Author Topic: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”  (Read 73407 times)

Offline Ares67

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Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« on: 02/18/2012 01:21 pm »
Preparing this presentation I’ve realized that Rodolfo Neri Vela has a special birthday – i.e. his 60th – coming up this weekend. So before we start with Mission 61-B:

Feliz cumpleaños, Rodolfo!

 :)

Offline Ares67

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #1 on: 02/18/2012 01:25 pm »
“America has always been greatest when we dared to be great. We can reach for greatness again. We can follow our dreams to distant stars, living and working in space for peaceful, economic and scientific gain. Tonight I am directing NASA to develop a permanently manned space station and to do it within a decade.

A space station will permit quantum leaps in our research in science, communications, in metals and in lifesaving medicines which could be manufactured only in space. We want our friends to help us meet these challenges and share in their benefits. NASA will invite other countries to participate so we can strengthen peace, build property and expand freedom for all who share our goals.”

(U.S. President Ronald Reagan, State of the Union Address, Jan. 25, 1984)

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #2 on: 02/18/2012 01:33 pm »
In a way Mission 61-B was one of the first steps in that direction: Astronauts performed construction techniques which at the time were believed necessary to build large structures in weightlessness. In-cabin experiments in materials processing and drug purification were conducted by a crew that included a “commercial” payload specialist – who indeed already was making his third trip into space. And there even was international cooperation – with Mexico flying its first astronaut aboard the shuttle.

In the end almost none of the techniques practiced during 61-B would actually be applied to the real thing – it wouldn’t even be the “Freedom” space station developed in the second half of the 1980s. At the time of Atlantis’ second flight nobody expected that it would take another thirteen years before the first element of the space station could finally be launched. And President Reagan – looking for “Freedom” – probably wouldn’t have believed the Russians would send up the first element – and years later Russian Soyuz capsules would be America’s only means to reach this International Space Station… - But in 1985 Mission 61-B indeed was an optimistic step toward this complex construction project in earth orbit.

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #3 on: 02/18/2012 01:36 pm »
Highlights of the mission include deployment of Morelos-B, the second in a series of communications satellites for Mexico. Release from the payload bay will be initiated by mission specialist Spring on Flight Day 1. Morelos-B is a Hughes 376 satellite, the standard design used by many foreign nations and private companies. Morels will provide telephone, television and wire services to Mexico through a total of 22 transponders. A PAM-D will boost the spacecraft to geosynchronous orbit. The satellite will be stationed at 113.5 W. longitude over the equator south of Phoenix, AZ. The first Morelos spacecraft was deployed from the orbiter Discovery in June 1985.

One Flight Day 2, another Hughes 376 satellite will be deployed for Australia. Aussat 2 is the second of three operations satellites for the government-owned Australian National Satellite System. The first Aussat was successfully deployed from Discovery in August 1985. The Aussat spacecraft has 11 12-watt and four 30-watt transponders to provide domestic communications to Australia’s 15-million population. The system also will be used to improve both maritime and air traffic control communications, relay digital data for business purposes, provide standard telephone communications and direct satellite-to-home television broadcasts to major cities as well as to the bush country. The deployment of this satellite also will be primarily the task of Spring. A PAM-D upper stage will boost the spacecraft to geosynchronous orbit.

The 4,144-pound RCA Satcom K-2 communications satellite will be ejected from the payload bay on Flight Day 3 under the direction of mission specialist Ross. This will be the first deployment of a spacecraft on the uprated D-2 model of the Payload Assist Module (PAM D-2).

(Source: STS 61-B Press Kit)

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #4 on: 02/18/2012 01:38 pm »
With his selection as one of the primary payload specialists in July 1985 first Mexican in space Rodolfo Neri Vela was a late addition to the 61-B crew. As it turned out his launch in November 1985 gave his countrymen some much needed good news after they had experienced the trauma of a major earthquake only two month earlier. On the morning of September 19, 1985, an 8.0 magnitude quake had struck the greater Mexico City area, followed by major aftershocks the next day. At least 10,000 people had died and serious damage was caused by the earthquake.

Communications engineer and PhD Rodolfo Neri Vela would become the second Latin-American to be launched into space, with Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Médez having spent eight days in space aboard Soyuz 38 in September 1980, visiting the Soviet Salyut 6 space station. Neri’s back-up for Mission 61-B was aerospace engineer Ricardo Peralta Fabi.

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #5 on: 02/18/2012 01:41 pm »

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #6 on: 02/18/2012 01:44 pm »
In addition to his observer status during the deployment of Mexico’s second satellite Rodolfo Neri had several tasks to perform, as the 61-B press kit states:

Effects of Spatial Environment on the Reproduction and Growing of Bacteria (REPGROW) – Cultures of Escherichia coli B-strain bacteria will be mixed on orbit with different bateriophages that attack the Escherichia coli and subsequently, are observed for possible changes and photographed as required.

Transportation of Nutrients in a Weightless Environment (TRANSPORT) – Ten plant specimens will be planted in containers that will allow a radioactive tracer to be released on orbit for absorption by the plants. At selected intervals, each plant will be sectioned and the segments will be retained for post-flight analysis to determine the rate and extent of absorption.

Electropuncture and Biocybernetics in Space (ELECTRO-PUNCTURE) – The objective of the experiment is to validate electropuncture theories. These theories state that disequilibrium in the behavior of human organs can be monitored and stimulated by using electric dc current in specified zones. This experiment is performed by measuring the conductance of electricity in a predetermined zone. If a disequilibrium is detected, exercises or stimulus will be applied for a certain period until the value of the conductance falls into the normal range.

Effects of Weightlessness and Light on Seed Germination (SEEDS) – Seed specimens of amaranth, lentil and wheat will be planted on orbit during Flight Day 2 in two identical containers. Subsequently, one container will be exposed to illumination and the other to constant darkness. Photographs of the resulting sprouts will be taken every 24 hours. One day prior to landing, the sprouts will be submitted to a metabolical detention process for subsequent histological examination on Earth to determine the presence and localization of starch granules.

Photography of Mexico (PHOTO) – Post-earthquake photography of Mexico and Mexico City.

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #7 on: 02/18/2012 01:49 pm »
Having flow missions 41-D and 51-D, McDonnell Douglas payload specialist Charles Walker in fact was the most experienced astronaut aboard Atlantis – at least regarding the number of flights. On his third trip Walker would use the CFES in order to purify a blood hormone called erythropoietin, which could be used in the treatment of red cell deficiency.

The 61-B press kit explains: “The McDonnell Douglas Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System will make its seventh trip into space aboard Atlantis on flight 61-B. The objective of this mission is to separate a sufficient quantity of biological material for animal and clinical testing of a breakthrough pharmaceutical. The continuous flow electrophoresis device will operate for about 175 hours during the 7-day mission. It is expected that about 66 hours of processing time will be necessary to purify the approximately one liter of concentrated protein material on board. After separation of the biological material is complete, Walter will reconfigure the CFES device to permit additional research on the effects that varying sample concentrations have on the efficiency of the process. Several samples of differing concentrations will be tested to determine the optimum concentration ratio of sample to buffer.”

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #8 on: 02/18/2012 01:51 pm »
Walker’s colleague at McDonnell Douglas Astronautics in Houston, Robert Wood, having worked on the development of a more advanced electrophoresis production facility called EOS (Electrophoresis Operations in Space), had been selected as second commercial payload specialist in March 1985. Wood was back-up PS for mission 61-B and was looking forward toward flying himself on mission 61-M, scheduled to launch aboard Challenger in July 1986. He would have operated the first EOS during this flight.

Of course everything changed on January 28, 1986 – in fact Robert Wood never got another chance to fly into space. He continued working for other McDonnell Douglas projects and later became an engineering manager at Boeing. On February 19, 2009, Robert Wood tragically died on Interstate 70 in St. Louis, Missouri, when his car was rear-ended by a drunken driver.

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #9 on: 02/18/2012 01:53 pm »
Also being flown again is 3M Co.’s DMOS, or Diffused Mixing of Organic Solutions, designed to grow crystals through the combination of organic solutions. Under the supervision of Cleave, the DMOS apparatus will build six types of organic crystals for 3M. These crystals will be larger and more pure than those grown in a positive gravity environment.

(Source: STS 61-B Press Kit)

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #10 on: 02/18/2012 01:57 pm »
The weightless construction tasks planned during mission 61-B were described by Dixon P. Otto in his book “On Orbit: Bringing on the Space Shuttle” (1986):

“The first spacewalk would occur on mission day four. Astronauts Ross and Spring would build two structures. The Assembly Concept for Construction of Erectable Space Structures (ACCESS) formed a 45-ft. tall tower. The Experimental Assembly of Structures in EVA (EASE) formed a pyramid-like tetrahedron 12-ft. long on each side from six aluminum beams. Both structures were to be assembled by hand using no tools.

The astronauts, working from foot restraints, would form the tower on a triangular shaped assembly jig-pushing up each completed section, called a “bay”, and forming a new one below it. The EASE tetrahedron would be built in a different manner. One astronaut, connected to the orbiter by a tether line, would float freely, locking the beams together. The EASE would be built and taken down several times during the first spacewalk. The work would be compared with similar construction tasks done pre-flight in water tanks (at Marshall Spaceflight Center) to see how closely the water tank simulates space.

The second spacewalk would occur on mission day six. This time the shuttle’s Remote Manipulator System robot arm would be used for several tasks. After building part of the ACCESS tower, astronauts would ride on the robot arm’s “cherry picker” work station – the Manipulator Foot Restraint – and build the top bay. They would make simulated repairs on the structure, removing and putting back struts. These tasks would look into how easily repairs might be accomplished on the space station. Both the tower and the EASE tetrahedron would be detached, held by hand and moved about by the astronaut on the MFR. The two spacewalks would last about six hours each.”

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #11 on: 02/18/2012 02:00 pm »

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #12 on: 02/18/2012 02:02 pm »

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #13 on: 02/18/2012 02:04 pm »

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #14 on: 02/18/2012 02:07 pm »

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #15 on: 02/18/2012 02:10 pm »

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #16 on: 02/18/2012 02:13 pm »
October 21: Atlantis, recently returned from Edwards Air Force Base, California, is in the Orbiter Processing Facility where its cargo bay is being reconfigured for its second mission, scheduled for launch on November 27. (FLORIDA TODAY, Oct. 22, 1985)

November 12: The space shuttle Atlantis was moved from its hangar to launch pad 39A in preparation for its launch November 26 on an eight-day mission (61-B) that will include two spacewalks. Atlantis is set to begin its second flight at 7:29 p.m. 1 in the early afternoon (THE ORLANDO SENTINEL, Nov. 13, 1985)

November 14: The crew of the Atlantis successfully completed its countdown rehearsal and pronounced themselves ready to undertake mission 61-B on Nov. 26 at 7:29 p.m. The seven member crew includes Commander Brewster Shaw - an Air Force lieutenant colonel - and Marine lieutenant colonel Bryan O'Connor, the pilot, Army Lt. Col. Sherwood Spring, mission specialist, Air Force Major Jerry Ross, mission specialist, NASA astronaut Mary Cleave, mission specialist, Charles Walker, payload specialist and Rodolfo Neri, a payload specialist from Mexico. "I think the biggest thing we're going to learn is what man can and can't do as far as assembling space structures," said Jerry Ross. "We're hoping to get some kind of time motion information to provide data to the designers of the space station to give them additional options when they go about designing the space station and actually start building it." (FLORIDA TODAY, Nov. 15, 1985)
« Last Edit: 02/18/2012 02:14 pm by Ares67 »

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #17 on: 02/18/2012 02:16 pm »

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #18 on: 02/18/2012 02:17 pm »

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Re: Atlantis STS 61-B / Looking for “Freedom”
« Reply #19 on: 02/18/2012 02:19 pm »
November 23: The seven-member crew of Atlantis arrived at Kennedy Space Center to prepare for a mission that includes construction work in zero-gravity. "Everything looks real good right now," said KSC spokesman Jim Ball of the prospects for an on-time launch at 7:29 p.m. Nov. 26. (FLORIDA TODAY, Nov. 24, 1985)

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