The Explorers' Club, № MCXXXVI

Operation AXIOM: The Space Age—The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-61-C, Part II
13-18 January 1986: Gibson, Bolden, "Pinky" Nelson, Hawley, Chang-Díaz, Bill Nelson, & Cenker deployed the telecom satellite Satcom-K1; also aboard were 13 Getaway Specials; photography of Halley's Comet failed due to dead batteries; three attempts at landing at K.S.C.'s Shuttle Landing Facility were waved off due to weather; after 98 orbits, the Columbia landed at California's Edwards.

Commentary: S.T.S.-61-C was originally slated to last seven days, but Mission Control attempted to shorten it to four days both because its multiple launch scrubs had already delayed the launch of the next flight, S.T.S.-51-L, & to give ground crews more time to turn the Columbia around in accordance with the frequent launch cadence intended for 1986. The repeated weather delays at the Shuttle Landing Facility eventually extended the mission back to six days.

Payload Specialist Greg Jarvis was originally assigned to S.T.S.-61-C, but he was bumped in favor of Congressman Nelson. Jarvis was reassigned to S.T.S.-51-L, which launched just ten days after S.T.S.-61-C landed.

Bonus! Space Age Song o' the Day: S.T.S.-61-C
Pushover, "Home (Space Boy)" from Logic and Loss (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"Say, I've gotta find my own way back to Earth…"

Semper exploro.