View of the Shuttle Columbia's payload bay and payloads in orbit
Description: This view of the payload bay of the Shuttle Columbia reveals some of the STS 61-C mission payloads. The materials science laboratory (MSL-2), sponsored by Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), is in the foreground. A small portion of the first Hitchhiker payload, sponsored by Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), is in the immediate foreground, mounted to the spacecraft's starboard side. The closed sun shield for the now-vacated RCA SATCOM Ku-1 communications satellite is behind the MSL. Clouds over ocean and the blackness of space share the backdrop.
