Low Gravity Environment On-board Columbia During STS-40

M. J.B. Rogers, University of Alabama - Huntsville
C. R. Baugher, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
R. C. Blanchard, NASA Langley Research Center
R. DeLombard, NASA Lewis Research Center
William W. Durgin, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
D. H. Matthiesen, Case Western Reserve University
W. Neupert, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
P. Roussel, European Space Agency

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NOTE: At the time of publication, the author William W. Durgin was associated with Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Currently, September 2008, he is Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

Abstract

The first NASA Spacelab Life Sciences mission (SLS-1) flew 5 June to 14 June 1991 on the orbiter Columbia (STS-40). The purpose of the mission was to investigate the human body's adaptation to the low gravity conditions of space flight and the body's readjustment after the mission to the 1 g environment of earth. In addition to the life sciences experiments manifested for the Spacelab module, a variety of experiments in other scientific disciplines flew in the Spacelab and in Get Away Special (GAS) Canisters on the GAS Bridge Assembly. Several principal investigators designed and flew specialized accelerometer systems to characterize the low gravity environment. This was done to better assess the results of their experiments. This was also the first flight of the NASA Microgravity Science and Applications Division (MSAD) sponsored Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS) and the first flight of the NASA Orbiter Experiments Office (OEX) sponsored Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment accelerometer (OARE). We present a brief introduction to seven STS-40 accelerometer systems and discuss and compare the resulting data.