Feb 1 1978
From The Space Library
Fifteen scientists who would manage earth-orbital investigations for the third Spacelab in mid-1981 had met at Marshall Space Flight Center to discuss preparations for the mission, the Marshall Star reported. Known as the investigators' working group for Spacelab mission 3 (IWG-3), the group would work with NASA mission management to develop a payload offering the greatest possible scientific return and to select payload specialists who would perform experiments aboard Spacelab 3. Those at the meeting agreed on professional qualifications for payload specialists and on criteria for their selection, beginning in the second half of 1978.
Sponsored by the NASA Hq Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications, Spacelab mission 3 would include materials processing in space, the atmospheric cloud-physics laboratory, the drop-dynamics module, and vestibular-function research. Experiments would, obtain basic knowledge about crystal-growing processes in earth orbit, mechanisms for generating small latex spheres, dynamic behavior of free-floating drops of liquid, cloud formation in the atmosphere, red blood cell aggregation, and adaptation of life forms to space. MSFC would manage integration and operation of the scientific payloads flown on the first 3 Spacelab missions. (Marshall Star, Feb 1/78, 1)
MSFC reported that the USAF had redesignated an interim upper stage (IUS) for Space Shuttle as the "inertial upper stage," to reflect its inertial-guidance capabilities as compared to the NASA-sponsored spinning solid upper stage. The new name would also indicate that DOD payloads would use the stage well into the 1980s. (Marshall Star, Feb 1/78, 1; Spaceport News, Feb 17/78, 3)
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