Oct 23 2007
From The Space Library
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) announced that a landmark test flight of a balloon-borne solar telescope had succeeded, clearing the way for long-duration polar balloon flights to capture unprecedented details of the Sun’s surface. The project, called Sunrise, was an international collaboration among NCAR, NASA, Germany’s [Max Planck Institute]] for Solar System Research and Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics, Spain’s Astrophysics Institute of the Canary Islands, and the Swedish Space Corporation. U.S. partners Lockheed Martin and the University of Chicago were also participating. The balloon, which was larger than a Boeing 747 jet, launched 3 October carrying a gondola containing 6,000 pounds (2,722 kilograms) of scientific instruments. The balloon flew for 10 hours, reaching an altitude of 120,000 feet (36,576 meters), and released the gondola to descend to Earth via parachute. During the flight, the telescope captured stable images of the solar surface, and the various instruments on board captured additional data. David Elmore of NCAR confirmed that the test flight had verified the operations of the entire system, allowing the team to continue planning the first full-scale mission. NASA and the NSF had funded the projects. Associate Administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate S. Alan Stern, in congratulating the NCAR team for their successful test flight, advocated the use of suborbital flight as a less expensive method of studying space than satellites and spacecraft.
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), “Solar Telescope Reaches 120,000 Feet on Jumbo-Jet-Sized Balloon,” news release, 23 October 2007, http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2007/sunrise.shtml (accessed 29 September 2010); Katy Human, “Balloon Test Flight Hailed,” Denver Post (CO), 22 October 2007.
Space Shuttle Discovery launched from KSC in Florida at 11:38 a.m. (EDT) on STS-120, a 14- day mission to continue ISS construction. The STS-120 crew consisted of Commander Pamela A. Melroy; Pilot George D. Zamka; and Mission Specialists Scott E. Parazynski, Douglas H. Wheelock, Stephanie D. Wilson, Daniel M. Tani, and ESA astronaut Paolo A. Nespoli. Mission Specialist Tani would join Expedition 16 Commander Peggy A. Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri I. Malenchenko, replacing Clayton C. Anderson, who had lived aboard the ISS for five months. Mission goals included installing the Harmony connecting module (Node 2) and moving the P6 segment of the ISS truss, with its solar arrays, to a permanent position at the end of the left side of the truss.
NASA, “NASA’s Shuttle Discovery Begins Mission to the Space Station,” news release 07-231, 23 October 2007, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/oct/HQ_07231_STS-120_launch.html (accessed 8 September 2010).
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