Author Topic: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity  (Read 74321 times)

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #40 on: 04/16/2017 05:42 pm »
LESSONS FROM SPACE

“Space Classroom” is a new NASA educational effort designed to involve students and teachers in the excitement of Space Shuttle science missions. This new program joins more than 160 other educational programs being conducted by NASA that use the agency’s missions and unique facilities to help educators prepare students to meet the nation’s growing need for a globally competitive work force of skilled scientists and engineers.

The first Space Classroom project, called “Assignment: The Stars,” will capitalize on the flight of Astro-1. During the mission, crewmembers will conduct lessons from space on such subjects as astronomy and the electromagnetic spectrum. About 45 middle school students at the Marshall and Goddard POCCs will have the opportunity to ask questions and talk with the astronauts. Simultaneously, the lecture and discussion will be provided on NASA Select TV over a commercial satellite link to schools across the country.

The first Space Classroom will also be supported by an Astro-1 teacher’s guide and slide presentation, as well as post-flight video products suitable for classroom use. Beginning about one week before launch, Astro-1 Update, a recorded bulletin on the status of the mission and Space Classroom, will be available by dialing 205/544-8504.

All four of the astronomers on the flight have experience teaching at the university level, Hoffman points out. The lesson will be timed for the shift handover aboard Columbia so that Astro observing is not disturbed. Parise and Parker will give a half-hour lecture before their work shift begins. The Hoffman and Durrance, coming off their shift, will answer questions from the students. In addition, the entire crew plans a series of short “Astro-casts” on various aspects of their mission throughout the flight.

“NASA is concerned with its role in education to excite students about careers in science, engineering and mathematics. We hope this will be a demonstration of the tremendous potential that we have using the shuttle flight to really excite students,” Hoffman says.


LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Columbia will serve as a passive target for the Air Force Maui Optical Site Calibration Test (AMOS), performed on several previous shuttle flights. Infrared and optical sensors in Hawaii will observe the orbiter in flight, gathering calibration data on the “signatures” of spacecraft and their maneuvering jet plumes.

A total of eleven Detailed Supplementary Objectives are planned for STS-35, as well as thirteen Development Test Objectives, among them

DTO 236 – Ascent Wing Aerodynamic Distribution Loads
DTO 242 – Entry Aerodynamic Control Surfaces Test
DTO 301 – Ascent Structural Capability
DTO 307 – Entry Structural Capability
DTO 312 – ET Thermal Protection System Performance
DTO 329 – Improved Waste Collection System Evaluation
DTO 517 – Hot Nosewheel Steering
DTO 634 – In-Flight Trash Collection
DTO 805 – Crosswind Landing Performance


The advent of operations of the Space Shuttle orbiter provided an opportunity for researchers to perform flight experiments on a full-scale lifting vehicle during atmospheric entry. In 1976, to take advantage of this opportunity, NASA’s Office of Aeronautics, Exploration and Technology instituted the Orbiter Experiments (OEX) Program. Since the program’s inception, 13 experiments have been developed for flight. Principal investigators for these experiments represent NASA’s Langley and Ames Research Centers, Johnson Space Center, and Goddard Space Flight Center.

Six OEX experiments will be flown on STS-35. Included among this group will be five experiments which were intended to operate together as a complementary set of entry research instrumentation. This flight marks the first time since the September 1988 Return-to-Flight that the Langley experiments will fly as a complementary set.


DTO 901 – OEX Shuttle Infrared Leeside Temperature Sensing (SILTS)

The experiment uses a scanning infrared radiometer located atop the vertical tail to collect infrared images of the orbiter’s leeside (upper) surfaces during entry, for the purpose of measuring the temperature distribution and thereby the aerodynamic heating environment. On two previous missions, the experiment obtained images of the left wing. For STS-35, the experiment has been reconfigured to obtain images of the upper fuselage. SILTS has flown on three Columbia flights. David A Throckmorton and E. Vincent Zoby, Langley, are co-principal investigators.

DTO 902 – OEX Shuttle Upper Atmosphere Mass Spectrometer (SUMS)

The SUMS experiment complements DTO 903 SEADS by enabling measurement of atmospheric density above 300,000 feet. SUMS samples air through a small hole on the lower surface of the vehicle just aft of the nose cap. It utilizes a mass spectrometer operating as a pressure sensing device to measure atmospheric density in the high altitude, refried flow regime where the pressure is too low for the use of ordinary pressure sensors. The mass spectrometer incorporated in the SUMS experiment was spare equipment originally developed for the Viking Mars Lander. This is the first opportunity for SUMS to fly since STS 61-C in January 1986. Robert C. Blanchard and Ron J. Duckett, Langley, are co-principal investigators.

DTO 903 – OEX Shuttle Entry Air Data Sensor (SEADS)

The SEADS nosecap on the orbiter Columbia contains 14 penetration assemblies, each containing a small hole through which the surface air pressure is sensed. Measurement of the pressure levels and distribution allows post-flight determination of vehicle attitude and atmospheric density during entry. SEADS, which has flown on three previous flights of Columbia, operates in an altitude range of 300,000 feet to landing. Paul M. Siemers III, Langley, is the principal investigator.

Both SEADS and SUMS provide entry atmospheric environmental (density) information. These data, when combined with vehicle motion data, allow determination of in-flight aerodynamic performance characteristics of the orbiter.

DTO 911 – OEX Aerothermal Instrumentation Package (AIP)

The AIP comprises some 125 measurements of aerodynamic surface temperature and pressure at discrete locations on the upper surface of the orbiter’s left wing and fuselage, and vertical tail. These sensors originally were part of the Development Flight Instrumentation DFI system which flew aboard Columbia during her Orbital Flight Test missions – STS-1 through 4. They have been reactivated through the use of an AIP-unique data handling system. Among other applications, the AIP data provide “ground-truth” information for the DTO 901 SILTS experiment. The AIP has flown on two previous Columbia missions. David A. Throckmorton, Langley, is principal investigator.


Aerodynamic Coefficient Identification Package (ACIP)

The ACIP instrumentation includes triaxial sets of linear accelerometers, angular accelerometers and angular rate gyros, which sense the orbiter’s motions during flight. ACIP provides the vehicle motion data which is used in conjunction with the DTO 903 SEADS environmental information for determination of aerodynamic characteristics below about 300,000 feet altitude. The ACIP has flown on all flights of Challenger and Columbia. David B. Kanipe, Johnson Space Center, is the ACIP principal investigator.


High Resolution Accelerometer Package (HiRAP)

This instrument is a triaxial, orthogonal set of a highly sensitive accelerometer which sense vehicle motions during the high altitude portion (above 300,000 feet) of entry. This instrument provides the companion vehicle motion data to be used with the DTO 902 SUMS results. HiRAP has been flown on 11 previous missions of the orbiters Columbia and Challenger. Robert C. Blanchard, Langley, is the HiRAP principal investigator.

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #41 on: 04/16/2017 05:43 pm »
MORE THAN AN AFTERTHOUGHT

Astro-1 possesses the potential to excite scientists present and future. Science advances as a process, not a single event. Most scientific work depends on the opportunity to follow-up on initial work. Until earlier this year (1990), two follow-up flights of Astro were planned. Those have been dropped due to scheduling and funding pressures.

Astro-1 deserves to be remembered as more than an afterthought, an also-ran in the shadow of the great Hubble Space Telescope. The stars, whom some still believe foreshadow the future, fill the night sky with infinite wonders and promises – and unexpected surprises.

(Dixon P. Otto, Countdown, May 1990; Countdown, September 1990; Ben Evans, Space Shuttle Columbia – Her Missions and Crews, Springer/Praxis 2005; Brian Welch, Kelly Humphries, Space New Roundup, May 11, 1990; NASA News Release No. 90-034, May 24, 1990; Kyle Herring, Space News Roundup, May 25, 1990; Mark Carreau, The Houston Chronicle, May 27, 1990; Mark Carreau, The Houston Chronicle, May 29, 1990; Space Shuttle Mission STS-35 press kit, December 1990; Philip Chien, 73 Amateur Radio Today, March 1991  – edited)

« Last Edit: 04/16/2017 05:44 pm by Ares67 »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #42 on: 04/16/2017 05:45 pm »
Trash Talk

(By Pam Alloway)

When Fred Abolfathi and J.B. Thomas work on one of their many projects at Johnson Space Center, a detailed test objective scheduled to fly on STS-35 in May, they don’t have any problem finding material to test it out – they just reach for the nearest trash can.

Abolfathi, a Lockheed Engineering and Science Corp. project engineer, and Thomas, a subsystems manager in JSC’s Man-Systems Division, have spent the past year working on a trash compactor for the Space Shuttle.  They’ve crushed hundreds of pop cans, squished thousands of memos, mutilated pounds of flight food containers, and even thrown in a couple of cans full of cat food, just to test odor containment. “So far we haven’t had any trouble generating trash,” Abolfathi said.

The experimental shuttle trash compactor is scheduled to fly on STS-35 for the first time as Detailed Test Objective DTO 634, The compactor will become an important part of shuttle hardware as NASA begins flying Extended Duration Orbiter flights, said project managers. EDO missions mean more trash in a vehicle where stowage space already extremely limited. The first 13-day EDO mission currently is scheduled in 1992. Plans call for the first 16-day EDO mission to occur in 1994.

“The goal of the EDO trash compactor is to reduce the trash to a manageable volume for EDO missions,” said Thomas. “Each crewmember generates about one-half cubic foot of trash per day.” Current projections indicate about 56 cubic feet of trash will be generated on the first 16-day EDO flight and those working on this project would like to reduce that number to 14 cubic feet, said Abolfathi.

The 48-pound compactor fits in place of a middeck locker and is operated manually. Trash is placed inside a polypropylene bag which, when full, is placed inside the chamber of the compactor. One bag holds a volume equivalent to one-half cubic foot. A metal compactor door is closed securing the bag inside the chamber. A crewmember then uses handles on either side of the compactor in a garden shear-type movement to engage gears which push a piston from the back of the chamber to the front, compressing the trash to a volume four times smaller. The piston compresses the trash using a force of about 60 pounds per square inch. Operating the EDO trash compactor could provide a type of exercise for the crew, Thomas said.

After the piston is moved as far forward as it was designed to go, the crewmember retracts the piston, opens the compactor door, and pulls a strap to remove the bag from the chamber. The bag has a lid which houses a charcoal filter to contain odors, fluids an bacteria. A one-way air valve in the lid allows air out of the bag, relieving pressure built up during compaction. Next, the entire package is placed inside the orbiter trash stowage compartment. The bags fit through an eight-inch-diameter hole in the middeck floor. This compartment, known as Volume F, normally is used for wet trash stowage.

About ten years ago Johnson Engineering Corp. in Boulder, Colorado, began working on a concept for an orbiter trash compactor that could be developed commercially for recreational vehicles. Using that experience the company bid on a contract in July 1989 to design a shuttle trash compactor. The design has been tested and certified using a variety of items, including food, water, flight trash, plastic and metal food containers, and teleprinter pages. The current shuttle rehydratable food package, which does not crush well in the compactor, is being redesigned for EDO missions, Abolfathi said. “The DTO is flying as a proof of concept for the compactor,” said Albofathi. “We’ll prove the concept will work and results will be used to build two flight units. During STS-35, crewmembers will experiment with various types of lids and bags, Albofathi said. Thirty bags and lids will accompany the compactor into space.

The hardware is scheduled to be shipped to KSC March 19 to support the Crew Equipment Interface Test, said Hamid Tabibian, Man-Systems Division’s systems development section manager. “We’ve always been interested in designing a trash compactor for the shuttle, but we just couldn’t justify flying it until extended duration flights began coming along,” Tabibian said. “EDO missions will last up to 16 days and can have as many as seven people. The trash compactor will become essential for those types of missions.”

(Pam Alloway, NASA News Release No. 90-025, Mar. 16, 1990 – edited)

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #43 on: 04/16/2017 05:49 pm »
STS-35 Crew Training Images


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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #44 on: 04/16/2017 05:50 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #45 on: 04/16/2017 05:52 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #46 on: 04/16/2017 05:53 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #47 on: 04/16/2017 05:55 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #48 on: 04/16/2017 05:58 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #49 on: 04/16/2017 06:02 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #50 on: 04/16/2017 06:04 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #51 on: 04/16/2017 06:06 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #52 on: 04/16/2017 06:07 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #53 on: 04/16/2017 06:09 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #54 on: 04/16/2017 06:11 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #55 on: 04/16/2017 06:19 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #56 on: 04/16/2017 06:22 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #57 on: 04/16/2017 06:25 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #58 on: 04/16/2017 06:29 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #59 on: 04/16/2017 06:32 pm »

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