This week in 1985, the space shuttle Challenger launched for the STS-61A mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. It carried the D-1 Spacelab mission — the first with German mission management and controlled from the German Space Operations Center. The Spacelab was conducted in a long module and featured 75 numbered experiments. Here, the first payload is installed into the orbiter’s cargo bay in the Orbiter Processing Facility at Kennedy. The Spacelab module was designed, developed and managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Today, the Payload Operations Integration Center at Marshall serves as “science central” for the space station, working 24/7, 365 days a year in support of the orbiting laboratory’s scientific experiments. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage. (NASA)