The primary mission of STS-43 was to deploy a fourth TDRS satellite (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite). The shuttle was launched at 11:02 AM EST on Friday August 2, 1991, and landed at about 8:30 AM EST on Sunday August 11, 1991.
The shuttle carried a Macintosh Portable (nonbacklite) system on board. It was used for four primary purposes:
1) Testing four cursor control devices:
a) the Portable's built-in trackball
b) a modified aircraft control stick fitted with a thumb ball at top
c) a 2-inch trackball
d) an optical mouse
Some bushings were placed under the trackball for experiment 1a to take up the small amount of slack. Experiments 1b-d were performed with third party products.
2) Connecting to AppleLink and sending mail and disk files. The very first electronic mail message from space was sent by the crew of the space shuttle mission on Friday, August 9, 1991. You may be interested in that message:
"Hello Earth ! Greetings from the STS-43 Crew. This is the first AppleLink from space. Having a __GREAT__ time, wish you were here,... send cry, and CS! Have a nice day...... Haste la vista, baby,... we'll be back!"
Explanation here.
The patch in the photo has a green stain.
