1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910851989103321

Autore

Evans Ben <1895-1988, >

Titolo

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

Pubbl/distr/stampa

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

ISBN

9783031534492

Edizione

[1st ed. 2024.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (450 pages)

Collana

Space Exploration, , 2731-541X

Disciplina

629.441

Soggetti

Outer space - Exploration

Astronautics

Aerospace engineering

Science - History

Space Exploration and Astronautics

Aerospace Technology and Astronautics

History of Science

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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.

Sommario/riassunto

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.