US Space Shuttle Research Articles

Editorial Comment

It is difficult for many of us to comprehend that we have been flying in space for over 50 years, and except for a one-year gap between the Russian Mir Station and the International Space Stations (ISS), most of the past 28 years have seen a continual human presence in low Earth orbit. Aside from the risks associated with leaving the planet and the remoteness of spacecraft, human health and performance in space is dominated by the condition of weightlessness. The removal of the gravity-driven hydrostatic gradient along with predictable anthropomorphic changes drives a set of global adaptive responses in nearly every physiologic system. Over these years we have developed an incomplete but serviceable knowledge of these adaptive responses. 1 Barratt M. Space physiology and medicine. in: Gradwell D. Rainford D. Ernsting's Aviation and Space Medicine. 5th ed. CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, 2016 Google Scholar Renal and urinary function have played a significant role in both the understanding and experience of human spaceflight. The piece by Leapman and colleagues in this issue introduces the fundamental urological issues associated with this novel environment. In my 212 days spent off the planet on the ISS, the US Space Shuttle, and the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, I have had the delightful and sometimes dubious opportunity to experience many of these first hand. The astronaut population is acutely aware of urologic issues, and these are debriefed and handed over to new flyers with great attention.

Writing on: Context and Visual Culture in Recent Works of Allen Fisher and Ulli Freer

This article is a study of Allen Fisher’s Proposals and SPUTTOR, and Ulli Freer’s Burner on the Buff. It aims to demonstrate that these works, despite their individual differences, share certain common parallels: (1) an interest in literary and visual culture, and (2) an awareness of the bearing these aspects of culture have on questions of state and civil authority. In the case of Proposals, this is discussed via the context of work – particularly in relation to the marketization of Higher Education (HE) – and Fisher’s poetics of ‘confidence in lack’. These analyses are extended further through an examination of the social history of the US Space Shuttle programme under the Reagan administration, and the visual practices of collage in SPUTTOR. The broader claims of these arguments are subsequently paralleled with cultural and socio-legal perspectives pertaining to graffiti–especially in connection to Banksy’s recent work, Art Buff, which ultimately provides a crucial context for understanding key aspects of Burner on the Buff.

Spacefarers: Images of Astronauts and Cosmonauts in the Heroic Era of SpaceflightMichael J.Neufeld, Editor. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2013.

Spacefarers: Images of Astronauts and Cosmonauts in the Heroic Era of Spaceflight Michael J. Neufeld, Editor. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2013.Books based on symposiums or conferences are usually very dry affairs, undertaken with the best of intentions to try to capture the essence of what had transpired in a poorly fluore scent-lit convention hall or auditorium and executed with all of the panache of a 1988 Yugo. In essence, when the book doesn't sell, everyone feigns surprise, rolls their eyes, and moves on.Upon starting (and restarting) Michael J. Neufeld's introduction to Spacefarers: Images of Astronauts and Cosmonauts in the Heroic Era of this reviewer was troubled that this, indeed, would be such a similar undertaking. Thankfully, the introduction is short and perfunctory, providing the reader with the required outline of what follows: an assorted collection of nine essays that, despite their questionably natal origin (the aforementioned poorly-lit conference hall), are indeed a good read.Many reviewers have pointed out that the book is neatly laid out in three sections, each with three essays. first section details the early days of the US side of the Race, those heady days following the revelation that the Soviets forever placed their flag (and their iconic Cyrillic CCCP) into orbit first. second section (despite the promise featured in the text's subtitle), which is the only one to feature cosmonauts, further explores the dynamics of that race. third and final section explores the thirty-plus years of the US Space Shuttle era.At a glance, those other reviewers have showered this thin text with praise; however, they have been remiss in their mutual omission: mainly, that Neufeld fails to add a summative chapter that ties these essays neatly together. As a reader, the last chapter of the last section leaves us adrift-lost in space, if one will (more on this later).The first three essays examine the myth of the astronaut as hero. first of these, Setting the Scene for Human Spaceflights: Men into Space and Man and the Challenge, by Margaret A. Weitekamp, examines two American television programs that aired during the 1959-1960 television season. These two forgotten pre-Gagarin/pre-Sheppard programs looked at the challenges of spaceflight and outlined the model of men and masculinity that were required for such flights (women were not thought to be capable at the time). This theme is further examined in Matthew H. Hersch's 'Capsules are Swallowed': Mythology of the Pilot in American Spaceflight, as well as in James Spiller's Nostalgia for the Right Stuff: Astronauts and Public Anxiety about a Changing Nation, both historical reviews which take us full circle from the Mercury Seven to the last days of the shuttle program.How the Space Race was, and is, portrayed on an international scale is the subject of the middle three essays, the first of which, The Fiftieth Jubilee: Yuri Gagarin in the Soviet and Post-Soviet Imagination by Andrew Jenks, is the only essay to scrutinize only one spacefarer: Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Jenks's study of both pre- and post-Soviet Russia and its obsession with Gagarin's rise, death, and subsequent prominence as Soviet hero (even in a post-Soviet world) is quite thorough and illuminating. …

The Utilization of Plant Facilities on the International Space Station—The Composition, Growth, and Development of Plant Cell Walls under Microgravity Conditions

In the preparation for missions to Mars, basic knowledge of the mechanisms of growth and development of living plants under microgravity (micro-g) conditions is essential. Focus has centered on the g-effects on rigidity, including mechanisms of signal perception, transduction, and response in gravity resistance. These components of gravity resistance are linked to the evolution and acquisition of responses to various mechanical stresses. An overview is given both on the basic effect of hypergravity as well as of micro-g conditions in the cell wall changes. The review includes plant experiments in the US Space Shuttle and the effect of short space stays (8–14 days) on single cells (plant protoplasts). Regeneration of protoplasts is dependent on cortical microtubules to orient the nascent cellulose microfibrils in the cell wall. The space protoplast experiments demonstrated that the regeneration capacity of protoplasts was retarded. Two critical factors are the basis for longer space experiments: a. the effects of gravity on the molecular mechanisms for cell wall development, b. the availability of facilities and hardware for performing cell wall experiments in space and return of RNA/DNA back to the Earth. Linked to these aspects is a description of existing hardware functioning on the International Space Station.

Earth re-entry capsule CFD simulations taking into account surface roughness and mass injection at the wall

Future space exploration missions will likely use capsule type ballistic re-entry vehicles that will re-enter the earth atmosphere at very high speed (velocities in the order of 11.7 km/s or higher, this compared to 7.5 km/s for the US Space Shuttle). Passive concepts will be employed for the deceleration, and the thermal protection system (TPS) needs to be dimensioned to protect the vehicle and samples from the effects of the aerodynamic heating. The technology readiness level of these passive concepts is today still rather low, leading to large design margins. This paper is concerned with the design of a possible earth re-entry capsule, it discusses the re-entry trajectory and heat loads encountered during descent. Detailed CFD simulations were made for three selected points on the re-entry trajectory. The ablation of the TPS material was taken into account through a mass injection boundary condition. The turbulence models employed in the study were modified to account for surface roughness due to ablation. Calculated heat fluxes and shear stresses for a smooth wall are compared with results from empirical correlations and showed a fairly good agreement. For rough walls, the CFD results show a substantial increase in convective heat flux, while the injection of mass at the wall reduces the convective heat flux.

Conducting plant experiments in space.

The growth and development of plants during spaceflight have important implications for both basic and applied research supported by NASA and other international space agencies. While there have been many reviews of plant space biology, the present chapter attempts to fill a gap in the literature on the actual process and methods of performing plant research in the spaceflight environment. The author has been a principal investigator on six spaceflight projects and has another two space experiments in development. These experiences include using the US Space Shuttle, the former Russian space station Mir, and the International Space Station, utilizing the Space Shuttle and Space X as launch vehicles. While there are several ways to obtain a spaceflight opportunity, this review focuses on using the NASA peer-reviewed sciences approach to get an experiment manifested for flight. Three narratives for the implementation of plant space biology experiments are considered from rapid turnaround of a few months to a project with new hardware development that lasted 6 years. The many challenges of spaceflight research include logistical and resource constraints such as crew time, power, cold stowage, and data downlinks, among others. Additional issues considered are working at NASA centers, hardware development, safety concerns, and the engineering versus science culture in space agencies. The difficulties of publishing the results from spaceflight research based on such factors as the lack of controls, limited sample size, and the indirect effects of the spaceflight environment also are summarized. Finally, lessons learned from these spaceflight experiences are discussed in the context of improvements for future space-based research projects with plants.

Farewell to the Space Shuttle

The US Space Shuttle program helped start many careers and companies and initiate countless breakthroughs in computing hardware and software, medicine, life sciences, materials research, propulsion, and electromechanical technologies. The author looks at the program's legacy and ponders how we'll fill the void left behind. This department is part of a special issue on NASA contributions to IT.

Survey of mission evolution and flexibility in the Space Shuttle program

Given the diversity of missions it has accomplished and the myriad of adaptations it has undergone, the US Space Shuttle is widely regarded as a highly flexible space vehicle. With the Shuttle’s upcoming 2011 retirement, it is instructive to survey the history of this vehicle’s flexibility for the insights it can provide to the design and characterization of flexibility in future space systems. Data are presented on the evolution of mission requirements over time for 120 missions performed by the Space Shuttle over a period of some 27 years. Distinct trends in the time domain – as well as their causes – are identified and discussed, and early manifest plans from 1982 serve as a confirmation that these trends were not originally anticipated. Eight examples are then presented of engineering modifications that allowed the Shuttle to adapt and accommodate these requirement changes. Several additional instances of Shuttle flexibility are explored, such as post- Columbia disaster modification, upgrade programs and derived vehicles, and one case in which flexibility was inhibited by an early design decision.

Seventh Symposium on the Role of the Vestibular Organs in Space Exploration Noordwijk, The Netherlands, June 7–9, 2006

The Seventh Symposium on the Role of the Vestibular Organs in Space Exploration was held at the European Space Technology Centre (ESTEC), in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, on June 7–9, 2006. The host for this conference was the European Space Agency (ESA). The conference was co-sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI). There have been six previous NASA-sponsored symposia in this series. Written proceedings of the first five symposia, held between 1965–1970 in Pensacola, Florida, are available from the NASA Technical Reports Server (http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp, and enter “Role of Vestibular Organs” as the search term). The Sixth NASA Symposium was held in Portland, Oregon in 2002. The program and abstracts from this meeting were published by the Journal of Vestibular Research as part of Volume 11 (3–5); these abstracts can be accessed through the IOS Press web site (http://iospress.metapress.com/home/main.mpx). In addition, most of the papers from the Sixth Symposium were submitted to the Journal of Vestibular Research and appear as Volume 13 (4–6). Each of the seven Symposia on the Role of the Vestibular Organs in Space Exploration address the adverse physiological effects mediated by the vestibular system in humans exposed to microgravity. A European venue was particularly appropriate for the Seventh Symposium, since the space neurovestibular field has become increasingly international. Researchers from many countries have had the opportunity to conduct experiments on the Russian Mir station, the US Space Shuttle, and the International Space Station. Symposium participants included more than one hundred scientists, flight surgeons, postdoctoral fellows and students from Europe, the US, Canada, Russia and Japan. It was an exciting three day meeting: More than 50 platform presentations and 20 posters were presented, describing results from investigations in spaceflight, parabolic flight, and ground laboratories. Session topics included the vestibulo-ocular reflex, clinical assessment of vestibular disorders, neurophysiology, spatial orientation, spaceflight countermeasures, balance and locomotion, motion sickness, otolith and semicircular canal physiology, and artificial gravity. The meeting concluded with an international panel discussion on challenges and opportunities in space research. We would like to thank the Journal of Vestibular Research for this Special Issue devoted to papers presented at this Symposium. We would also like to thank the presenters who submitted full papers, which underwent peer-review, for this special issue. The web site for the Symposium (http://www.congrex.nl/06a07/) contains the full scientific program; many of the slide presentations and posters are also available at this web site.

Regulating ISS— An interdisciplinary essay

The International Space Station (ISS) is a multifaceted international project. Several space agencies from different countries work together in the Outer Space. This paper will illustrate the exciting questions arising from such a venture and therefore the challenge to incorporate a variety of issues into a legal order. The Paper is addressed to lawyers who need not necessarily be experts in space law, and also to space experts who have no legal background. It demonstrates the three layers of the ISS regime—from the “Intergovernmental Agreement” (IGA) as a “frame” with pillars and boundaries, over the “Memoranda of Understanding” (MOU) which rules in a more specific way, to the so-called “Implementing Arrangements” regulating the overall and single aspects of ISS in detail. The paper underlines questions of applicable jurisdiction, utilization rights and the rights on intellectual property onboard of the ISS. Furthermore the problem of liability in space flight is highlighted, also with a view to the different aspects of the liability issue, for example (internal) liability caused by programme delays (e.g. US Space Shuttle delays). In conclusion, the paper illustrates the situation of astronauts by the “Code of Conduct for the International Space Station Crew” and provides an example for the actual ISS Programme—an international cooperation in a highly demanding environment which will be a basis for future space ventures in many ways.

Manufacturing and performance testing of sol/gel based oxidation protection systems for re-usable space vehicles

Future re-usable spacecraft replacing the US Space Shuttle could be manufactured with heat shields made of carbon fibre reinforced materials; most likely using carbon fibre reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC). These materials combine excellent thermo-mechanical properties, low weight, and high strength. They can be manufactured by various established production processes. The main drawback is the sensitivity of the carbon fibre against oxidation. An oxidation protection system is required to avoid carbon fibre burn-off during the re-entry phase, where temperatures higher than 1550 °C are reached. Most of the oxidation protection systems currently available are manufactured by costly and time-consuming multilayer chemical vapour deposition (CVD) processes. In this work, novel sol/gel based SiC coatings have been developed and tested under approximately identical re-entry conditions (mechanical, thermal, and chemical loads). The manufacturing and application process of several sol/gel based oxidation protection systems are presented, as well as the characterisation of the materials and the post mortem micro structural analysis after various re-entry test conditions. The results show that the oxidation protection performance is comparable to the oxidation protection systems currently available on the market, however, at significantly lower manufacturing costs.

Europe to join Russia in building next space shuttle

This paper reports on the cooperative effort between Russia and Europe to build a next-generation manned space shuttle. The announcement was made at the Paris Air Show as Russian officials confirmed earlier reports that their partners at the European Space Agency would join the Russian effort to build a new reusable orbiter, dubbed Kliper. While Kliper's principal mission is to ensure that the International Space Station (ISS) is effectively supplied and maintained after the planned retirement of the US Space Shuttle, Russian officials are hoping that it might also become the cornerstone of a future deep-space exploration program.

Modelling of binary alloy solidification in the MEPHISTO experiment

A modified enthalpy method was used to numerically model experiments on solidification of a bismuth-tin alloy which were performed during the 1997 flight of the MEPHISTO-4 experiment on the US Space Shuttle Columbia. This modified enthalpy method was incorporated into an in-house code SOLCON and a commercial CFD code CFX; Soret effect was taken into account by including an additional thermo-diffusion term into the solute transport equation and the effects of thermal and solutal convection in the microgravity environment and of concentration-dependent melting temperature on the phase change processes were also included. In this paper an overview of the results obtained as part of MEPHISTO project is presented. The numerical solutions are compared with actual microprobe results obtained from the MEPHISTO experiment. To cite this article: E. Leonardi et al., C. R. Mecanique 332 (2004).

The effect of space flight on the production of actinomycin D by Streptomyces plicatus.

The effect of space flight on production of the antibiotic actinomycin D by Streptomyces plicatus WC56452 was examined onboard the US Space Shuttle mission STS-80. Paired space flight and ground control samples were similarly prepared using identical hardware, media, and inoculum. The cultures were grown in defined and complex media under dark, anaerobic, thermally controlled (20 degrees C) conditions with samples fixed after 7 and 12 days in orbit, and viable residuals maintained through landing at 17 days, 15 h. Postflight analyses indicated that space flight had reduced the colony-forming unit (CFU) per milliliter count of S. plicatus and increased the specific productivity (pg CFU(-1)) of actinomycin D. The antibiotic compound itself was not affected, but its production time course was altered in space. Viable flight samples also maintained their sporulation ability when plated on agar medium postflight, while the residual ground controls did not sporulate.

The effects of spaceflight on adrenergic receptors and agonists and cell adhesion molecule expression

Twenty-two astronauts who flew aboard 10 different US Space Shuttle flights were studied 10 days before launch, on landing day, and 2–4 days post-landing. After landing, plasma levels of norepinephrine ( p<0.01) were elevated. Lymphocyte β 2-adrenergic receptors were desensitized 2–4 days post-landing ( p<0.02). The density of CD62L on lymphocytes was unchanged but the densities of CD11a ( p<0.01) and CD54 ( p<0.001) were down-regulated. CD11a density was also down-regulated on monocytes ( p<0.01). Neutrophils showed an up-regulation of CD11a ( p<0.01) and a down-regulation of CD54 ( p<0.01). CD11a density on neutrophils remained up-regulated ( p<0.01) and CD54 density remained down-regulated ( p<0.01) at 2–4 days post-landing. Circulating levels of soluble ICAM-1 (CD54) and soluble E-selectin (CD62E) were decreased after landing ( p's<0.05). The data suggest that spaceflight leads to an environment that would support reduced leukocyte-endothelial adhesion. Sympathetic activation may contribute to this phenomenon.

A computational study of binary alloy solidification in the MEPHISTO experiment

A computational model is presented for the study of the solidification of a binary alloy. The enthalpy method has been modified and incorporated into both an in-house code SOLCON (Heat Transfer 98, 1998, p. 241) and the commercial CFD code CFX (CFX 4.2: Solver, 1997). The model has been used to simulate experiments on solidification of a bismuth–tin alloy which were performed during the 1997 flight of the MEPHISTO-4 experiment on the US Space Shuttle Columbia. The effects of thermal and solutal convection in the microgravity environment and of concentration-dependent melting temperature on the phase change processes are included. Comparisons of numerical solutions with actual microprobe results obtained from the MEPHISTO experiments are presented.

Peripheral leukocyte subpopulations and catecholamine levels in astronauts as a function of mission duration.

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of spaceflight duration on immune cells and their relationship to catecholamine levels. Eleven astronauts who flew aboard five different US Space Shuttle flights ranging in duration from 4 to 16 days were studied before launch and after landing. Consistent with prior studies, spaceflight was associated with a significant increase in the number of circulating white blood cells (p <.01), including neutrophils (p <.01), monocytes (p <.05), CD3+CD4+ T-helper cells (p <.05), and CD19+ B cells (p <.01). In contrast, the number of CD3-CD16+56+ natural killer cells was decreased (p <.01). Plasma norepinephrine levels were increased at landing (p <.01) and were significantly correlated with the number of white blood cells (p <.01), neutrophils (p <.01), monocytes (p <.01), and B cells (p <.01). Astronauts who were in space for approximately 1 week showed a significantly larger increase on landing in plasma norepinephrine (p =.02) and epinephrine (p =.03) levels, as well as number of circulating CD3+CD4+ T-helper cells (p <.05) and CD3+CD8+ T-cytotoxic cells (p <.05) as compared with astronauts in space for approximately 2 weeks. The data suggest that the stress of spaceflight and landing may lead to a sympathetic nervous system-mediated redistribution of circulating leukocytes, an effect potentially attenuated after longer missions.

Video observation of protein crystal growth in the advanced protein crystallization facility aboard the space shuttle mission STS-95

Crystals of polypeptide with sequence (Pro-Pro-Gly) 10 were grown in the Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility during the US Space Shuttle STS-95 Mission. Well diffracting crystals were obtained by dialysis; they provided the highest resolution X-ray data so far collected for a collagen-like triple helical structure (Berisio et al., Acta Crystallogr. D 56 (2000) 55). During the Mission the crystal growth was monitored by a CCD video camera. The image analysis provided information on spatial distribution of crystals, their movements and their growth. The spatial distribution was non-uniform inside the reactors. Limited motions were observed. The linear growth rate indicates that, in some cases, the growth did not cease in the microgravity environment.

Neutron structure of monoclinic lysozyme crystals produced in microgravity

Crystals of the monoclinic form of lysozyme (space group P2 1 with a=28.00 Å, b=62.88 Å, c=60.30 Å, β=90.68°) were grown under microgravity conditions on the Mir station and brought back to earth on the US Space Shuttle. Counter-diffusion methods developed specifically for application in microgravity have been utilized to produce several examples of macroscopic crystals. Large crystals are of great importance for neutron diffraction studies of bio-macromolecules, which can reveal key details of the hydrogen atom structure of biological molecules at medium resolution. The structure of the monoclinic crystal form described here has been determined to 2.1 Å by neutron diffraction and contains two molecules in the asymmetric unit. Details of the structure and refinement are presented.

THE VIBRATION ENVIRONMENT ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: ITS SIGNIFICANCE TO FLUID-BASED EXPERIMENTS

Measurements of the vibration environment on the Russian Mir space station and the US Space Shuttle are compared to the vibration levels predicted for the International Space Station (ISS) and to the vibration levels specified for isolated payload racks on the ISS. The vibration levels on the Mir and Space Shuttle are generally lower than the levels specified in the ISS isolation requirement for the isolated racks and much lower than the levels predicted for non-isolated racks. Next a summary is given of several materials science and fluid science experiments performed on the Mir and the Space Shuttle and designed specifically to examine the sensitivity from μ g to m g vibrations in the frequency range 1 Hz to above 100 Hz . These experiments were performed using the Microgravity Vibration Isolation Mount (MIM) operating in one of the three modes: isolation mode, non-isolation mode, and driven mode. Significant differences were obtained for the isolated versus the non-isolated experiments and for the driven mode experiments. This suggests that the current ISS vibratory specification, which can be achieved only through the use of isolation systems, is not conservative for many material science and fluid science experiments.