page_title: Shuttle pallet satellite
hierarchical_section_title: Shuttle pallet satellite
caption_attribution_description: English: KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The final tasks to prepare the Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere-Shuttle Pallet Satellite-2 (CRISTA-SPAS-2) payload for the STS-85 mission are completed aboard Discovery at Launch Complex 39A. The CRISTA is a system of three telescopes and four spectrometers to measure infrared radiation emitted by the Earth’s middle atmosphere. During the 11-day mission, the CRISTA-SPAS-2 free-flying satellite will be deployed from Discovery and retrieved later in the flight. Also onboard the satellite will be the Middle Atmosphere High Resolution Spectrograph Investigation (MAHRSI) to measure ultraviolet radiation emitted and scattered by the Earth’s atmosphere.
context_page_description: The shuttle pallet satellite was a satellite bus designed to be deployed and then retrieved for return to Earth on NASA's Space Shuttle. It carried a variety of payloads both scientific and military in nature.
  It was made by Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm and first flew in 1983. It was carried for the first time during the STS-7 mission and called SPAS-01 carrying 10 payloads. It flew again on the STS-39 mission in 1991 called IBSS-SPAS for the DOD testing various ballistic missile detection sensors.
  SPAS flew for the third time with the STS-51 mission in 1991 called ORFEUS-SPAS with ultraviolet instruments. ORFEUS-SPAS was flown again on the STS-80 mission.
  SPAS was flown for the second to last time with the CRISTA-SPAS payload on STS-66 in 1994 mounting several infrared sensors looking at the Earths atmosphere, and that payload flew again on STS-85 in 1997.
context_section_description: The shuttle pallet satellite was a satellite bus designed to be deployed and then retrieved for return to Earth on NASA's Space Shuttle. It carried a variety of payloads both scientific and military in nature. 
  It was made by Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm and first flew in 1983. It was carried for the first time  during the STS-7 mission and called SPAS-01 carrying 10 payloads. It flew again on the STS-39 mission in 1991 called IBSS-SPAS(Infrared Background Signature Survey - Shuttle Palette Satellite) for the DOD testing various ballistic missile detection sensors. 
  SPAS flew for the third time with the STS-51 mission in 1991 called ORFEUS-SPAS (Orbiting & Retrievable Far & Extreme UV Spectrometer - Shuttle Palette Satellite) with ultraviolet instruments. ORFEUS-SPAS was flown again on the STS-80 mission.
  SPAS was flown for the second to last time with the CRISTA-SPAS (Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers & Telescopes for the Atmosphere - Shuttle Palette Satellite) payload on STS-66 in 1994 mounting several infrared sensors looking at the Earths atmosphere, and that payload flew again on STS-85 in 1997 .
caption: CRISTA-SPAS II in the payload bay of Space Shuttle Discovery before launch of the STS-85 mission
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