Spacelab

Spacelab was a reusable laboratory facility that was flown on the Space Shuttle from 1983 to 1998. Completing 22 major missions and contributing to many other NASA goals, Spacelab stands as one of the Shuttle program’s most resounding successes. The system comprised multiple components, including a pressurized laboratory module, unpressurized carrier pallets and other related hardware, all housed in the Shuttle’s Payload Bay and crew compartment. But how did all those varied components actually come together? The answer is the little-known “Level-IV”, a team of managers and engineers who molded separate elements of hardware into cohesive and safe payloads. Without the dedication and drive of the Level-IV team, the huge successes of the Spacelab missions would not have been achieved. This is their story. You will learn herein how Level-IV was formed, who was involved, and the accomplishments, setbacks and problems faced along the way, in a story that blends both the professional and personal sides of Level-IV operations and its legacy. Upon reading this book, you will gain a new appreciation for this crucial team and understand what is meant when you hear the term “Level-IV”.

A meeting on "Astrophysics. from Spacelab" was held at the Internatio nal Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, in the Autumn of 1976. Scope of the meeting was to bring to the attention of an increasing number of physi cists and astrophysicists, including scientists from developing countries, the new facil ities made available by the combination of the Shuttle and the Spacelab programmes. This book starts from that meeting and includes, together with reports presented in Trieste, duly updated, a few additional reviews on selected to pi cs. In the first part, D.J. Shapland and G. Giampalmo (liThe Shuttle and the Spacelab") present the design and the programmatic data of these advanced transportation systems and orbital laboratories. Vittorio Manno introduces the scientific programmes coordinated and led to execution by the European Space Agency ("ESA Programmes in Astronomy and Astrophys i cs "). J.D. Rosendha 1 (liThe NASA Programmes in Astronomy and Astrophysics") summarizes the activi ties in solar physics, high-energy astrophysics and astronomy planned in the United States of America by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as well as the expected use of the space shuttle and spacelab in their first year of operation

Proceedings of the 11th ESLAB Symposium, Frascati, Italy, May 11-14, 1976