Orbiting Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer
Launch Date: November 20, 1996 Mission Project Home Page -
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/masterCatalog.do?sc=1996-065B The
ORFEUS-SPAS II mission followed the ORFEUS-SPAS I mission flown
in 1993, motivated by improvements in instrument performance and
the critical need for additional observation time. The purpose
of the ORFEUS-SPAS II mission was to conduct investigations of
celestial sources in the far and extreme ultraviolet spectral
range, and to increase understanding of the evolution of stars,
the structure of galaxies, and the nature of the interstellar
medium. ORFEUS-SPAS II was one of a series of planned joint DARA
(German Space Agency) /NASA missions. The name arises from the
reusable Astro-Shuttle Pallet Satellite (Astro-SPAS), and the
Orbiting Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometers
(ORFEUS) Telescope carried on Astro-SPAS. ORFEUS-SPAS was a
free-flying platform designed to be deployed and retrieved from
the space shuttle.