Location
Howard Johnson Plaza-Hotel, Columbia/ Enterprise Rooms
Start Date
24-4-1990 2:00 PM
End Date
24-4-1990 5:00 PM
Description
The Flight Systems Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., has overall management responsibility for OSSA Spacelab and Shuttle-attached payload flight programs. These programs include a variety of science and applications investigations carried in and on Shuttle payload carriers such as Spacelab modules and pallets, Multipurpose Equipment Support Structures (MPESS), Get Away Special (GAS) canisters, and Hitchhiker-G equipment platforms (see Figure 1).
In addition to the payload bay experiment carriers shown in Figure 1, science and applications experiments can be flown in standard stowage lockers in the crew compartment middeck. Locker space for experiments in the crew compartment is at a premium because these lockers must also contain food, clothing, crew personal effects, camera equipment, tools, etc. In an effort to maximize Shuttle science accommodations, a Middeck Accommodations Rack (MAR) that will provide space for an addition three middeck experiment lockers (and assorted stowage) has recently been developed (see Figure 2). The MAR will replace the Orbiter galley on selected flights, with the galley being reconfigured in a smaller form in lockers on the forward bulkhead of the middeck. A major advantage of the MAR system is its modularity, allowing for accommodation of odd- or large-sized experiments which would not normally fit into middeck locker space (see Figure 3).
Paper Session I-B - Science Payloads
Howard Johnson Plaza-Hotel, Columbia/ Enterprise Rooms
The Flight Systems Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., has overall management responsibility for OSSA Spacelab and Shuttle-attached payload flight programs. These programs include a variety of science and applications investigations carried in and on Shuttle payload carriers such as Spacelab modules and pallets, Multipurpose Equipment Support Structures (MPESS), Get Away Special (GAS) canisters, and Hitchhiker-G equipment platforms (see Figure 1).
In addition to the payload bay experiment carriers shown in Figure 1, science and applications experiments can be flown in standard stowage lockers in the crew compartment middeck. Locker space for experiments in the crew compartment is at a premium because these lockers must also contain food, clothing, crew personal effects, camera equipment, tools, etc. In an effort to maximize Shuttle science accommodations, a Middeck Accommodations Rack (MAR) that will provide space for an addition three middeck experiment lockers (and assorted stowage) has recently been developed (see Figure 2). The MAR will replace the Orbiter galley on selected flights, with the galley being reconfigured in a smaller form in lockers on the forward bulkhead of the middeck. A major advantage of the MAR system is its modularity, allowing for accommodation of odd- or large-sized experiments which would not normally fit into middeck locker space (see Figure 3).
Comments
Science Payloads
Session Chairman: Joe Alexander, NASA Assistant Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications, NASA Headquarters
Session Organizer: Lee O’Fallon, NASA, Kennedy Space Center