Experiments of Opportunity Payloads Revisited

A paper entitled Development of an Experiment of Opportunity Test Pay load for the Space Transportation system was presented at the 17th Space Congress in 1980. Over the next 5 years and through the gauntlets of budget crunches, technical snags, administrative reorganizations, and changes in name, the basic concept survived and matured into the Spartan program. Spartan 1 was launched aboard STS 51G in June 1985. The final design and operating concepts are discussed, along with results of its first flight