May 1 1985
From The Space Library
A C-5A aircraft carrying the German Spacelab D-1 , the first payload in the history of U.S. manned spaceflight to be controlled from another country, landed May 1 at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Space Shuttle runway, Spaceport News reported. The Federal German Aerospace Research Establishment's (DFVLR) German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich would have responsibility for the 80 Spacelab D-1 (D for Deutschland) experiments. During the welcoming ceremony, (KSC) Director Dick Smith said, "We are looking forward to giving your payload 'tender loving care' and seeing it launched aboard the shuttle and getting it safely returned to you after the mission." Germany's Parliamentary State Secretary Albert Probst responded, "We are pleased to take part in this event and consider the joint ventures between the Federal Republic of Germany, Europe, and the U.S. in manned space flight to be a good example of international cooperation." Spacelab D-1 , scheduled to fly on the seven-day Space Shuttle orbiter Columbia mission 61-A no earlier than October 16, consisted of a long Spacelab module containing the space sled and a unique support structure. Half of the D-1 experiments were from Germany, the remainder from the U.S. and European countries. Investigations included the vestibular sled, a device driven by an electromotor and traction rope, positioned in the center aisle of the Spacelab module, in which astronauts would serve as test subjects to collect information on human reactions to the equilibrium sensing system; the Biorack for botanical and medical/physiological experiments; the navigation experiment (NAVEX) to test systems performance of clock synchronization and one-way distance measurement; the materials experiment assembly (MEA) that would use Marshall Space Flight Center furnaces and alloy, fluid physics, and crystal growth investigations.
The DFVLR, the result of a merger of three organizations and employing about 3,500 people in five research centers, would also participate in the European Retrieval Carrier (EURECA), a free-flying apparatus of experiments, and project "Columbus," internationally manned space station modules. (Spaceport News, May 10/85, 5)
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