The High Resolution Spectrograph for Spectrum UV

The Spectrum-UV mission, a general purpose ultraviolet observatory equipped with a 170-cm aperture telescope for imaging and spectroscopy in the 912 to 3600 A range, will be launched in a seven days, high elliptical orbit in the late '90s by a Proton booster. The German contribution to the focal plane instrument complex is described: HIRDES, a High Resolution Double Echelle Spectrograph.