rjnoe@riccb.UUCP (Roger J. Noe) (10/03/85)
Space shuttle orbiter vehicle Atlantis (OV-104) lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at 11:15:30 EDT today, 3 October 1985. Mission 51-J is the twenty-first shuttle mission and the second "secret" Defense Department mission. All the crew are active U.S. military officers. Mission commander Karol Bobko, pilot Ronald Grabe, and mission specialists David Hilmers and Robert Stewart are career astronauts assigned to NASA. Defense Department Manned Spaceflight Engineer William Pailes accompanies them to reportedly deploy two communications satellites. There will be no public disclosures on the progress of the mission except for periodic statements that all is or is not well. Landing time will be disclosed only on that day. I expect it will be a brief mission, perhaps only three or four days. -- Roger Noe ihnp4!riccb!rjnoe