The Nation - News from May 14, 1985

Discovery will carry the first shuttle-borne “Star Wars” experiment into orbit next month along with three communications satellites, NASA and Defense Department officials said. A spokesman for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization at the Pentagon said that an “optical tracking device” will be carried aloft by Discovery’s seven-member crew when the shuttle is launched around June 14. The Strategic Defense Initiative--dubbed “Star Wars”--is a massive research effort to identify technology that can be used for space-based or ground systems to destroy enemy missiles before they can reach targets in the United States.