  Absorption lines of interstellar molecular hydrogen in the far ultraviolet
(FUV) have been observed in the spectrum of the O9.5 halo star HD 93521,
located some 1500 pc from the Galactic plane. During the second flight of the
ORFEUS-SPAS mission a spectrum with the Echelle spectrometer has been recorded
with a total integration time of 1740 s. The resolution achieved was about
10.000 with a signal-to-noise ratio of up to 25. For the first time two
components of molecular hydrogen have been observed in absorption at velocities
of -12 km/s in the Galactic disk and at -62 km/s located presumably in the
Galactic halo. The column densities derived from a standard curve of growth
analysis were found to be N(H_2) = 10^17.0 cm^-2 for the disk component and
N(H_2) = 10^14.6 cm^-2 respectively for the component located in the Galactic
halo.
