific research in space.

The Center also received responsibility for Spacelab, a versatile laboratory that would be carried on some flights within the Shuttle's cargo bay.

The Spacelab Module comprises a cylindrical main laboratory configurable as Short or Long Module flown in the rear of the Space Shuttle cargo bay, connected to the crew compartment by a tunnel.

Most of these experiments were conducted within the pressurized Spacelab laboratory module situated in the orbiter ’ s payload bay.

Spacelab orbital laboratory module.

This division, which grew to over 1, 000 people, provided payload integration for all Spacelab projects at the Marshall Space Flight Center and had a substantial role in the development of the U. S. laboratory for the International Space Station.

A veteran of two Spacelab missions, Parker was a mission specialist on STS-9 / Spacelab-1 ( 28 November-8 December 1983 ) and on STS-35 ( 2 – 10 December 1990 ); which featured the ASTRO-1 ultraviolet astronomy laboratory.

During the eight-day flight, the crew focused on life science and materials processing experiments in over forty investigations in the Spacelab laboratory, as well as scientific and engineering tests performed aboard the Orbiter Endeavour.

This Spacelab mission featured the ASTRO-1 ultraviolet astronomy laboratory, a project on which Dr. Hoffman had worked since 1982.

The Spacelab components were used on 25 shuttle flights, but the components were decommissioned in 1998 except the pallets.

The mission was also scheduled to carry out a series of tests with the TDRS-1 satellite which had been deployed by STS-6, to ensure the system was fully operational before it was used to support the Spacelab 1 program on the upcoming STS-9 flight.

This was 16th and last scheduled flight of the ESA-developed Spacelab module although Spacelab pallets will continue to be used on the International Space Station.

Endeavour also saw the recommissioning of the Spacelab Pallet system, used for experiments in vacuum.

The mission focused on materials science, biotechnology, combustion science, the physics of fluids, and numerous scientific experiments housed in the pressurized Spacelab module.

Bondar flew on the NASA Space Shuttle Discovery during Mission STS-42, January 22 – 30, 1992, during which she performed experiments in the Spacelab.

As a research scientist, his principle duties included conducting scientific studies of the Sun and other celestial objects using advanced space instruments and serving as a co-investigator on one of the Spacelab 2 solar experiments, the Solar Optical Universal Polarimeter.

Over a 15-year period, Spacelab components flew on 22 shuttle missions, the last in April 1998.

Spacelab components flew on 22 Shuttle missions between November 1983 and April 1998.

In 1978, the European Space Agency ( ESA ) selected him, along with Wubbo Ockels and Claude Nicollier, to train as payload specialists on the first flight of the Spacelab module.

It again carried the DFI package, as well as the OSTA-l payload – named for the NASA Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications – which consisted of a number of remote-sensing instruments mounted on a Spacelab pallet in the payload bay.

In addition, in its payload bay, Columbia again carried the DFI package, and OSS-l ( named for the NASA Office of Space Science and Applications ) which consisted of a number of instruments mounted on a Spacelab pallet, intended to obtain data on the near-Earth environment and the extent of contamination caused by the orbiter itself.

In 1993, he flew on board the Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-55 ( Spacelab D-2 ) as a Payload Specialist.