Jan 21 1982
From The Space Library
MSFC reported a joint-endeavor agreement signed by NASA's Office of Space Sciences and GTI Corporation of San Diego that might lead to flight of a GTI materials-processing device on four future Shuttle flights. The agreement was a new NASA approach to government-industry partnerships in developing future applications or technologies for space-flown devices. The agreement would have three phases: design by GTI of a low-cost multichamber alloy-solidification furnace operable in low-gravity space; development, testing, and integrating the GTI furnace into the Shuttle; and flight on the Shuttle.
GTI's interest was in the manufacturing in microgravity of space alloys that would not be immiscible on Earth, where many theoretical alloys were not possible because of the density variations of the elements and the effect of gravity on the heavier elements. GTI would fund development and testing; NASA, the integration and flight. (MSFC Release 82-13; NASA Release 82-10)
Dr. Wubbo Ockels of the Netherlands and Dr. Ulf Merbold of West Germany, the Spacelab payload specialists representing the European Space Agency (ESA), had arrived at MSFC to complete training for the first Spacelab flight set for September 1983, a seven-day joint U.S.-ESA mission to carry out 70 investigations in five different disciplines. Of the four payload specialists in training, one American and one European would actually go into space; the other two would provide ground support to those in orbit. (MSFC Release 82-11)
Marine Col. Jack Lousma and Air Force Col. Charles Gordon Fullerton, the astronauts scheduled to fly the third Shuttle mission, told a news conference in Houston that the flight was now set for March 22. A major objective of the mission would be to see how well the Shuttle systems withstood the extreme heat and cold of space. Sections of the ship exposed to the Sun would experience temperatures up to 250°F; sections in shadow, down to -250°E The Shuttle would also be subjected to slightly higher dynamic pressures during launch and landing, to gain additional knowledge about its flight characteristics and limits. (W Post, Jan 22/81, A-16)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
