Apr 24 1985
From The Space Library
NASA announced it selected April 29, 12:00 noon EDT, for launch of STS mission 51-B, the Spacelab 3 flight, and Dryden Flight Research Center/Edwards Air Force Base, California, as the primary end-of-mission landing site, with KSC as an alternate. Landing was set for May 6 at 12:03 EDT.
NASA selected Dryden over KSC for the landing as a result of problems encountered during the STS 51-D mission when the orbiter Discovery's right-hand braking systems locked causing a tire to blow out. Landing conditions had included a crosswind-the first experience at KSC of such conditions-and a higher-than-usual sink rate. A landing at Dryden would provide a greater safety margin for Challenger's tires and brake systems due to the availability of the unrestricted lakebed and the smoother surface.
The decision to land at Dryden for the next flight only would enable engineers to determine what corrective actions were appropriate before returning to the KSC runway for nominal end-of-mission landings. (NASA Release 85-63)
NASA announced it selected Dr. F. Drew Gaffney, an associate professor of medicine and cardiology and director of echocardiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, and Dr. Robert Phillips, a veterinarian and professor of physiology and nutrition at Colorado State University, to serve as payload specialists for the initial Spacelab Life Sciences (SLS-1) flight. NASA also selected Dr. Millie Hughes-Fulford, an associate professor of biochemistry at the University of California Medical Center, San Francisco, and a medical researcher at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, to serve as a payload specialist for SLS-2. Dr. Hughes-Fulford was the first woman to serve as a prime payload specialist for a Space Shuttle flight.
The flights were intended to improve significantly knowledge about living beings in the space environment and were a major step in preparing men and women for life aboard the space station scheduled for launch in the early 1990s.
NASA would shortly select for the SLS-2 mission a second payload specialist, who would then train with the three already announced. (NASA Release 85-62)
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