A Giant Workshop in the Sky

By Frederic Golden

On its ninth mission, the shuttle will carry aloft Spacelab

To the irreverent eye, it looks like an outsize Thermos bottle. But the oddly configured contraption, nestled in the big cargo bay of the space shuttle, represents a giant step into the cosmos. When Columbia roars off its Florida pad on Monday morning, Nov. 28, it will be carrying the billion-dollar Spacelab, the first true scientific research station in orbit.

There are other noteworthy aspects about the ninth shuttle flight. By the time Columbia lands on the California desert 144 orbits later on Dec. 7, it will have completed the longest shuttle journey, one day (and 400,000 miles) more than any previous flight. Columbia's six-man crew will be the largest to fly aboard the shuttle and will include the first non-American astronaut. But clearly the highlight of the trip will be the debut of the 33,252-lb. Spacelab. It represents the first real marriage of space engineering to fundamental scientific research in the manned space effort. Says Spacelab Mission Manager Harry Craft: "We are reaching a major milestone in the space program."

On its test flight, Spacelab will contain some 70 experiments designed by scientists from the U.S., Western Europe, Canada and Japan. Among them: a French experiment that will measure the radiation produced by sunlight's action on hydrogen; a West German high-resolution camera that will map the earth's surface; a U.S. study that may help explain the life cycle of stars and galaxies. Other tests will determine the advantages of fabricating specialized terrestrial materials (crystals, alloys, ceramics) in conditions of weightlessness rather than on earth. There are also studies to see how humble forms of life adapt to space. For example, one inquiry will seek to learn whether sunflowers really need gravity to grow in their characteristically spiral patterns. Indeed, the flight's experimental agenda, involving the work of more than a hundred scientists, is so crowded that "science itself has become the reason for doing this mission," says Spacelab I Mission Scientist Rick Chappell.

Spacelab was built in West Germany under the auspices of the eleven-member European Space Agency (ESA). Packed with everything from computers to miniature automated factories, it is a major advance over Skylab, the U.S.'s first scientific work station in orbit, which was occupied by three successive teams of astronauts in the early 1970s. Spacelab is also considerably more sophisticated than the current Salyut 7, which the Soviets hint may be the first building block of a larger orbital station. Spacelab's uniqueness lies in the versatility of its three major components: 1) two cylindrically shaped laboratories, where the earthlike atmosphere will permit astronaut-scientists to work in shirtsleeves; 2) five external platforms, or "pallets," on which various instruments, such as telescopes and other sensors, will be exposed directly to the space environment; and 3) a snakelike tunnel that will enable astronauts to move between the labs and their living quarters in the shuttle's cabin.

Like pieces of an exquisitely machined Erector set, these parts can be fitted together in different ways. For its debut next week, Spacelab has been configured in what designers call its "long module": the two cylinders have been mated to form one continuous workshop, about 13 ft. in diameter and 23 ft. in length. Positioned between the extended cylinder and the shuttle's tail assembly is a single pallet, holding 18 experiments, involving such equipment as cosmic-ray detectors, spectrometers and TV cameras. On future flights, as the experimental load increases, the tunnel can be lengthened and additional pallets added.

In exchange for the orbital laboratory, the Europeans will be getting a free ride on the shuttle. In addition, the U.S. has agreed to buy from ESA a second Spacelab, to be delivered next year, for its exclusive use. Under the pact with NASA, the Europeans agreed to rent Spacelab slots to private or commercial experimenters, at rates up to about $3,000 per lb.

Monitoring the experiments is a new breed of scientist-astronauts called payload specialists. On Spacelab's maiden voyage, they are Ulf Merbold, 42, a West German physicist whose specialty is the behavior of materials at low temperatures, and Byron Lichtenberg, 35, a biomedical engineer from M.I.T. and Brown University with a particular interest in solving the problem of motion sickness that has afflicted so many astronauts.

They will have some highly experienced companions. Columbia's skipper is Veteran Astronaut John Young, 53, who flew the first shuttle mission in 1981. His total of five space flights, including a 1972 lunar landing, is a world record. Jokes Young: "I love to fly, but all of my parts are starting to wear out." Young's copilot will be Air Force Major Brewster Shaw Jr., 38, a veteran of Viet Nam, who will be making his first space flight.

Rounding out the crew will be Owen Garriott, 53, a specialist in ionospheric physics who spent 59 1/2 days aboard Skylab, and Astronomer Robert Parker, 46, who was a member of the support crews for Apollo 15 and 17. Both are so-called mission specialists: These are career astronauts who concentrate on science rather than flying. By contrast, payload specialists are hired only for a particular mission. In either case, all the crew members will earn their salary (astronaut pay starts at $24,500 a year and goes to more than $50,000) since this is the first flight in which someone will always be on duty. Tours will be divided into two twelve-hour (red and blue) shifts, with a pilot, mission specialist and payload specialist on each.

Originally, NASA had hoped to build the portable lab itself. But after a post-Apollo retrenchment in the space program, the U.S. turned to its European allies for help and in 1973 persuaded them to contribute Spacelab. The partnership has sometimes been stormy. While the Europeans pressed ahead with Spacelab, the shuttle encountered repeated delays and design difficulties. One example: as the shuttle's flying characteristics changed because of NASA's modifications, the original idea of fitting the Spacelab module flush against the shuttle's passenger cabin had to be scuttled, and the unit moved farther back in the cargo bay. That meant belatedly adding a connecting tunnel so the astronauts could reach the workshop area. To appease the Europeans, NASA picked up the $18 million bill for building the tunnel.

Despite the tensions, compounded most recently by a one-month delay in the flight because of a faulty booster-rocket nozzle, Spacelab remains an instructive example of international cooperation in a difficult area of technology. It also may be a prelude to more ambitious undertakings. Planners are already talking of giving Spacelab an array of solar panels so that it can generate its own electricity from sunlight. It would thus be able to float freely in space between shuttle missions. Initially, the unmoored laboratory would be unoccupied, acting simply as a remote-controlled observatory for scientists on earth. Eventually, more modules could be added with on-board living facilities, thereby enabling scientist-astronauts to remain in space for weeks and even months at a time.

--By Frederic Golden.

Reported by Jerry Hannifin/Washington and Geoffrey Leavenworth/Houston

With reporting by Jerry Hannifin/Washington, Geoffrey Leavenworth/Houston This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.