1985: In the Challenger’s next-to-last mission, the Space Shuttle carried Spacelab-2 to conduct a series of experiments. The craft returned to earth after seven days. The Spacelab-2 payload consisted of an igloo and three pallets in the payload bay, containing scientific instruments dedicated to life sciences, plasma physics, astronomy, high-energy astrophysics, solar physics, atmospheric physics and technology research. A major objective of the mission was to verify the performance of the Spacelab systems with the orbiter as well as to measure the environment created by the vehicle in space. (NASA Image)
