Sep 19 1985
From The Space Library
NASA announced that John W. Young would command Space Shuttle flight 61-J scheduled for launch August 1986, Vance Brand mission 61-K scheduled for September 1986, and Donald Williams mission 61-I.
Other crew for the 61-J mission, during which astronauts would deploy the Hubble Space Telescope, were pilot Charles Bolden Jr. and previously named mission specialists Kathryn Sullivan, Steven Hawley, and Bruce McCandless.
S. David Griggs would pilot mission 61-K, and other crew would be mission specialists Robert Steward, Owen Garriott, and European Space Agency astronaut Claude Nicollier. NASA previously assigned payload specialists Michael Lampton and Byron Lichtenberg to the mission.
Remaining mission 61-I crew would be pilot Michael Smith and mission specialists James Bagian, Bonnie Dunbar and Manley “Sonny” Carter.
NASA also announced that Norman Thagard would replace John Fabian on mission 61-G scheduled for May 1986 during which crew would deploy the Galileo interplanetary spacecraft. Fabian was leaving NASA; he had not announced his plans. James Buchli would replace Thagard on mission 61-H in June 1986. (NASA Release 85-131)
Saudi Arabian Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, the first Arab in space on the June 1985 Space Shuttle flight 61-G, was in Washington to give interviews, attend receptions, and pay courtesy calls on government officials, including President Reagan, as part of a goodwill tour, the Washington Post reported.
The prince commented that his flight, coming as it did during Ramadan, the holiest month in Islam, was a spiritual ascent. “I remember being up in space and I'd read a verse from the Koran and then get up and go to the window . . . It's quite an experience when the sun rises and sets every 45 minutes. First you notice countries. Then you start paying attention to continents. And by the fifth day all you can see is one big blue ball tumbling in front of you.” Dispensing, under the circumstances, with the ritual facing of Mecca-after checking first that it would be acceptable to Moslem scholars-the prince nevertheless prayed five times a day and fasted for part of the flight in observance of Ramadan.
He also commented, “I had a small experience after I came back from space. I always jogged over the same area in Houston, sometimes 15 miles a day, but when I came back and jogged over the same course, I noticed at least 50 percent more things in nature.” When the prince returned to Saudi Arabia after the flight he received a ticker-tape parade. “There were religious old people, women, men, children, helicopters throwing ticker tape, people touching you,” he said, “Saudi Arabians have never done this before. Our people are usually not so emotional as to throw ticker tape. But the Saudies will always surprise you.” The Post also noted that his face was on thousands of T-shirts and he received hundreds of letters a day.
The prince pointed out to the reporter that, “I am a bachelor. I don't drink and I'm a nonsmoker, but I'm not boring. No way am I boring.” (W Post, Sept 19/85, C1)
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