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