The Spacelab Story : Science Aboard the Shuttle / by Ben Evans.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Evans, Ben, 1895-1988, author.

Series:

Space Exploration, 2731-541X

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Outer space--Exploration.

Outer space.

Astronautics.

Aerospace engineering.

Science--History.

Science.

Space Exploration and Astronautics.

Aerospace Technology and Astronautics.

History of Science.

Local Subjects:

Space Exploration and Astronautics.

Aerospace Technology and Astronautics.

History of Science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (450 pages)

Edition:

1st ed. 2024.

Place of Publication:

Cham : Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Springer, 2024.

Summary:

Between 1983 and 1998, Spacelab provided NASA with a vital short-term laboratory in space. Across more than a dozen missions, Spacelab’s pressurized research modules and science pallets supported hundreds of experiments from the life to microgravity sciences, from Earth science to astrophysics and from materials processing to fluid dynamics. For the first time, The Spacelab Story sheds light on all the Spacelab missions that served as pathfinders for the eventual International Space Station, along with all the flights that never came to be. The book chronicles over two decades of service and international partnership with Germany, Japan, Canada, Russia, the member-states of the European Space Agency and others. The very same international co-operation that led to Spacelab’s genesis also conspired to create its end. Science writer Ben Evans chronicles this tumultuous history, showing how, as tensions between the superpowers cooled in the 1990s and the Shuttle came to be increasingly used to fly joint missions to Mir, many Spacelab missions were delayed and eventually cancelled. This book is a must-read for anybody interested in the science conducted aboard the Shuttle, the experimental precursors of the ISS, and the international politics surrounding NASA’s pioneering space endeavors.

Contents:

Chapter 1. Unequal partners

Chapter 2. A difficult path to First Flights

Chapter 3. Verification Flight Test One

Chapter 4. Verification Flight Test Two

Chapter 5. Of monkeys, mice and men

Chapter 6. Deutschland-Eins

Chapter 7. Stargazers

Chapter 8. Earthgazers

Chapter 9. X-SAR-Crossed Lovers

Chapter 10. Mission for Japan

Chapter 11. Mission for Italy

Chapter 12. In the absence of gravitas

Chapter 13. The human factor.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9783031534492