NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

                            STS-60 PRESS KIT
                             FEBRUARY, 1993

                           WAKE SHIELD FACILITY
                                SPACEHAB-2



PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACTS

For Information on the Space Shuttle

Ed Campion             Policy/Management     202/358-1778
Headquarters, Wash., D.C.

James Hartsfield       Mission Operations    713/483-5111
Johnson Space Center Houston

Bruce Buckingham       Launch Processing     407/867-2468
Kennedy Space Center, Fla, KSC Landing Information

June Malone           External Tank/SRBs/SSMEs 205/544-0034
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.

Nancy Lovato          DFRC Landing Information 805/258-3448
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.

For Information on NASA-Sponsored STS-60 Experiments

Charles Redmond       Wake Shield Facility     202/358-1757
Headquarters, Wash., D.C. Spacehab-2 

Debra Rahn
Headquarters, Wash., D.C. NASA-Russian Cooperation 202/358-1639

Mike Braukus              Microgravity and Life Sciences
Headquarters, Wash., D.C. Experiments aboard STS-60s
202/358-1979

Terri Sindelar            SAREX-II
Headquarters, Wash., D.C.                        202/358-1977

Tammy Jones   Get Away Special (GAS) payloads    301/286-5566
Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD


CONTENTS

GENERAL BACKGROUND
General Releas                                   4
Media Services Information                       6
Quick-Look Facts                                 7
Shuttle Abort Modes                              9
Summary Timeline                                10
Payload and Vehicle Weights                     12
Orbital Events Summary                          13
Crew Responsibilities                           15

CARGO BAY PAYLOADS & ACTIVITIES
Wake Shield Facility (WSF)                      17
Spacehab-2(SPACEHAB-2)                          32
Sample Return Experiment                        64
Get Away Special (GAS) Payloads                 64
     Capillary Pump Loop (CAPL) Experiment      66
     Orbital Debris Radar Calibration Spheres (ODERACS)
       Project                                  67
     BREMAN Satellite (BREMSAT)                 67

IN-CABIN PAYLOADS
Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment-II (SAREX-II)  68
Aurora Photography Experiment-B (APE-B)         70

STS-60 CREW BIOGRAPHIES
Charles Bolden, Commander (CDR)                 71
Ken Reightler, Pilot (PLT)                      71
Franklin Chang-Diaz,  Mission Specialist        72
Jan Davis, Mission Specialist                   71
Ronald Sega, Mission Specialist                 72
Sergei Krikalev, Mission Specialist             73



Release:  94-11

FIRST SHUTTLE MISSION OF 1994 TO INCLUDE RUSSIAN COSMONAUT

     The first flight of the Space Shuttle in 1994, designated 
as STS-60,  will be highlighted by the participation of a 
Russian astronaut serving as a crew member aboard Space Shuttle 
Discovery.  The mission also will see the deployment and 
retrieval of a free-flying disk designed to generate new 
semiconductor films for advanced electronics and the second 
flight of a commercially developed research facility.

     Leading the six-person STS-60 crew will be Mission 
Commander Charlie Bolden who will be making his third space 
flight.  Pilot for the mission is Ken Reightler, making his 
second flight.  The mission specialists for STS-60 are Jan 
Davis, Mission Specialist 1 (MS1) making her second flight, Ron 
Sega, Mission Specialist 2 (MS2) making his first flight, 
Franklin Chang-Diaz, the Payload Commander and Mission 
Specialist 3 (MS3) making his fourth flight and Sergei 
Krikalev, Mission Specialist 4 (MS4) who is a veteran of two 
flights in space, both long-duration stays aboard the Russian 
MIR space station.

     Launch of Discovery on the STS-60 mission is currently 
scheduled for no earlier than February 3, 1994 at 7:10 a.m. 
EST.  The planned mission duration is 8 days, 5 hours and 32 
minutes.  An on-time launch on February 3 would produce a 
landing at 12:42 p.m. EST on February 11 at Kennedy Space 
Center's Shuttle Landing Facility.

     A new era of human space flight  cooperative efforts 
between the United States and Russia will begin with the flight 
of Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev as a member of the STS-60 
crew.  His flight aboard the Shuttle is the beginning of a 
three-phased program.  Phase one will entail up to 10 Space 
Shuttle-Mir missions including rendezvous, docking and crew 
transfers between 1995 and 1997.  Phase two is the joint  
development of the core international space station program.  
Phase three is the expansion of the space station to include 
all of the international partners.

     The STS-60 mission will see the first flight of the Wake 
Shield Facility (WSF), a 12-foot diameter, stainless steel disk 
which will be deployed and retrieved using the Shuttle 
mechanical arm.  While it flies free of the Space Shuttle,  WSF 
will generate an "ultra-vacuum" environment in space within 
which to grow thin semiconductor films for next-generation 
advanced electronics.  The commercial applications for these 
new semiconductors include digital cellular telephones, high-
speed transistors and processors, fiber optics, opto-
electronics and high-definition television.

     The commercially developed SPACEHAB facility will make its 
second flight aboard the Space Shuttle during the STS-60 
mission.  Located in the forward end of the Shuttle cargo bay, 
it is accessed from the orbiter middeck through a tunnel and 
provides an 1100 cubic feet of working and storage space.  
Experiments being carried in SPACEHAB-2 involve materials 
processing, biotechnology and hardware and technology 
development payloads.

     NASA's program affords the average person a chance to 
perform small experiments in space through the agency's Get 
Away Special (GAS) program.  This flight will mark a major 
milestone because Discovery will fly the 100th GAS payload 
since the program's inception in 1982.  GAS experiments on STS-
60 will attempt to create a new kind of ball bearing, measure 
the vibration level during normal orbiter and crew operations 
and understand the boiling process in microgravity.

     Two GAS payloads will involve deploying objects from the 
cargo bay.  The Orbital Debris Calibration Spheres (ODERACS) 
payload will deploy six spheres which will be observed, tracked 
and recorded by ground-based radars and optical telescopes.  
The German-built BREMAN Satellite (BREMSAT) payload will 
conduct scientific activities at various mission phases before 
and after satellite deployment.

     STS-60 crew members will take on the role of teacher as 
they educate students in the United States and Russia about 
their mission objectives and what it is like to live and work 
in space by using the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment-II 
(SAREX-II).  Astronauts Bolden, Sega and Krikalev will operate 
SAREX.  Operating times for school contacts are planned into 
the crew's activities.

     STS-60 will be the 18th flight of Space Shuttle Discovery 
and the 60th flight of the Space Shuttle system.

                         - end -


MEDIA SERVICES INFORMATION

NASA Select Television Transmission

     NASA Select television is now available through a new 
satellite system.  NASA programming can now be accessed on 
Spacenet-2, Transponder 5, located at 69 degrees west 
longitude; frequency 3880.0 MHz, audio 6.8 MHz.

   The schedule for television transmissions from the orbiter 
and for mission briefings will be available during the mission 
at Kennedy Space Center, Fla; Marshall Space Flight Center, 
Huntsville, Ala.; Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, 
Calif.; Johnson Space Center, Houston and NASA Headquarters, 
Washington, D.C.  The television schedule will be updated to 
reflect changes dictated by mission operations.

     Television schedules also may be obtained by calling 
COMSTOR 713/483-5817.  COMSTOR is a computer data base service 
requiring the use of a telephone modem.  A voice update of the 
television schedule is updated daily at noon Eastern time.

Status Reports

     Status reports on countdown and mission progress, on-orbit 
activities and landing operations will be produced by the 
appropriate NASA newscenter.

Briefings

     A mission press briefing schedule will be issued prior to 
launch.  During the mission, status briefings by a Flight 
Director or Mission Operations representative and when 
appropriate, representatives from the payload team, will occur 
at least once per day.  The updated NASA Select television 
schedule will indicate when mission briefings are planned.


STS-60 Quick Look

Launch Date/Site:   Feb. 3, 1994/Kennedy Space Center - Pad 39A

Launch Time:            7:10 a.m. EST

Orbiter:                Discovery (OV-103) - 18th Flight

Orbit/Inclination:      190 nautical miles/57 degrees

Mission Duration:       8 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes 

Landing TIme/Date:      12:42 p.m. EST Feb. 11, 1994

Primary Landing Site:   Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

Abort Landing Sites:    Return to Launch Site - KSC, Fla.
                        TransAtlantic Abort landing - Zaragoza,
                          Spain
                        Ben Guerir, Morocco
                        Moron, Spain
                        Abort Once Around -  Edwards AFB, 
                                             Calif.

Crew:                   Charlie Bolden, Commander (CDR)
                        Ken Reightler, Pilot (PLT)
                        Jan Davis, Mission Specialist 1 (MS1)
                        Ron Sega, Mission Specialist 2 (MS2)
                        Franklin Chang-Diaz, Payload Commander
                          (MS3)
                        Sergei Krikalev (RSA), Mission
                          Specialist 4 (MS4)

Cargo Bay Payloads:

WSF-1 (Wake Shield Facility-1)
Spacehab-2 (Space Habitation Module-2)
CAPL/GAS Bridge experiments (Capillary Pumped Loop 
Experiment/Get-Away 
Special canisters)

Spacehab Experiments:

3-DMA (Three-Dimensional Microgravity Accelerometer)
ASC-3 (Astroculture Experiment)
BPL (Bioserve Pilot Lab)
CGBA (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus)
CPCG (Commercial Protein Crystal Growth)
ECLiPSE-Hab (Equipment for Controlled Liquid Phase Sintering)
IMMUNE-01 (Immune Response Studies)
ORSEP (Organic Separations Experiment)
SEF (Space Experiment Facility)
PSB (Penn State Biomodule)
SAMS (Space Acceleration Measurement System)
SOR/F (Spacehab Orbiter Refrigerator/Freezer)



Get Away Special (GAS) Experiments:

ODERACS (Orbital Debris Radar Calibration Spheres)
BREMSAT (University of Bremen Satellite)
G-071 (Ball Bearing Experiment)
G-514(Orbiter Stability Experiment and Medicines in 
Microgravity)
G-536 (Heat Flux)
G-557 (Capillary Pumped Loop Experiment)


In-Cabin Payloads:

SAREX-II (Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment-II)
APE-B (Auroral Photography Experiment)


Joint U.S.-Russian Investigations:

DSO 200: Radiological Effects
DSO 201: Sensory Motor Investigation
DSO 202: Metabolic
DSO 204: Visual Observations From Space


Other DTOs/DSOs:

DTO 623: Cabin Air Monitoring
DTO 656: PGSC Single Event Upset Monitoring
DTO 664: Cabin Temperature Survey
DTO 670: Passive Cycle Isolation System
DTO 700-2: Laser Range and Range Rate Device
DSO 700-7: Payload Bay Rendezvous Laser Data
DSO 325: Dried Blood Method for Inflight Storage
DSO 326: Orbiter Window Inspection
DSO 901: Documentary Television
DSO 902: Documentary Motion Picture
DSO 903: Documentary Still Photography



SPACE SHUTTLE ABORT MODES

     Space Shuttle launch abort philosophy aims toward safe and 
intact recovery of the flight crew, Orbiter and its payload.  
Abort modes include:

	* Abort-To-Orbit (ATO) -- Partial loss of main engine 
thrust late enough to permit reaching a minimal 105-nautical 
mile orbit with orbital maneuvering system engines.

	* Abort-Once-Around (AOA) -- Earlier main engine shutdown 
with the capability to allow one orbit around before landing at 
Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

	* TransAtlantic Abort Landing (TAL) -- Loss of one or 
more main engines midway through powered flight would force a 
landing at either Zaragoza, Spain; Ben Guerir, Morocco; or 
Moron, Spain.

	* Return-To-Launch-Site (RTLS) -- Early shutdown of one 
or more engines, and without enough energy to reach Zaragoza, 
would result in a pitch around and thrust back toward KSC until 
within gliding distance of the Shuttle Landing Facility.

     STS-60 contingency landing sites are the Kennedy Space 
Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Zaragoza, Ben Guerir, or Moron.



STS-60 Summary Timeline

Flight Day One

Ascent
OMS-2 burn (190 n.m. x 190 n.m.)
Spacehab activation
Joint Science Operations
CAPL activation
Group B powerdown
CPCG setup
Spacehab operations


Flight Day Two

Metabolic investigations
Remote Manipulator System checkout
Spacehab vestibular operations
SAREX setup


Flight Day Three

Wake Shield Facility grapple
Wake Shield Facility unberth
Group B powerup
Wake Shield Facility release (191 n.m. x 189 n.m.)
NC-1 burn (190 n.m. x 189 n.m.)
Group B powerdown
Spacehab operations


Flight Day Four

SAREX operations
Spacehab vestibular operations


Flight Day Five

Group B powerup
NC-4 burn (195 n.m. x 191 n.m.)
TI burn (191 n.m. x 188 n.m.)
Wake Shield Facility Plume Impingement Test
Wake Shield Facility grapple (191 n.m. x 189 n.m.)
Group B powerdown


Flight Day Six

Spacehab vestibular operations
Wake Shield Facility operations
Wake Shield Facility berth
Spacehab vestibular operations
Orbit Adjust burn (If required: 191 n.m. x 183 n.m.)


Flight Day Seven

SAREX operations
Spacehab vestibular operations
Group B powerup
ODERACS deploy
BREMSAT deploy
Crew press conference
Spacehab vestibular operations
Group B powerdown


Flight Day Eight

Reaction Control System hot fire
Flight Control Systems checkout
Spacehab vestibular operations
Spacehab stow
Cabin stow

Flight Day Nine

Group B powerup
Spacehab final deactivation
Deorbit preparation
Deorbit burn
Entry
Landing



STS-60 Vehicle and Payload Weights

Vehicle/Payload                                      Pounds

Orbiter (Discovery) empty and 3 SSMEs               173,117

Wake Shield Facility (deployable)                     3,710

Wake Shield Facility (cargo bay support equipment)    3,770

Capillary Pumped Loop Exp./Gas Bridge Assembly        5,136

Spacehab-2                                            9,452

SAREX-II                                                 50

DSOs/DTOs                                               437

Total Vehicle at SRB Ignition                     4,507,961

Orbiter Landing Weight                              214,832



STS-60 Orbital Events Summary

EVENT                START TIME    VELOCITY CHANGE     ORBIT
                  (dd/hh:mm:ss)    (feet per second)  (n.m.)

OMS-2             00/00:45:00        267 fps         191 x 189

WSF release       02/03:50:00         n/a            191 x 189

WSF thrust        02/03:51:00        1.5 fps         190 x 189
    (WSF's  thrusters fire to provide separation from 
     Discovery's vicinity)

NC-1              02/08:27:00        0.6 fps         190 x 189
   (fired when Discovery is about 10 n.m. behind WSF, begins
    slow drift over next 12 orbits to a point about 40 n.m.
    behind WSF)

NC-2              03/01:14:00          TBD           190 x 189
   (if required, maintains Discovery at about 40 n.m.
    behind WSF)

NPC               03/07:00:00          TBD           190 x 189
   (if required, aligns Discovery's groundtrack with 
    WSF's groundtrack)

NC-3              03/08:00:00          TBD           190 x 189
   (if required, maintains Discovery at about 40 n.m.
    behind WSF)

NC-4              03/23:06:00         9 fps          195 x 189
   (fired at 40 n.m. behind WSF, begins closing in on WSF,
    initiates closing rate of about 16 n.m. per orbit to
    arrive at a point 8 n.m. behind WSF after two orbits)

NH-1              03/23:52:00          TBD           190 x 189
   (if required, adjusts Discovery's altitude as it closes
    on WSF)

NCC               04/01:12:00          TBD           195 x 191
   (first burn calculated by onboard computers using onboard
    navigation derived from orbiter star tracker sightings of
    WSF; fine-tunes course while orbiter is closing in on a
    point 8 n.m. behind WSF)

TI                04/02:09:00         12 fps         191 x 188
   (fired upon arrival at a point 8 n.m. behind WSF; begins
    terminal interception of WSF)

MC1-MC4              TBD               TBD             TBD
   (mid-course corrections, if required; calculated by onboard
    computers, double-checked by ground; designed to fine-tune
    final course toward WSF, may or may not be required)

MANUAL            04/03:20:00          TBD             TBD
   (Begins about 4 hours, 40 minutes prior to WSF grapple,
    less than 1 nautical mile from WSF, passing below it.
    Commander takes manual control of orbiter flight, fires
    braking maneuvers to align and slow  final approach to
    WSF and begins an almost four-hour long series of proximity 
    operations designed to study the characteristics of 
    Discovery's thruster exhaust during rendezvous)

PLUME MNVRS       04/03:43:00          n/a             n/a
   (Commander fires a series of thrusters at differing angles
    to WSF while flying in front of and behind WSF at ranges of
    400, 300 and 200 feet The thruster firings will gather
    information on how to avoid contaminating rendezvous
    targets with thruster exhaust during close operations.)

GRAPPLE           04/08:00:00          TBD          191 x 189
      (WSF is captured using Discovery's mechanical arm)

OA                05/07:45:00          TBD              TBD
   (If required, burn to adjust Discovery's orbit for landing 
    opportunities and deploy of ODERACS and BREMSAT)

ODERACS           06/02:45:00          n/a          191 x 189
          (ODERACS spheres are deployed)

BREMSAT           06/07:39:00          n/a          191 x189
          (University of Bremen satellite is deployed)

DEORBIT           08/04:28:00        335 fps          n/a
 
LANDING           08/05:32:00         n/a             n/a 

NOTE:  All planned burns are recalculated in real time once the 
flight is under way and will likely change slightly. Depending 
on the accuracy of the orbiter's navigation and course at 
certain times, some smaller burns listed above may not be 
required. However,  the times for major burns and events are 
unlikely to change by more than a few minutes.


STS-60 CREW RESPONSIBILITIES


TASK/PAYLOAD               PRIMARY        BACKUPS/OTHERS

Wake Shield Facility        Sega          Krikalev, Chang-Diaz
Remote Manipulator Sys.     Davis         Krikalev, Sega,
                                            Reightler
ODERACS                     Bolden        Reightler
BREMSAT                     Bolden        Chang-Diaz


Get-Away Special (GAS) Bridge experiments:

CAPL/GBA                    Krikalev      Sega
GAS 514                     Davis         Chang-Diaz
GAS 071                     Davis         Chang-Diaz
GAS 536                     Davis         Chang-Diaz
GAS 557                     Davis         Chang-Diaz


Spacehab experiments:

Spacehab systems            Chang-Diaz    Davis, Sega, Krikalev
SAMS                        Krikalev      Sega
3-DMA                       Krikalev      Chang-Diaz
ORSEP                       Bolden        Davis
CPCG                        Davis         Chang-Diaz
BPL                         Krikalev      Chang-Diaz
CGBA                        Davis         Reightler
SEF                         Chang-Diaz    Davis
ECLIPSE                     Reightler     Sega
IMMUNE                      Krikalev      Reightler
ASC-3                       Chang-Diaz    Krikalev
PSB                         Davis         Bolden


Middeck experiments:

SAREX-II                    Krikalev      Bolden
APE-B                       Chang-Diaz    Krikalev


Joint U.S.-Russian medical investigations:

DSO 200 (radiological)      Krikalev      Chang-Diaz
DSO 201 (sensory)           Sega          Davis, Krikalev,
                                            Reightler
DSO 202 (metabolic)         Chang-Diaz    Bolden, Reightler
DSO 204 (visual obs)        Krikalev      Chang-Diaz


Detailed Test Objectives (DTOs):

DTO 623 (cabin air)         Sega           Bolden
DTO 656 (PGSC upset)        Sega           Reightler
DTO 664 (cabin temp)        Sega           Davis
DTO 670 (passive cycle)     Sega           Reightler
DTO 700-2 (laser range)     Reightler      Sega, Chang-Diaz
DTO 700-7 (plb laser)       Reightler      Sega, Chang-Diaz


Other Responsibilities:

Photography/TV              Chang-Diaz      Davis
Earth observations          Chang-Diaz      Krikalev
In-flight maintenance       Krikalev        Bolden
Medic                       Bolden          Davis
EVA (not planned)           Chang-Diaz (EV1), Davis (EV2),
                              Reightler (EV3)


Wake Shield Facility (WSF)

     The Wake Shield Facility (WSF) is a 12-foot diameter, 
stainless steel disk designed to generate an "ultra-vacuum" 
environment in space within which to grow thin semiconductor 
films for next-generation advanced electronics.  This mission 
represents the first time, internationally, in which the vacuum 
of space will be used to process thin film materials.  The STS-
60 astronaut crew will deploy and retrieve the WSF during the 
9-day mission.  The NASA Office of Advanced Concepts and 
Technology (OACT) is the sponsor of the WSF-1 flight on this 
mission of Space Shuttle Discovery. 

     The WSF is designed, built and managed by the Space Vacuum 
Epitaxy Center (SVEC) -- a NASA Center for the Commercial 
Development of Space (CCDS) based at the University of Houston, 
Houston, Texas -- with its principal industry partner, Space 
Industries, Inc. (SII), League City, Texas.  Six additional 
corporate partners support the WSF program, including:  
American X-tal Technology, Dublin, Calif.; AT&T Bell Labs, 
Murray Hill, N.J.; Instruments, S.A., Inc., Edison, N.J.; 
Ionwerks, Houston, Texas; Quantum Controls, Houston, Texas; and 
Schmidt Instruments, Inc., Houston, Texas.  In addition, the 
University of Toronto, NASA Johnson Space Center, the U.S. Air 
Force Phillips Laboratories and the U.S. Army Construction 
Engineering Research Laboratory are members of the SVEC 
consortium.

     The principle objectives of the WSF-1 mission include:

     o  The characterization of the "ultra-vacuum" environment 
generated by the WSF  in low Earth orbit (LEO) space, and the 
flow field around the WSF, and

     o  Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) - growth of a thin film of 
the compound Gallium Arsenide (GaAs).

     These objectives may have a significant impact on the 
microelectronics industry because the use of improved GaAs thin 
film material in electronic components holds a very promising 
economic advantage.  The commercial applications for high 
quality GaAs devices are most critical in the consumer 
technology areas of digital cellular telephones, high-speed 
transistors and processors, high-definition television (HDTV), 
fiber optic communications and opto-electronics.

     The majority of electronic components used today are made 
of the semiconductor silicon, but there are many other 
semiconductors of higher predicted performance
than silicon.  A current example of this prediction is the 
material Gallium Arsenide (GaAs).  Devices made from GaAs could 
be about 8 times faster than silicon devices and take 1/10 the 
power. However, GaAs of high enough quality to reach this 
predicted performance level does not exist.  If high quality 
GaAs could be produced, the devices made from it would 
represent nothing less than a technological revolution.

     If improved GaAs material were available, it could 
significantly impact the global semiconductor market.  The 1990 
worldwide semiconductor consumption was $56.8 billion.  Of this 
amount, about 40% went for computers, 18% for 
telecommunications and 15% for military applications.  The 
projected market for 1994 is $109 billion. Within this giant 
market, GaAs currently holds only a 0.5% niche.  It is 
predicted that the niche for GaAs should grow to 2% (or about 
$2.2 billion) by 1995, which could significantly increase with 
the availability of improved GaAs material.

     A method to generate such advanced material is by thin 
film growth of the material in a vacuum environment.  This 
technique, known as epitaxy, is limited by the vacuum 
conditions in vacuum chambers on Earth.  To improve the 
material, the vacuum environment where it is grown must be 
improved.  

     Low-Earth orbit (LEO) space can be used to grow GaAs (and 
other materials) epitaxially, by creating a unique vacuum 
environment or "wake" behind an object moving in orbit.  There 
is a moderate vacuum in LEO space with very few atoms present.  
A vehicle in orbit, such as the WSF, pushes even those few 
atoms out of the way, leaving fewer atoms, if any, in its wake.  
This unique "ultra-vacuum" produced in space by the WSF will be 
1,000-10,000 times better than the best vacuum environments in 
laboratory vacuum chambers.  Using this unique "ultra-vacuum" 
property of space, the WSF holds the promise of spawning 
orbiting factories to produce the next generation of 
semiconductor materials and the devices they will make 
possible.

Program Overview

     The space "ultra-vacuum" concept was first described 
within NASA more than twenty years ago, but there was no need 
identified at that time for the use of an "ultra-vacuum."  
Recent interest by scientists and corporate researchers in 
epitaxial thin-film growth has motivated the use of space to 
create the "ultra-vacuum" in which to grow better thin films.

     Recognizing this scientific opportunity as a new economic 
opportunity, in 1987 SVEC formed a consortium of interested 
industries, academic institutions and government laboratories 
to utilize the LEO vacuum environment in thin film growth.  In 
1989, SVEC partnered with its industry members led by Space 
Industries, Inc., and with NASA Johnson Space Center to build 
the WSF using a timely and cost-effective manner required of a 
commercially-oriented endeavor.

     Prior to 1989, preliminary studies indicated that the WSF 
would be a disk or shield about 12-14 feet in diameter, and 
would be deployed from the Shuttle payload bay on the Shuttle 
"arm."  The WSF hardware development program was soon projected 
to be complex, time intensive and quite costly, and it was 
mutually decided by NASA and SVEC that a more cost-effective 
and timely approach must be identified.  The result was the 
effort by SVEC, Space Industries, Inc., and the rest of the 
SVEC industrial partners to create a non-traditional, 
commercial approach to space hardware development, and hence 
space infrastructure development.  Through this mode of 
operation, the WSF will fly in nearly 1/2 the time required 
under a traditional approach, and at less than 1/6 the cost for 
a traditional aerospace hardware development program.

     The primary objectives for the WSF-1 mission (listed 
above) remain as outlined by SVEC in March 1989.  It should be 
noted that both of these primary objectives will be major 
"firsts" in space science and technology.  The generation and 
characterization of the "ultra-vacuum" in LEO and its 
utilization for thin-film growth have never been attempted 
before, and as a result, represent additional risk for the 
SVEC-developed space thin film science and technology.  These 
objectives, however, form the foundation of the SVEC principle 
of taking a basic science concept, identifying an application 
of it, developing a technology from the application, and 
identifying and producing a product from that technology.

     A major contributor to the success of the WSF program will 
be Discovery's crew, especially Dr. Ronald Sega.  Dr. Sega is a 
Co-Principal Investigator on the WSF program, with Dr. Alex 
Ignatiev, SVEC Director.  The close SVEC interaction with the 
crew, pre-flight, has proven extremely beneficial for 
optimizing the complex WSF operation of unberthing, cleaning, 
deployment, rendezvous and capture.  The crew also has 
contributed to the tuning of the WSF's science and technology 
operations for maximized data return from this first mission of 
the WSF and will play a major role in assuring its success. 

Hardware Description

     The WSF consists of the Shuttle Cross Bay Carrier (SCBC) 
and the Free Flyer.  The SCBC remains in the Shuttle and has a 
latch system which holds the Free Flyer to the Carrier.  The 
Shuttle "arm" or Remote Manipulator System (RMS) is attached to 
the Free Flyer for deployment and free flight in space.  The 
SCBC has an extended-range, stand-alone RF communications 
system that lets the WSF seem like an attached payload to the 
Shuttle's systems, even when the Free Flyer is following behind 
the Shuttle at its stationkeeping distance of 40 nautical 
miles.

     The Free Flyer is a fully-equipped spacecraft on its own, 
with cold gas propulsion for separation from the Shuttle and a 
momentum bias attitude control system (ACS). Forty-five 
kilowatt-hours of energy, stored in silver-zinc batteries, are 
available to power the thin film growth cells, substrate 
heaters, process controllers, and a sophisticated array of 
characterization devices.  Weighing approximately 9,000 lbs. 
(the Free Flyer alone is 4,000 lbs.), the WSF occupies one 
quarter of the Shuttle payload bay.  Controlling electronics, 
attitude control system, batteries and solar panels, and MBE 
process control equipment are on the back (wake side) of the 
WSF, while the avionics and support equipment are located on 
the front (ram side). 

     The commercial approach used to create the WSF has 
facilitated the development of several critical pieces of 
supporting hardware which have proven to be extremely useful 
and valuable in their own right.  The development of an 
inexpensive carrier (the SCBC), a versatile ground link, and an 
innovative communications link between the Shuttle and the WSF 
have each been valuable spin-offs from the WSF program.


WSF Physical Characteristics

Free-Flyer                 Vacuum welded 304L SS structure, UHV 
                           finish on wake side, 12 ft. 
                           dia. x 6 ft.

Carrier                    7075-T73 aluminum alloy, dual
                           trunnion, doubly redundant stand 
                           alone latch system

Weight                   8,000 lbs. total, 3,800 lbs
                       . deployable

Power                    Ag-Zn batteries, 45 Kwatt-hr. @ 28 Vdc

Attitude Control System  Momentum bias (10 ft.-lb.-sec.), 
                         horizon scanner, 2-axis 
                         magnetometer, 3-axis magnetic torquer

WSF Characterization Equipment 

Total Pressure Gauges (TPG) 2 10-5torr-10-8torr;3 10-7torr-10-
10torr

Mass Spectrometers (TOF-MS) 2 1-150 amu, 2 10-14torr time-of-
flight, programmable data integration time 

Retarding Potential Analyzers 3 ram flux plasma diagnostics, 2 
wake side Langmuir probe

3-axis Accelerometers           3 1g-10-6g

Wake side video camera         Compressed video interleaved
                               with telemetry stream


The WSF as a Versatile Space Platform

     As a free-flying platform, the WSF's wake side -- the 
ultra-clean side -- is used exclusively for ultra-pure thin 
film growth.  The ram side -- the relatively dirty side -- of 
the 12 ft.-diameter WSF, however, can be used to accommodate 
other experiments and space technology applications.  The ram 
side has a significant area of high quality "real estate" in 
the form of the outer shield -- more than 65 sq. ft. -- which 
can be applied to the support of other space payloads.  The ram 
side contains four payload attach points, each capable of 
accommodating 200 pounds of experiment hardware.

     In addition, since the WSF is mounted horizontally in the 
Shuttle payload bay, it was obvious early-on that the open 
volume of the Shuttle payload bay below the WSF could be used 
effectively by mounting additional payload canisters on the 
SCBC.  The SCBC has power and data capabilities which were 
extended to the payload canisters, thus prompting their name -- 
"Smart Cans."  The "Smart Cans," based on the NASA Goddard 
Space Flight Center Get Away Special Canisters (GAS cans), also 
provide the opportunity for other payloads to fly with the WSF 
(however, staying inside the Shuttle payload bay during the 
mission).


What is Epitaxial Thin Film Growth?

     Epitaxial thin film growth is an approach to reducing the 
defects in semiconductor materials, such as GaAs, through the 
growth of new material on a substrate in a vacuum.  In 
epitaxial growth, atomic or molecular beams of a material, such 
as arsenic (As) and gallium (Ga), formed in a vacuum are 
exposed to a prepared surface -- or substrate.  The substrate 
is an atomic template, or pattern, upon which the atoms form 
thin films.  The atoms grow in layers which follow the crystal 
structure pattern of the substrate.  A thin film of new 
materials then grows on top of the substrate in an atom-by-atom 
layer, atomic layer-by-atomic layer manner to form a "wafer" 
with an ultra-high purity top region.  This growth technique is 
defined as Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE), and has been used as a 
laboratory technique for studies in new thin film electronic 
materials for the past 20 years.  It has been shown during this 
time that the vacuum environment within which the materials are 
grown is critical to the quality of the thin film grown.

     The WSF has the capability of growing epitaxial thin films 
on seven different substrate wafers.  GaAs will be the 
materials system grown on the WSF-1 flight, with each specific 
wafer growth tuned for unique thin film parameters.  There will 
be at least one "thick" GaAs film grown (~9 micrometers) for 
the characterization of ultimate defect densities.  In 
addition, there will be several films grown to exhibit high 
electron mobility in GaAs and films grown to support the Earth-
based fabrication of field effect transistors.  Finally, there 
will be a GaAs film grown by Chemical Beam Epitaxy (CBE) 
through the use of arsenic (As) and an organometallic compound 
containing gallium (Ga).  The near-infinite vacuum pumping 
speed of the WSF ultra-vacuum environment should allow for the 
extremely rapid removal of the residual organic species found 
during CBE growth, and hence should greatly improve the quality 
of the grown GaAs film.

Cooperative Experiments

     The University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies 
(UTIAS) will also be performing exposure experiments aboard 
WSF-1 as a follow-up to its Long Duration Exposure Facility 
(LDEF) studies.  

     A NASA CCDS, the Center for Materials for Space Structure 
(CMSS), based at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 
Ohio, is conducting an experiment to test different materials 
and coatings in space to determine how they degrade in the 
space environment.  The experiment is known as MatLab-1, for 
Materials Laboratory-1.  Industrial contributors to the MatLab-
1 experiment include Westinghouse-Hanford, Martin Marietta, 
TRW, Rosemount, 3M, Dow Corning and McDonnell Douglas. 
Supporting government organizations include NASA Lewis Research 
Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

     The MatLab-1 will be on the Materials Flight EXperiment 
(MFLEX) carrier mounted on the front of the WSF (ram side).  
Each experiment is considered "active," i.e., the material has 
an electronic sensor attached to it, which is placed into a 
tray connected to the electronics equipment.  The MFLEX will 
scan the sensors and relay the information back to Earth via 
the WSF communications link.  Material scientists on Earth can 
monitor the experiments in real-time and determine the 
performance of each material and coating interaction with the 
space environment.


     The MatLab-1 experiment will test many materials in the 
actual environment in which they would be used to ensure 
"expected" performance.  The materials will be tested for 
thermal cycling, strain, micro-debris, atomic oxygen erosion 
and its scattering effects, and the effects of ultra-violet 
rays.  These materials may then be used in the construction of 
products for the space environment.

     For example, the materials needed to build a rocket, 
satellite or space station must meet stringent requirements in 
weight and durability, given the harsh environment of space.  
Testing materials onboard the MatLab-1 experiment provides 
advance information to government and corporate planners about 
how some materials react in space.  In order to reduce launch 
costs based on a spacecraft's weight, researchers are looking 
for lighter-weight materials that have the strength to survive 
a launch into space.  Also, they are looking for durable, long-
lasting materials that can withstand a lengthy stay in space to 
reduce replacement costs of valuable assets -- like a satellite 
that could orbit the Earth for 30 years instead of 
deteriorating sooner, requiring a new satellite to take its 
place.

     The Geophysics Directorate at the U.S. Air Force Phillips 
Laboratory located at Hanscom Air Force Base (30 miles NW of 
Boston, Mass.), working with SVEC, studies the flow fields of 
charged particles in the Wake Shield's vicinity.  AFGL will fly 
the Charging Hazards and Wake Studies (CHAWS) experiment on the 
WSF Free Flyer.  The general purpose of the experiment is to 
increase understanding of the interactions of the space 
environment with space systems and the hazards such 
interactions pose. The improved understanding of spacecraft 
environmental interactions derived from CHAWS results will 
enhance both the commercial and military utilization of space.  
For instance, CHAWS results may lead to the design and 
operation of higher powered satellites in orbit.

     The two specific goals of the CHAWS experiment are 1) to 
measure the ambient, low-energy population of positively-
charged particles on both the front and back of the WSF, and 2) 
to study the magnitude and directionality of the current 
collected by a negatively-charged object in the plasma wake as 
a function of the ambient-charged particle density and the 
orientation of the WSF and the Shuttle.  The CHAWS experiment 
data are crucial to achieving part of the primary mission goal 
of characterizing the neutral and charged particle wake created 
by WSF-1.

     The CHAWS experiment consists of two sensor units and a 
controller.  At the heart of each sensor unit are a series of 
newly developed, state-of-the-art, compact particle detectors 
able to measure a wide range of charged particle densities down 
to low densities previously difficult or impossible to measure.  
In the spirit of the WSF program, the STS-60 mission will 
provide the first flight test of this new technology.  

     The most intensive portion of the CHAWS experiment will be 
conducted after WSF recapture.  With the WSF held by the 
Shuttle "arm," the Shuttle attitude will be varied with respect 
to the direction of orbital motion so that the full wake can be 
mapped by varying the sensor's location in the wake region.  In 
addition, measurement will be made of any optical emissions 
produced near the sensor during high voltage activities. These 
measurements will be the first ever made in space of the 
current collected by a negatively-charged object in the wake of 
a space structure in low Earth orbit.

     Working with NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) engineers, 
SVEC is offering the WSF as a testbed for the development of 
highly sensitive accelerometers, called the Microgravity 
Measurement Devices (MMD).  Accelerometers measure low levels 
of acceleration by a vehicle in space.  Specifically on WSF-1, 
the accelerometers will characterize the microgravity 
environment of the WSF Free Flyer.   Given the largely passive 
thin film growth process, the WSF Free Flyer promises to be a 
"true" microgravity platform, ideal for any number of future 
materials processing chores.  The MMD will be the linchpin for 
another joint experiment between SVEC and JSC:  an ambitious 
Shuttle Plume Impingement Experiment (PIE) in support of space 
station development.  A critical concern to space station 
planners is the complex interaction between Shuttle attitude 
control thruster firings and nearbyspace structures; however, 
little information exists in this area.  The WSF Free Flyer, 
loaded with environmental diagnostic equipment, is the ideal 
target for this study, as a cost-effective means to multiply 
benefits to differing program goals.  A complex and extensive 
series of thruster firings have been planned to use the WSF's 
response to measure the characteristics of the Shuttle's 
thruster plumes.

     Two "Smart Cans" will be attached to the WSF's SCBC on 
this flight to conduct a Containerless Coating Process (CONCOP-
1) experiment.  The United States Army Construction Engineering 
Research Laboratory (CERL) in Champaign, Ill., will be using 
the "Smart Cans" for an investigation of hot filament thin film 
metals deposition on a variety of materials.  The results will 
give researchers information about applying reflective coatings 
to space structures while in space. While the Free Flyer is 
behind the Shuttle, the crew will activate the CERL experiment 
for follow-on operations controlled through the payload 
operations center.

     Two student experiments will be a part of WSF-1.  "Fast 
Plants" will be coordinated by Hartman Middle School, Houston, 
Texas, to study the effects of space radiation on plants' 
generation.  Brassica rapa plants supplied by the University of 
Wisconsin will be exposed to the entire spectrum of radiation 
from space while velcro-mounted to the SCBC. 

     Brassica rapa's rapid growth rate of 38 days per 
generation will allow numerous generations to be studied during 
a single school year following the WSF-1 flight.  Six Houston 
Independent School District middle schools will be involved in 
the experiment.

     Students will not only grow plants and gather data, but 
will become proficient at controlling variables while learning 
how to conduct a long-term experiment.  Data will be compiled 
for the purpose of writing and submitting a paper to a 
scientific publication, rounding out a rich educational 
experience.

     Ninth grade students at the Gregory Jarvis Junior High 
School, Mohawk, N.Y., will be determining the orbital variation 
of the Earth's magnetic field from electron diffraction data 
obtained in the WSF thin film growth experiments.  The electron 
beam used for in situ diffraction measurement of the atomic 
structure of the growing GaAs films is deflected by the Earth's 
magnetic field.  This deflection can be used to define the 
magnitude and direction of the Earth's magnetic field as a 
function of orbital position.  The junior high school students 
will work with SVEC researchers in applying elementary physical 
laws to directly extract Earth magnetic field information from 
the WSF data.


Mission Scenario

     The Wake Shield Facility will be released from Discovery 
to fly free for about 48 hours, gathering its experiment 
information before it is retrieved by the Shuttle.  Once it is 
retrieved, the facility will remain captured at the end of 
Discovery's remote manipulator system (RMS) mechanical arm 
overnight, for a total of about 17 hours, to gather further 
data before it is berthed in the cargo bay for the return to 
Earth.

Release

     On Flight Day 3, the WSF will be grappled by the Shuttle 
"arm" and removed from the SCBC.  The WSF will be positioned by 
the "arm" to be "cleaned" by the highly reactive atomic oxygen 
found in low Earth orbit and by the sun's heat.  The "cleaning" 
will last 3 hours. Some tests will be run during this 
"cleaning," such as radio checks between the SCBC and the Free 
Flyer, checks of the Free Flyer batteries, and activation of 
the primary video camera on the wake side of the Free Flyer.

     Three successive approximately 45-minute long windows 
exist for deploying the facility on the third day of STS-60, as 
well as backup opportunities later in the mission. During the 
release operations, Commander Charlie Bolden will be at the aft 
flight deck controls of Discovery, Mission Specialist Jan Davis 
will operate the mechanical arm, and Mission Specialist Ron 
Sega will oversee the Wake Shield Facility's systems and 
experiments.  Pilot Ken Reightler will use a hand-held laser 
range-finding device as well as a similiar device mounted in 
Discovery's cargo bay to provide information on 
the distance and separation rate of the facility. The data 
supplement information provided by the Shuttle's rendezvous 
radar system. Mission Specialist Franklin Chang-Diaz will 
document the events with still photography, video and film.

     After the "cleaning" is done, the "arm" will move the WSF 
to a position that will allow the formation of a vacuum wake 
behind the WSF.  There will be approximately one hour of vacuum 
measurements and checkouts in this position.  Then the arm will 
move the WSF to the release position, over the starboard 
(right) side of the Shuttle payload bay.  The Free Flyer will 
separate from the arm and move behind the Shuttle to remove it 
from Shuttle contamination sources (i.e., water dumps, fuel 
cell purges and engine firings).  The astronauts will fire a 
thruster if necessary to keep the WSF safely behind the Shuttle 
while they are sleeping.

     The WSF will stay 40 nautical miles behind the Shuttle 
while growing the thin films. The WSF will be operated during 
this time from the Payload Operations Control Center (POCC) at 
the NASA Johnson Space Center.   The SVEC POCC team will 
monitor and control all aspects of WSF operations in close 
cooperation with the astronaut crew.  

Rendezvous

     On Flight Day 5, the Shuttle will rendezvous with the Free 
Flyer.  Every member of the STS-60 crew has a vital role to 
play during the WSF rendezvous and capture and the integral 
plume experiment.  Charles Bolden, Commander, and Kenneth 
Reightler, Pilot, will pilot Discovery through a complex series 
of maneuvers in approaching the WSF. 

     The retrieval of the Wake Shield Facility will begin  with 
an engine firing by Discovery that will have the Shuttle leave 
its stationkeeping position 40 nautical miles behind to close 
in on a point about 8 nautical miles behind the facility. Over 
the next three hours, as Discovery closes in on a point 8 
nautical miles behind the Wake Shield Facility, the Shuttle's 
navigation will be continually refined as will tracking 
information on the facility itself. The final engine firing 
performed will be calculated by the Shuttle's onboard 
navigation systems, rather than by ground controllers. At a 
distance of 8 nautical miles behind the facility, Mission 
Specialist Sergei Krikalev will power up the mechanical arm and 
move it into position for the impending capture, and Discovery 
will fire its engines to perform a terminal interception (TI) 
burn, a firing that will put the Shuttle on a course directly 
for the facility. The Shuttle may perform four small course 
correction firings during its final approach before Bolden 
takes over manual control of Discovery's flight as the Shuttle 
passes less than one nautical mile below the facility.

Shuttle Plume Impingement Tests

     Ron Sega and Sergei Krikalev will coordinate the plume 
experiment initiation and data acquisition.  Franklin Chang-
Diaz will track the WSF position by video and Jan Davis will 
prepare the Shuttle "arm" for WSF capture.  

     Bolden will brake Discovery's approach to the Wake Shield 
Facility, eventually flying to about 400 feet directly in front 
of the facility. At that  point, Bolden will begin an almost 
four-hour long series of maneuvers that  will have Discovery 
perform precise steering jet firings at various angles to the 
Wake Shield Facility. The jet firings comprise a plume 
impingement test  that will help characterize the behaviour of 
the exhaust emitted by Discovery's jets. With its 
contamination-sensitive experiments already completed at that 
time, the Wake Shield's instruments can measure the 
makeup of the exhaust plume, accelerations the plumes cause, 
and the pressures of the exhaust. During the tests, Bolden will 
fly Discovery from in front of the facility to pass above and 
behind it. The jet firings will be performed in front of the 
Wake Shield at ranges of 400 feet, 300 feet and 200 feet, and 
from behind the facility at a range of 200 feet. Information 
from these tests will be valuable in planning future retrievals 
and dockings by the Shuttle with other spacecraft in a method 
that avoids contaminating those spacecraft with the exhaust 
plumes.

Retrieval

     The final approach to within capture range of the Wake 
Shield Facility will be done from behind it, with Bolden moving 
Discovery to within 35 feet of the Free-Flyer. Krikalev will 
then capture the Wake Shield using the mechanical arm. Krikalev 
will then place the arm in a parked position with the Wake 
Shield held above the payload bay during the astronaut sleep 
period for extended WSF environmental measurement.  

     On Flight Day 6, the CHAWS experiment will be performed.  
The astronauts will position the WSF to the point above the 
overhead windows for maneuvering of the WSF to gather plasma 
flow data around the WSF.  The Air Force Auroral Photography 
Experiment B (APE-B) camera will be used in support of the 
plasma flow studies to view the Shuttle glow phenomenon on the 
CHAWS plasma probe from the Shuttle's aft flight deck windows.  
Plasma flow data will be acquired for two full orbits, after 
which the WSF will be re-stowed into the SCBC for return to 
Earth.


Future Plans for the WSF Program

     The WSF Program consists of four flights basically flying 
at one year intervals.  During the four flights, the WSF 
program first will provide the "proof-of-concept" demonstration 
of thin film growth in space techniques required for industry 
to fully embrace the space epitaxial growth technology.  
Second, it will demonstrate the ability to grow commercial 
quantities of epitaxial thin films in space.  To accomplish 
these goals, the WSF Program is designed to evolve with the 
WSF-2 flight (1995) expected to show increased capability in 
number and types of thin films grown, and in command and 
control of the growth process through ground operations from a 
commercial payload command and control center (POCC).  WSF-3 
(1996) is expected to see the addition of solar panels, 
additional central processing power, and robotic substrate 
sample manipulation for extended orbital operations.  WSF-4 
(1997) is expected to have the capability of processing up to 
300 epitaxial thin film wafers.

     Beyond the first "proof-of-concept" flights of WSF, full 
commercial use of the WSF is projected.  The commercial phase 
of the program is being termed "Mark II" -- a 5-year orbiting 
WSF free flyer.  Because the weight of the Free Flyer is 4,000 
lb., it would not be economically realistic to launch and 
retrieve the complete WSF for every batch of thin film wafers 
grown (about 300 wafers per batch).  It is clearly more 
suitable to launch only the raw materials and bring back only 
the finished wafers, leaving the WSF in space.  Therefore, the 
"Mark II" would be launched into orbit and then be periodically 
visited by a dedicated service vehicle that would replenish the 
raw materials and bring back the finished wafers. 

Conclusion

     The accomplishment of the objectives of WSF-1 and the 
three subsequent WSF missions is expected to prove the theory 
that electronic materials grown in space are of higher quality.  
The electronics industry's need for high-speed optical and high 
frequency devices will continue to drive electronics material 
development and improvement.  The ever-increasing use of 
electronic materials worldwide and the ability to grow them in 
thin film form in space are expected to give commercial 
viability to the use of the space "ultra-vacuum" to produce 
improved and advanced electronic materials.


GRAPHIC


GRAPHIC



GRAPHIC



GRAPHIC

GRAPHIC

SPACEHAB-2


Evolution of the SPACEHAB Program

     The commercial development of space is a NASA objective as 
directed by legislation and national policy.  Through the many 
facets of its commercial development of space program, NASA has 
developed and maintains a high level of commitment to this 
objective.  To that end, NASA has actively invested in the 
continued technological leadership of the United States and its 
future economic growth through the direct promotion and support 
of private sector space-related activities. 

     In the late 1980's, NASA's commercial development of space 
program identified a significant number of payloads to be flown 
to further program objectives.  To viably sustain this program, 
the Office of Advanced Concepts and Technology identified a 
level of flight activity necessary to support the various 
payload requirements. In September 1989, the office conducted 
an analysis which revealed that planned Space Shuttle flight 
activity would not meet middeck-class accommodations needs.  
Mission experience had already demonstrated the middeck as a 
very cost-effective area to conduct "crew-tended" scientific 
and commercial microgravity research.  However,  the size and 
number of experiments that can be accommodated in the middeck 
is severely limited, has conflicting requirements from Shuttle 
operations and other NASA programs, and is being further 
constrained by a number of factors such as reduced flight 
rates.

     In order to provide the necessary support for commercial 
development of space payloads, the Commercial Middeck 
Augmentation Module (CMAM) procurement was initiated in 
February 1990, through the Johnson Space Center (JSC). 
Subsequently, in November 1990, NASA awarded a 5-year contract 
to SPACEHAB, Inc., of Arlington, Va., for the lease of their 
pressurized module, the SPACEHAB Space Research Laboratory.  
This unit provides additional space for "crew-tended" payloads 
as an extension of the Shuttle orbiter middeck into the Shuttle 
cargo bay.

     This 6-year lease arrangement covers five Shuttle flights 
and requires SPACEHAB, Inc., to provide for the physical and 
operational integration of the SPACEHAB Space Research 
Laboratory into Space Shuttle orbiters, including experiments 
and integration services, such as safety documentation and crew 
training.

     NASA's primary objective for leasing the SPACEHAB Space 
Research Laboratory is to support the agency's commercial 
development of space program by providing access to space to 
test, demonstrate or evaluate techniques or processes in the 
environment of space, and thereby reduce operational risks to a 
level appropriate for commercial development.

     NASA's secondary objective in leasing the SPACEHAB 
Laboratory is to foster the development of space infrastructure 
which can be marketed by private firms to support commercial 
microgravity research payloads.  It is expected that commercial 
demand will result from successful demonstrations of SPACEHAB.


     The first, and very successful, flight of the SPACEHAB 
Space Research Laboratory was made on Space Shuttle Mission 
STS-57, June 21-27, 1993.  All systems operated nominally and 
met 100% of mission success criteria.  The 21 NASA-sponsored 
experiments achieved over 90% of mission success criteria and 
detailed analyses are underway.


SPACEHAB Laboratory Accommodations

     The SPACEHAB Space Research Laboratory is located in the 
forward end of the Shuttle orbiter cargo bay and is accessed 
from the orbiter middeck through a tunnel adapter connected to 
the airlock.  It weighs 10,584 pounds, is 9.2 feet long, 11.2 
feet high and 13.5 feet in diameter.  It increases pressurized 
experiment space in the Shuttle orbiter by 1100 cubic feet, 
quadrupling the working and storage volume available.  
Environmental control of the laboratory's interior maintains 
ambient temperatures between 65 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

     The laboratory has a total payload capacity of 3,000 
pounds based on operational constraints and, in addition to 
facilitating crew access, provides the experiments with 
standard services, such as power, temperature control and 
command/data functions.  Other services, such as late 
access/early retrieval and vacuum venting also are available.

     The SPACEHAB Space Research Laboratory can provide various 
physical accommodations to users based on size, weight and 
other user requirements. Experiments are commonly integrated 
into the laboratory in Shuttle middeck-type lockers or SPACEHAB 
racks.  The laboratory can accommodate up to 61 lockers, with 
each locker providing a maximum capacity of 60 pounds and 2.0 
cubic feet of volume.

     The laboratory can also accommodate up to two SPACEHAB 
racks, either of which can be a "double-rack" or "single-rack" 
configuration.  A "double-rack" provides a maximum capacity of 
1250 pounds and 45 cubic feet of volume, whereas a 
"single-rack" provides half of that capacity.  The "double-
rack" is similar in size and design to the racks planned for 
use in the space station.

     The use of lockers or racks is not essential for 
integration into the SPACEHAB Laboratory.  Payloads also can be 
accommodated by directly mounting them in the Laboratory.


Operations Philosophy of the SPACEHAB Program

     In order to help keep development costs within levels 
appropriate to entrepreneurial enterprises, the Office of 
Advanced Concepts and Technology's (OACT) flight programs 
accept a certain level of risk in order to approach the 
payloads from the commercial standpoint, including payload 
development costs incurred by industry partners.  Each of the 
investigators is aware of and accepts a self-established level 
of risk for mission success.  However, crew and orbiter safety 
requirements are always fully met.

     Some of the payloads associated with this SPACELAB flight 
are physically located in the orbiter middeck.  The middeck 
space that makes this possible is made available by 
accommodating in the SPACEHAB module other items such as 
supplies that are normally stowed in the middeck.  This 
operational approach best provides for the late installation 
and early retrieval of payloads with time critical requirements 
such as perishable samples.  These payhloads remain in the 
middeck throughout the flight in order to reduce the use of 
critical on-orbit crew time in moving materials from one 
location to another.  The actual relocation of payloads on-
orbit would also introduce undesirable operational risks.

     The preparations for the flight of SPACEHAB-2 have 
included the development of a number of backup and contingency 
operations for each payload appropriate to that payload's 
relative design simplicity.  These backup procedures include 
scenarios which might possibly affect crew or orbiter safety, 
and each payload has procedures associated with it that will 
deactivate and/or safe the payload.  Shuttle crew members are 
trained in the use of these procedures.


The SPACEHAB-2 Payload Complement

     The second voyage of the SPACEHAB Space Research 
Laboratory will contain 12 payloads conducted under the CMAM 
contract.  Like SPACEHAB-1, SPACEHAB-2 payloads represent a 
wide range of space experimentation including 9 commercial 
development of space experiments in materials processing and 
biotechnology, sponsored by five NASA Centers for the 
Commercial Development of Space (CCDS).  There are also three 
supporting hardware and technology development payloads, one 
from a CCDS, one from the Lewis Research Center, and one from 
the Johnson Space Center.  One non-NASA experiment is also on 
this flight.  It is attached to the exterior of the module and 
will collect cosmic dust and debris.

     SPACEHAB-2 will carry seven biotechnology experiments.  
These experiments range from improving drugs to feeding plants, 
from splitting cells to studying the immune system disorders.  
Two materials processing experiments use furnaces to study 
sintering of metals and the growth of crystals by vapor 
transport.  The third concentration of experiments is in 
supporting hardware, with two payloads designed to obtain data 
on the low-gravity environment of this SPACEHAB flight, to 
support data analysis of the other investigations, and to 
further characterize SPACEHAB as a carrier for microgravity 
experiments.

     The 12th payload will provide a test and demonstration of 
technology developed by NASA to support space flight activities 
with refrigerator/freezer capability requirements such as life 
sciences and biotechnology.

     Each of the commercial development of space payloads has 
been screened by the NASA Office of Advanced Concepts and 
Technology (OACT) to review the viability of the commercial 
aspects of the proposed activity as well as the technical 
soundness.  Most of the SPACEHAB-2 payloads have flown on the 
Shuttle before, with this flight representing the continuation 
of industry-driven research toward a new or improved commercial 
end product or process.  Some of the CCDS payloads, including 
the CCDS-sponsored accelerometer, have participated in the NASA 
OACT Consort series of suborbital sounding rocket flights to 
test hardware operation and gain flight worthiness.


NASA Centers for the Commercial Development of Space

     The Centers for the Commercial Development of Space (CCDS) 
program is the cornerstone of NASA's commercial development of 
space activities, generating 10 of the total of 12 flight 
hardware packages for which NASA is leasing services on the 
flight of SPACEHAB-2.  NASA's nationwide CCDS network 
represents a unique example of how government, industry and 
academic institutions can create partnerships that combine 
resources and talents to strengthen America's industrial 
competitiveness.  The CCDS's are designed to increase private 
sector participation and investment in commercial space-related 
activities, while encouraging U.S. economic leadership and 
stimulating advances in promising areas of research and 
development. The CCDS's are based at universities and research 
institutions across the country and benefit from links with 
their industrial partners, each other and with NASA field 
centers.

     The CCDS's foster industry-driven, space-based, high-
technology research in areas such as: materials processing, 
biotechnology, remote sensing, communications, automation and 
robotics, and space power.

     NASA OACT provides annual funding of up to $1 million to 
each center, with additional funding to those centers to cover 
specific programs or flight activities, as appropriate.  NASA 
offers the CCDS's its scientific and technical expertise 
through NASA field centers, opportunities for cooperative 
activities and other forms of continuing assistance.  A key 
facet of the CCDSs is the additional financial and in-kind 
contributions and capabilities from industry affiliates, state 
and other government agencies, which, on the average, exceed 
the NASA funding level.

     Through creative and enterprising partnerships with 
industry, the CCDS program helps move emerging technologies 
from the laboratory to the marketplace with speed and 
efficiency.  The accomplishments of CCDS participants include 
significant advances in a number of scientific fields and 
hundreds of Earth- and space-based applications.  As an 
incubator for future commercial space industries, the CCDS 
program, since its inception, has facilitated a number of new 
commercial space ventures and supported a wide range of ongoing 
efforts.

     The CCDS program continues to be the key facilitator for 
U.S. industry involvement in commercial development of space 
activities, encouraging and supporting new and ongoing space-
related ventures, as well as spawning research and development 
advancements that promise enormous social and economic benefits 
for all.


Equipment for Controlled Liquid Phase Sintering Experiments

     The Consortium for Materials Development in Space (CMDS) 
based at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) has 
developed the Equipment for Controlled Liquid Phase Sintering 
Experiments (ECLiPSE).  Wyle Laboratories supported the 
development of ECLiPSE which flew successfully on STS-57 
SPACEHAB-01.  This furnace was developed in a very rapid and 
cost-effective manner.  ECLiPSE is now available as space-
qualified hardware and is a key part of this nation's 
commercial space infrastructure.

     On STS-60, the SPACEHAB-2 ECLiPSE experiment investigates 
the Liquid Phase Sintering (LPS) of metallic systems.  
Sintering is a well-characterized process by which metallic 
powders are consolidated into a metal at temperatures only 50% 
of that required to melt all of the constituent phases.  In 
LPS, a liquid coexists with the solid, which can produce 
sedimentation, thus producing materials that lack homogeneity 
and dimensional stability.  To control sedimentation effects, 
manufacturers limit the volume of the liquid.  The ECLiPSE 
experiment examines metallic composites at or above the liquid 
volume limit to more fully understand the processes taking 
place and to produce materials that are dimensionally stable 
and homogeneous in the absence of gravity.

     The ECLiPSE project is focused on composites of hard 
metals in a tough metal matrix.  This composite will have the 
excellent wearing properties of the hard material and the 
strength of the tough material.  Applications of such a 
composite include stronger, lighter, more durable metals for 
bearings, cutting tools, electrical brushes, contact points and 
irregularly shaped mechanical parts for high stress 
environments. Kennametal, Inc., is an industry partner of the 
UAH CMDS participating in the ECLiPSE experiment and has 
immediate applications for material improvements in the ceramic 
composites tested.  Kennametal, one of the nation's largest 
cutting tool manufacturers, is developing stronger, more 
durable tool bits and cutting edges. Other industry partners on 
the ECLiPSE project are Wyle Laboratories, Automatic Switch 
Company, Parker Hannifin Corporation, and Machined Ceramics.

     Preparation of the ECLiPSE payload begins with the 
compaction of two or more metal powders under high pressure 
(11.2 tons/sq. in.) to form a composite.  Once compacted, the 
composites are cleaned and installed into the ECLiPSE high 
temperature furnace for flight.  A Wyle Laboratories-designed 
Universal Small Experiment Container (USEC) will house the 
furnace assembly within the SPACEHAB Space Research Laboratory 
rack.  In operation, the ECLiPSE payload is first evacuated, 
pressurized with argon gas and switched on by the crew.  The 
furnace then autonomously heats to a temperature in excess of 
2000{F, which is above the melting point of one of the metals 
in the composite samples.  The samples then undergo the 
rearrangement and solution re-precipitation stages of LPS.  The 
hardware performs purge, heat-up, processing, quench and cool 
down cycles.  The total time for all operations is slightly 
more than 10 hours.  

     ECLiPSE is mounted in a SPACEHAB single rack.  During on-
orbit operations, a crew member monitors the indicators on the 
front of the payload to show the health of the hardware and 
progress of the experiment through the operating cycles.  Once 
the unit has completed all cycles, a crew member connects a 
Payload General Support Computer (PGSC) to the ECLiPSE, 
downloads the data stored inside the ECLiPSE process control 
computer and then shuts down the experiment.
The Shuttle flight of the ECLiPSE payload is building on the 
experience of other ECLiPSE flights on suborbital rockets.  
Suborbital flights have provided 1-3 minutes of sample 
processing time and now the longer flight durations possible on 
the Shuttle are required.  Because the hardware was originally 
designed to fly in suborbital rockets, it is very automated, 
requiring little crew interaction.

     Principal Investigator for ECLiPSE is Dr. James E. Smith, 
Jr., Associate Professor and Chairman, Department of Chemical 
and Materials Engineering, The University of Alabama in 
Huntsville.

Space Experiment Furnace

     The Space Experiment Furnace (SEF) is a space flight 
furnace system managed by the Consortium for Materials 
Development in Space (CMDS) based at the University of Alabama 
in Huntsville (UAH).  The SEF was manufactured by Boeing 
Commercial Space Development Company, Seattle, WA, and is 
similar to Boeing's Crystals by Vapor Transport Experiment 
(CVTE) furnace which flew in October 1992 on STS-52.

     The initial objective of the SEF project was to provide a 
vapor transport crystal growth furnace for use by the CCDS's.  
The SEF system has the capability to carry one, two or three 
separate furnaces at one time and has room for two samples in 
each furnace, for a total of up to six samples.  The CVTE was 
designed as a middeck facility while the SEF has been adapted 
for flight in the SPACEHAB Space Research Laboratory and is 
mounted in a SPACEHAB single rack.  This is the first flight of 
the SEF.


     The SEF has two transparent furnaces available for 
operations at various temperatures up to approximately 900<C, 
but only one of these will be flown and used aboard SPACEHAB-2.  
The third furnace has an opaque core design that allows it to 
reach temperatures up to 1080<C to satisfy higher temperature 
requirements.

     The SEF differs from UAH's other furnace, ECLiPSE, in 
several ways.  First, the SEF can process different types of 
crystals, notably crystals grown from vapor.  Second, the 
furnace will process the samples in transparent ampoules that 
can be monitored by the crew and adjusted to optimize crystal 
growth.  Third, the sample ampoules can be translated within 
the furnace to control the applied temperature gradients.  And, 
fourth, while the opaque furnace can be used for metal and 
alloy processes, such as liquid metal sintering, it can provide 
temperature gradients as compared to the isothermal 
characteristics of ECLiPSE.

     Thus, although the original CVTE furnace was designed to 
process crystals, SEF operations are not being restricted to 
crystal growth.  For instance, on SPACEHAB-2, UAH will be using 
the opaque core for its Sintered and Alloyed Materials project.  
The Consortium for Commercial Crystal Growth at Clarkson 
University, another CCDS, will use a transparent furnace for 
growth of Cadmium Telluride crystals using vapor transport 
techniques.

     The industry affiliates involved in designing, 
fabricating, and integrating the SEF for SPACEHAB-2 flight are: 
Boeing Commercial Space Development Company, Seattle, WA; 
McDonnell Douglas Aerospace - Huntsville, Huntsville, AL; and 
Wyle Laboratories, Huntsville, AL.

     The Principal Investigator for the UAH/CMDS Sintered and 
Alloyed Materials project which will use the opaque core 
furnace in the SEF for SPACEHAB-2 is Dr. James E. Smith, Jr., 
Associate Professor and Chairman, Department of Chemical and 
Materials Engineering, The University of Alabama in Huntsville.  
Dr. Smith is also the P.I. of the ECLiPSE furnace experiment 
which will be flying on SPACEHAB-2.  The Principal Investigator 
for the Clarkson-sponsored Cadmium Telluride activity is 
Professor Herbert Wiedemeier of Rensselaer Polytechnic 
Institute.


GRAPHIC


ASTROCULTURE*

     The ASTROCULTURE* payload is sponsored by the Wisconsin 
Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR), a NASA Center 
for the Commercial Development of Space (CCDS), located at the 
University of Wisconsin in Madison.

     Extended space ventures that involve human presence will 
require safe and reliable life support at a reasonable cost.  
Plants play a vital role in the life support system we have 
here on Earth.  Likewise, we can expect that plants will be a 
critically important part of a life support system in space 
because they can be a source of food while providing a means of 
purifying air and water for humans.  Currently, no satisfactory 
plant-growing unit is available to support long-term plant 
growth in space. Several industry affiliates including 
Automated Agriculture Assoc., Inc., Dodgeville, WI; Biotronics 
Technologies, Inc., Waukesha, WI; Orbital Technologies Corp., 
Madison, WI; and Quantum Devices, Inc., Barneveld, WI, together 
with WCSAR have embarked on a cooperative program to develop 
the technologies needed for growing plants in a space 
environment.

     The objective of the ASTROCULTURE* (ASC) series of flight 
experiments is to validate the performance of plant growth 
technologies in the microgravity environment of space.  Each of 
the flight experiments will involve the incremental addition of 
important subsystems required to provide the necessary 
environmental control for plant growth. The flight hardware is 
based on commercially available components, thereby 
significantly reducing the cost of the hardware.  The 
information from these flight experiments will become the basis 
for developing large scale plant growing units required in a 
life support system.  In addition, these technologies will also 
have extensive uses on Earth, such as improved 
dehumidification/humidification units, water-efficient 
irrigation systems, and energy-efficient lighting systems for 
plant growth.

     The ASC-1 flight experiment, conducted during the USML-1 
mission on STS-50, evaluated the WCSAR concept for providing 
water and nutrients to plants.  The ASC-2 flight experiment, 
conducted during the SPACEHAB-01 mission on STS-57, provided 
additional data on the water and nutrient delivery concept, 
plus an evaluation of the light emitting diode (LED) based 
plant lighting concept.  Results from both these flight 
experiments indicate that all the goals were achieved and 
confirmed the validity of these concepts for use in space-based 
plant growing unit.

     The ASTROCULTURE* (ASC-3) flight experiment included in 
the SPACEHAB-2 mission is designed to validate a WCSAR 
developed concept for controlling temperature and humidity in a 
closed air loop of the plant growth chamber.  This unit is 
capable of both humidifying and dehumidifying the air and does 
not require a gas/liquid separator for recovery of the 
condensed water as do all other systems now being used for 
dehumidification in space.  This condensed water can be used as 
a source of cooking and drinking water.  Demonstration of the 
successful performance in space of this humidity and 
temperature control technology will represent a major advance 
in our ability to provide superior environmental control for 
plant growth in an inexpensive and reliable space flight 
package.


     The flight hardware for this mission is accommodated in a 
SPACEHAB locker located in the module and weighs approximately 
50 pounds.  The ASC-3 flight unit includes the water and 
nutrient delivery unit, the LED-based plant lighting unit, the 
temperature and humidity control unit, and a microprocessor 
unit for control and data acquisition functions. These 
subsystems, or units, provide essentially all the environmental 
regulation needed for plant growth.  It is expected that the 
next ASC flight experiment beyond SPACEHAB-2 will include 
plants as a test of the operational effectiveness of the units 
to support plant growth.

     The Principal Investigator on ASTROCULTURE* is Dr. 
Raymond J. Bula, WCSAR.


Penn State Biomodule

     The Penn State Biomodule (PSB) payload will test the 
hypothesis that exposure to near zero gravity (microgravity) 
can alter microbial gene expression in commercially useful 
ways.  The payload was developed by the Center for Cell 
Research (CCR), a NASA CCDS based at The Pennsylvania State 
University, and its commercial partner, Novo Nordisk Entotech, 
Inc.  Novo Nordisk Entotech, Inc., is located in Davis, 
California, and is part of Denmark-based Novo Nordisk A/S, a 
global company with diverse business anchored primarily in 
biotechnology, serving the health care, industrial and 
agricultural sectors.

     Novo Nordisk Entotech develops bioinsecticides, naturally 
occurring microbes that produce products that are toxic to 
certain insects, but are non-toxic to non-target pests, people 
and the environment.  The company is interested in determining 
if exposure to microgravity can enhance microbial expression, 
altering the growth, toxin production and potency of these 
environmentally friendly pest-control agents.

     The microbes scheduled to be tested aboard STS-60, 
Bacillus thuringiensis var. tenebrionis, are known to be 
specifically effective against the Colorado potato beetle. They 
will be carried in the Penn State Biomodule which is being used 
for the first time aboard the Shuttle.  The biomodule is a 
computer-controlled, fluid-transfer, mixing device developed by 
the Center for Cell Research.  It was flight tested and 
developed aboard the Consort sounding rocket series.

     Eight Biomodules, each containing eight microbial samples, 
will be housed in a sealed containment vessel within a 
Commercial Refrigeration/Incubation Module (CRIM) located in 
the middeck.  The containment vessel was also designed and 
developed by the Center for Cell Research in conjunction with 
Commercial Payloads, Inc., of St. Louis, MO.

     In its STS-60 configuration, the Biomodule needs no hands-
on attention from the astronauts.  The device automatically 
provides dynamic temperature regulation, three levels of liquid 
containment and the ability to add two different fluids to each 
sample at different time intervals during the spaceflight.


     To accelerate postflight data analyses, the CCR has 
developed a gel encapsulation procedure for bacteria that 
enables quick, efficient, automated, identification of microbes 
that display altered patterns of gene expression.  In this 
technique, individual bacteria are trapped inside tiny (30 
micron) gel beads.  Using fluorescent markers and a flow 
cytometer, the researchers can quantify bacterial growth and 
product formation within each individual bead.  In this way, 
altered bacteria that over- or under-produce insect toxins can 
be quickly identified, isolated and cultured as part of the 
postflight analysis.

     CCR scientific affiliates Dr. Zane Smilowitz, Penn State 
professor of entomology, and Dr. William McCarthy, Penn State 
associate professor of entomology, are co-principal 
investigators.  Penn State graduate student Bryan Severyn, an 
M.S. candidate in entomology, is assisting them.  Dr. Chi-Li 
Liu, Manager of Microbiology, is Entotech's representative.  
Dr. William W. Wilfinger is CCR Director of Physiological 
Testing and principal investigator on the gel encapsulation 
project.  Dr. W. C. Hymer is Director of the Center for Cell 
Research.  Dr. Pamela Marrone is President of Novo Nordisk 
Entotech, Inc.


BioServe Pilot Laboratory

     The BioServe Pilot Laboratory (BPL) is sponsored by 
BioServe Space Technologies, a NASA Center for the Commercial 
Development of Space (CCDS) based at the University of Colorado 
in Boulder.

     The BPL will play an important role in providing the 
commercial and scientific communities affordable access to 
space for material and life sciences research.  The main focus 
of the project is to provide a "first step" opportunity to 
companies interested in exploring materials processing and life 
science experiments in space. The notion behind the project is 
to allow industry a mechanism for entry level "proof of 
concept" flights.  Thus, the BPL is a crucial screening device 
for more complex, targeted space research and development 
activities.  

     The BPL payload has been designed to support 
investigations in a wide variety of life sciences areas with 
primary emphasis on cellular studies.  Following a successful 
flight on STS-57 SPACEHAB-01, this second BPL flight on 
SPACEHAB-2 consists of investigations on bacterial products and 
processes. 

     One investigation examines Rhizobium trifolii behavior in 
microgravity. Rhizobia are special bacteria that form a 
symbiotic relationship with certain plants. The bacteria infect 
the plants early in seedling development to form nodules on the 
plant roots.  The bacteria in these nodules derive nutritional 
support from the plant while in turn providing the plant with 
nitrogen fixed from the air.  Plants that form such 
relationships with rhizobia are called legumes and include 
alfalfa, clover and soybean. Such plants do not require 
synthetic fertilizers to grow.  In contrast, many important 
crop plants such as wheat and corn are dependent on synthetic 
fertilizers since they do not form symbiotic relationships with 
rhizobia.


     The experimental system employing Rhizobium trifolii is a 
model that can be used to better understand the multi-step 
process associated with rhizobia infection of legumes.  Once 
understood, it may become possible to manipulate the process to 
cause infection of other crop plants.  The potential savings in 
fertilizer production would be tremendous.

     One of the commercial goals of the BioServe Center is to 
determine whether microgravity might be exploited as a tool for 
rhizobial infection of significant crop plants.  This BPL 
investigation along with complementary investigations in 
BioServe's Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA) 
also flying in the SPACEHAB Space Research Laboratory should 
provide data needed to address this goal.

     Another investigation being flown in the BPL concerns 
bacteria.

     E. Coli.  These bacteria are normally found in the 
gastrointestinal tracts of mammals, including humans.  E. Coli 
have been well studied as a model system for bacterial 
infection and population dynamics and in genetics research.  
With regard to commercial application, the genetic material in 
E. Coli has been manipulated to produce bacteria capable of 
secreting important pharmaceutical products.  These bacteria 
also serve as a model for bacteria used in waste treatment and 
water reclamation.

     For STS-60, these bacteria are being studied to determine 
changes in growth and behavior that occur as a consequence of 
exposure to microgravity.  The commercial objectives for this 
investigation include understanding and controlling bacterial 
infection in closed environments, exploiting bacteria and other 
micro-organisms in the development of ecological life support 
systems and waste management, and determining the opportunity 
for enhanced genetic engineering and enhanced pharmaceutical 
production using bacterial systems.

     Yet another BPL investigation examines a biomedical test 
model based on cells derived from frog kidney.  This 
investigation is intended to provide insight into effects of 
microgravity on cell behavior -- especially cell division.  
Gravitational effects on such cell systems may be used as 
models of diseases or disorders that occur on Earth. For STS-
60, the kidney cell system is being examined to determine 
feasibility for use as such a test model.

     On STS-60, the BPL will consist of 40 Bioprocessing 
Modules (BPMs) stowed in a standard middeck locker.  The BPMs 
will contain the biological sample materials.  The stowage 
locker will also contain an Ambient Temperature Recorder (ATR) 
which will provide a temperature history of the payload 
throughout the mission.

     Each BPM consists of three syringes held together on an 
aluminum tray. Generally, the center syringe in each BPM will 
be loaded with the cell culture system. Adjacent syringes will 
contain process initiation and termination fluids, 
respectively.  A three-way valve is mounted on the trays which 
permits fluid transfer from one syringe to the next.  The 
syringes, valve tubing and fittings provide for containment of 
the sample materials.  The hardware is further enclosed in 
heat-sealed plastic bags to provide additional levels of 
containment.


     Some of the BPMs will be fitted with a special filter at 
the front of the center syringe.  This filter allows fluids, 
but not cells, to pass in and out of the center syringe. With 
these special BPMs, products secreted by the cells under study 
can be separated from the cells on orbit and preserved, without 
the need for a fixative that would damage the secreted 
products.

     Approximately 26 hours after reaching orbit, a crew member 
will initiate the various investigations within the BPMs.  
Typically, this is done by removing each BPM from stowage, 
turning the three-way valve and pushing a syringe plunger to 
transfer the initiation solution into the center syringe.  

     The BPMs will be terminated at predetermined time points 
throughout the mission.  Similar to initiation, the three-way 
valve is turned and the plunger on the center syringe is pushed 
to transfer cell materials into the termination solution.  In 
some instances, only part of the contents of the center syringe 
will be transferred. This will effectively produce two samples 
for analysis, one that is terminated and another that continues 
to develop during the balance of operations.

     For most of the investigations, simultaneous ground 
controls will be run.  Using similar hardware and identical 
sample fluids, ground personnel will activate and terminate 
BPMs in parallel with the flight crew.  Synchronization will be 
accomplished based on voice downlink from the crew.  Ground 
controls will be conducted at the SPACEHAB Payload Processing 
Facility at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

     After the orbiter has landed, the stowage locker 
containing the BPMs will be turned over to BioServe personnel 
for deintegration.  Some sample processing will be performed at 
the landing site.  However, most BPMs will be shipped or hand-
carried back to the sponsoring laboratories for detailed 
analysis.

     Dr. Marvin Luttges, Director of the BioServe CCDS, is 
Program Manager.  Drs. Louis Stodieck and Michael Robinson, 
also of BioServe, are responsible for mission management.


Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus

     The Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA) 
payload is sponsored by BioServe Space Technologies, a NASA 
Center for the Commercial Development of Space (CCDS), located 
at the University of Colorado, Boulder.  The purpose of the 
CGBA is to allow a wide variety of sophisticated biomaterials, 
life sciences and biotechnology investigations to be performed 
in one device in the low gravity environment of space. 

     During the STS-60 mission, the CGBA will support 32 
separate commercial investigations, which can be classified in 
three application areas:  biomedical testing and drug 
development, controlled ecological life support system (CELSS) 
development and agricultural development and manufacture of 
biological-based materials.  These areas and investigations are 
shown in the following three tables.


     Biomedical Testing and Drug Development -- To collect 
information on how microgravity affects biological organisms, 
the CGBA will include twelve biomedical test models.  Of the 
twelve test models, four are related to immune disorders:  one 
will investigate the process in which certain cells engulf and 
destroy foreign materials (phagocytosis); another will study 
bone marrow cell cultures; two others will study the ability of 
the immune system to respond to infectious-type materials 
(lymphocyte and T-cell induction); and one will investigate the 
ability of immune cells to kill infectious cells (TNF-Mediated 
Cytotoxicity).

     The other eight test models -- Which are related to bone 
and developmental disorders, toxicological wound healing, 
cancer and cellular disorders -- will investigate bone tissue, 
miniature wasp development testing, brine shrimp development, 
inhibition of cell division processes, stimulation of cell 
division processes and the ability of protein channels to pass 
materials through cell membranes.

     Test model results will provide information to better 
understand diseases and disorders that affect human health, 
including cancer, osteoporosis and AIDS.  In the future, these 
models may be used for the development and testing of new drugs 
to treat these diseases.

     Closed Agricultural Systems Development -- To gain 
knowledge on how microgravity affects micro-organisms, small 
animal systems, algae and higher plant life, the CGBA will 
include 11 ecological test systems.  One of the test systems 
will examine miniature wasp development.  Five separate studies 
will concern seed germination and seedling processes related to 
CELSS development.  Another four test systems will investigate 
bacterial products and processes and bacterial colonies for 
waste management applications.  Finally, another system will 
study new materials to control build-up of unwanted bacteria 
and other micro-organisms.

     Test system results will provide research information with 
many commercial applications.  For example, evaluating higher 
plant growth in microgravity could lead to new commercial 
opportunities in controlled agriculture applications.  Test 
systems that alter micro-organisms or animal cells to produce 
important pharmaceuticals could later be returned to Earth for 
large-scale production.  Similarly, it may be possible to 
manipulate agricultural materials to produce valuable seed 
stocks.

     Biomaterials Products and Processes -- The CGBA also will 
be used to investigate nine different biomaterials products and 
processes.  Two investigations will attempt to grow large 
protein and RNA crystals to yield information for use in 
commercial drug development.  A third investigation will 
evaluate the assembly of virus shells for use in a 
commercially-developed drug delivery system.  Two other 
investigations will use fibrin clot materials and collagen as a 
model of potentially implantable materials that could be 
developed commercially as replacements for skin, tendons, blood 
vessels and even cornea.  Three investigations will focus on 
drug development.  One will be using plant tissue cultures to 
create the anti-cancer drug taxol.  The second will be looking 
at the bacteria E. Coli and its resistance to drugs in 
microgravity.  The third investigation will be looking at yeast 
reproduction as a drug production process.


     Results from the 32 investigations will be carefully 
considered in determining subsequent steps toward 
commercialization.  STS-60 marks the fourth of six CGBA 
flights.  Future flights will continue to focus on selecting 
and developing investigations that show the greatest commercial 
potential.

     The CGBA consists of 432 Fluids Processing Apparatuses 
(FPAs) packaged in 54 Group Activation Packs (GAPs).  Each GAP 
will house eight FPAs.  The FPAs will contain biological sample 
materials which are mixed on-orbit to begin and end an 
experiment.  Individual experiments will use two to 24 FPAs 
each.  192 FPAs in 24 GAPs will be stored in the SPACEHAB Space 
Research Laboratory in two standard stowage lockers; these 
samples are less time critical than the others with regard to 
installation or retrieval.  240 FPAs in 30 GAPs will be stored 
on the middeck of the orbiter in 3 standard stowage lockers or 
locker equivalents.  144 FPAs will be kept at a temperature of 
37{C throughout the mission, while 288 FPAs will be kept at 
ambient temperature.  Those lockers containing FPA at ambient 
temperature will also contain ambient temperature records 
(ATRs) which will provide a temperature history of the payload 
throughout the mission.  

     Fluids Processing Apparatus (FPA) -- Sample materials are 
contained inside a glass barrel that has rubber stoppers to 
separate three chambers.  For each investigation, the chambers 
will contain precursor, initiation and termination fluids, 
respectively.  The loaded glass barrel will be assembled into a 
plastic sheath that protects the glass from breakage and serves 
as a second level of sample fluid containment.  

     The FPAs are operated by a plunger mechanism that will be 
depressed on-orbit, causing the chambers of precursor fluid and 
the stoppers to move forward inside the glass barrel.  When a 
specific stopper reaches an indentation in the glass barrel, 
initiation fluid from the second chamber is injected into the 
first chamber, activating the biological process.  

     Once processing is complete, the plunger will again be 
depressed until the termination fluid in the third chamber is 
injected across the bypass in the glass barrel into the first 
chamber.

     Group Activation Packs (GAP) -- The GAP consists of a 4-
inch diameter plastic cylinder and two aluminum endcaps.  Eight 
FPAs will be contained around the inside circumference of the 
GAP cylinder.  A crank mechanism extends into one end of the 
GAP and attaches to a metal pressure plate.  By rotating the 
crank, the plate will advance and depress the eight FPA 
plungers simultaneously, significantly facilitating crew 
handling of the FPAs.

     Upon reaching orbit, the crew will initiate the various 
investigations by attaching a crank handle to each GAP.  
Turning the crank will cause an internal plate to advance and 
push the plungers on the contained FPAs.  This action, in turn, 
causes the fluids in the forward chambers of each FPA to mix.  
Most of the GAPs will be activated on the second flight day.


     The crew will terminate the investigations in a manner 
similar to activation. Attaching and turning the GAP crank will 
cause further depression of the FPA plungers which will cause 
the fluid in the rear chamber to mix with the processed 
biological materials.  This fluid will typically stop the 
process or "fix" the sample for return to Earth in a preserved 
state.  Each of the 54 GAPs will be terminated at different 
time points during the mission.  In this manner, sample 
materials can be processed from as little as one hour to nearly 
the whole mission duration.

     For most of the investigations, simultaneous ground 
controls will be run.  Using identical hardware and samples 
fluids and materials, ground personnel will activate and 
terminate FPAs in parallel with the flight crew.  
Synchronization will be accomplished based on indications from 
the crew as to when specific GAPs are operated.  A temperature-
controlled environment at the SPACEHAB Payload Processing 
Facility (SPPF), Cape Canaveral, Fla., will be used to 
duplicate flight conditions.

     After the orbiter has landed, the stowage lockers will be 
retrieved and turned over to BioServe personnel for 
deintegration.  Some sample processing will be performed at the 
SPPF; however, most FPAs will be shipped or hand-carried back 
to the sponsoring laboratories for detailed analysis.

     Dr. Marvin Luttges, Director of the BioServe CCDS, is 
program manager for CGBA.  Drs. Louis Stodieck and Michael 
Robinson, also of BioServe, are responsible for mission 
management.



GRAPHIC



GRAPHIC



GRAPHIC



GRAPHIC



GRAPHIC



GRAPHIC


GRAPHIC


GRAPHIC

IMMUNE-1

     The IMMUNE-1 experiment is a middeck payload sponsored by 
BioServe Space Technologies.  BioServe is a NASA Center for the 
Commercial Development of Space (CCDS) at the University of 
Colorado, Boulder, and Kansas State University, Manhattan.  The 
corporate affiliate leading the IMMUNE-1 investigation is 
Chiron Corporation, Emeryville, Calif., with NASA's Ames 
Research Center, Mountain View, Calif., providing payload and 
mission integration support.

     The goal of IMMUNE-1 is to reduce or prevent the changes 
seen in the immune system of rats after space flight.  The 
experiment may provide a new therapy to treat the effects of 
space flight on the human immune system, as well as on 
physiological systems affected by the immune system.

     Hardware for the IMMUNE-1 experiment consists of two 
Commercial Animal Enclosure Modules (CAEMs).  The CAEM is a 
copy of the Animal Enclosure Module (AEM) developed by the Ames 
Research Center.  The CAEM provides life support for the rats.  

     IMMUNE-1 is the second experiment to use the CAEM in 
support of activities to develop the commercial uses of space.  
(The first was the Physiological Systems Experiment, conducted 
with the Center for Cell Research, another NASA CCDS.)  The AEM 
has a considerable successful flight history in support of 
other NASA investigations.  

     Each of the two CAEMs in the Shuttle's middeck area will 
hold six rats.  Six of the rats will be treated pre-flight with 
a prescribed dosage of a compound similar to the commercially 
available recombinant Interleukin-2, which is known to 
stimulate the immune system.  The compound used in IMMUNE-1 -- 
polyethylene glycol-modified recombinant human Interleukin-2 
(PEG-IL-2) -- is longer-lasting than recombinant Interleukin-2.  
It will be used in an attempt to reduce or prevent the 
suppression of the immune system seen in rats flown in space.  
The other six rats will receive a placebo.  

     The rats will live in an environment similar to that of 
the astronauts in terms of launch stress, length of exposure to 
microgravity, and the forces of Shuttle re-entry and recovery.  
These conditions are known to result in a suppression of the 
immune system similar to "shipping fever" in cattle.  The 
utility of PEG-IL-2 in preventing spaceflight-induced effects 
on the immune system may lead to its use as a therapeutic 
treatment for shipping fever in animals on Earth.

     The longer-lasting PEG-IL-2 probably will be useful in 
clinical settings in which patients could receive less frequent 
injections, perhaps once a week instead of up to three times a 
day, as is necessary with recombinant IL-2.  The development of 
recombinant IL-2 for treatment of some human cancers is still 
being investigated, although it is licensed for high-dose 
therapy of kidney cancer in humans.

     Based on recent experimental findings, PEG-IL-2 (and 
recombinant IL-2) appears to have potential as an antiviral, as 
well as an antibacterial, agent.  As such, PEG-IL-2 may become 
a part of a therapy used to treat various opportunistic 
infections associated with AIDS and other non-AIDS related 
infectious diseases.

     It also may become part of a standard treatment for the 
nation's aging population, because aging individuals 
demonstrate decreased levels of Interleukin-2.  The PEG-IL-2 
treatment could accompany flu shots to bolster the immune 
system of the elderly.  These important applications present 
exciting commercial opportunities for Chiron Corp.

     The science team will be led by principal investigator Dr. 
Robert Zimmerman of Chiron Corp.  Co-principal investigators 
are Drs. Marvin Luttges and Keith Chapes of BioServe and Dr. 
Gerald Sonnenfield of the Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, 
N.C.  Other investigators include Drs. Richard Gerren, Steven 
Simske and Louis Stodieck, BioServe; Ed Miller, Harrington 
Cancer Center/Texas Tech University, Amarillo, Texas; and Jason 
Armstrong and Mary Fleet, BioServe.

Organic Separations

     The Consortium for Materials Development in Space (CMDS) 
based at the University of Alabama in Huntsville has developed 
the Organic Separations (ORSEP) payload for flight on STS-60.

     ORSEP offers the commercial and scientific communities the 
opportunity to separate cells and particles based on their 
surface properties using a process known as counter current 
phase partitioning.  Such separations cannot be carried to 
equilibrium on Earth because sedimentation influences the 
separation before partitioning equilibrium can be established.  
It is hoped that equilibrium separations will produce 
subpopulations with nearly identical surface properties rather 
than with some contamination of surface and density that is 
presently the case with Earth-based users.  The potential 
commercial value of separations includes the opportunity to 
identify subpopulations, to study the purified samples and to 
culture cell subpopulations for cell product.

     The ORSEP hardware was built by Space Hardware 
Optimization Technology (SHOT), Inc. Floyd Knobs, Ind.  It is 
considerably lower cost than existing phase partitioning 
devices, and SHOT may be able to capture a good portion of the 
commercial market on Earth.  The hardware is a modular design 
which can be configured for use with Shuttle middeck, Spacelab, 
the SPACEHAB Space Research Laboratory, and sounding rockets.  
On this flight, ORSEP will be accommodated in a standard-sized 
locker located in the module.


     It is a multi-sample, multi-step, fully automated device 
that separates non-biological particles, as well as biological 
cells, particles, macromolecular assemblies and organelles in 
low gravity via partitioning in liquid polymer two-phase 
systems.  The hardware has been designed to perform 
partitioning in microgravity for a long duration because two to 
three hours are required for each separation step.  Commercial 
interests were factored into the hardware design in its multi-
sample capability that offers temperature control and 
sterility.  On STS-60, the SPACEHAB Space Research Laboratory 
makes available continuous power, which allows for constant 
heating/cooling for the experiment while the vacuum of space 
provides thermal insulation. As a result of these design 
features, four samples can be processed through 12 steps while 
being held at selected temperatures in a sterile environment.

     The samples that will be processed on STS-60 in the ORSEP 
apparatus include growth hormone vesicles supplied by the Penn 
State Center for Cell Research along with inert particles for 
equilibration and diagnostics.  On STS-60, a new use for the 
ORSEP hardware as a low-gravity cell culturing facility will be 
demonstrated.  The ability of the ORSEP hardware to mix a 
culture medium with various activators and fixture agents in a 
controlled manner offers several unique advantages over other 
flight-qualified cell culturing hardware.  Lymphocytes and 
bone-marrow cells will be provided by Dr. Marian Lewis at UAH.  
ORSEP has flown on 9 prior Shuttle missions and two suborbital 
flights as a part of its development.  The UAH CMDS plans to 
continue development of ORSEP on additional suborbital rocket 
flights and SPACEHAB missions.

     ORSEP is designed to be capable of fully-automated 
operations but it relies on crew interaction to maximize its 
results. Full function digital display and interaction controls 
allow the crew to monitor and control the vacuum which will 
modifie the temperature of the experiment.  The crew can also 
control both the initiation and operation of the four 
experiments which provide for potential variations in mission 
operations.   The next planned generation of ORSEP is to be 
designed for use on space station. New samples in sterile 
cassette devices will be launched in the Shuttle.

     The principal investigator of ORSEP is Dr. Robert J. 
Naumann, University of Alabama in Huntsville.


Commercial Protein Crystal Growth

     The Center for Macromolecular Crystallography (CMC), based 
at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB), is sponsoring 
Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG) experiments on STS-60.  
The CMC is a NASA Center for the Commercial Development of 
Space (CCDS), which forms a bridge between NASA and private 
industry to stimulate biotechnology research for growing 
protein crystals in space and offers other protein 
crystallography services to a wide range of pharmaceutical, 
chemical and biotechnology companies. 

     The objective of space-based protein crystal growth 
experiments on STS-60 SPACEHAB-2 is to produce large, well-
ordered crystals of various proteins.  These crystals are to be 
used in ground-based studies to determine the three-dimensional 
structures of the proteins.  These experiments also continue to 
investigate how to control and optimize protein crystal growth 
in order to reduce uncertainties or risks associated with using 
this space-based process as a vital and enabling technology for 
many critical areas.  The SPACEHAB-01 protein crystal growth 
experiments were extremely successful.  Three of the seven 
proteins flown produced superior data when compared to the very 
best crystals ever obtained by Earth-grown methods using any 
other method of crystallization.

     The technique most-widely used to determine a protein's 
three-dimensional structure is X-ray crystallography, which 
requires large, well-ordered crystals for analysis.  Crystals 
produced on Earth often are large enough to study, but they 
usually have numerous gravity-induced flaws.  However, space-
produced crystals tend to have more highly-ordered structures 
that significantly facilitate X-ray diffraction studies.

     Since proteins play an important role in everyday life -- 
from providing nourishment to fighting diseases -- research in 
this area is quickly becoming a viable commercial industry.  
Scientists need large, well-ordered crystals to study the 
structure of a protein and to learn how its structure 
determines a protein's functions.

     Studies of such crystals not only can provide information 
on basic biological processes, but they may lead to the 
development of food with higher protein content, the production 
of highly resistant crops and, of great importance, the 
development of more effective drugs.  By studying the growth 
rates of crystals under different conditions, scientists can 
find ways to improve crystal growth in microgravity, thus 
providing higher-quality crystals for study and the ability to 
produce satisfactory protein crystals that are hard or 
impossible to grow on Earth.  For these reasons, the CMC will 
have conducted protein crystal growth experiments on 19 Shuttle 
missions after completion of STS-60.


Crystallization Facility Experiments

     The CPCG experiments are contained in two thermal control 
enclosures called Commercial Refrigerator/Incubator Modules 
(CRIM) both located in the middeck.  Each CRIM contains a 
Protein Crystallization Facility (PCF), and one has been 
modified with a light scattering (LS) system and is called 
PCFLS.

     The PCF has been successful in inducing crystallization of 
human insulin by lowering the temperature of one end of a 
cylindrical crystallization chamber from 40{C to 22{C over a 
period of 24 hours.  Since the rest of the chamber takes time 
to match the temperature of the controlled end, the crystals 
are formed within a temperature gradient.

     The light scattering system is designed to detect crystals 
at the nucleation stage, before they would be visible by 
ordinary microscopy.  The information is to be used to alert 
the astronauts of initial crystal formation.  After they know 
that crystals have formed they will decrease the rate at which 
the temperature of the controlled end is changing.  This will 
allow the crystals that have formed to grow more slowly and 
more perfectly in the weightlessness of space.

     The light scattering system consists of a laser beam from 
a laser diode delivered into the sample chamber and a photo 
detector viewing the beam from an angle of 30{.  As the protein 
molecules begin to collect into small nuclei, they become 
larger, hence more efficient, scattering particles, and the 
laser beam becomes brighter.  This principle is demonstrated 
when large dust particles appear brighter than small ones in a 
sunbeam shining through a household window.  The increased 
brightness is seen by the detector, and the information is sent 
to a Macintosh Powerbook computer.  This information is graphed 
on the screen of the Powerbook for the astronauts to view.

     The computer evaluates the scattering information and has 
an alarm that alerts the astronauts of crystal formation, but 
the astronauts must still evaluate the scattering curve to 
confirm that nucleation has actually occurred before modifying 
the rate of temperature change.  Human insulin is the protein 
to be crystallized in this flight of the PCFLS system.

     Due to each protein's short lifetime and the crystals' 
resulting instability, the protein crystal growth experiments 
will be retrieved within 3 hours of the Shuttle landing and 
will be returned to the CMC for post-flight analyses.  This 
early retrieval is made possible by the quick access to the 
SPACEHAB laboratory after landing.

     The CMC has flown over 50 different types of proteins in 
space, seeking protein structure data and techniques for 
predictable enhancement by growth in microgravity.  
Crystallographic analysis has revealed that on average 20% of 
proteins grown in space are superior to their Earth-grown 
counterparts.  As a result of advances made by the CMC in its 
microgravity crystallographic technologies, 40% of the proteins 
flown on the first United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-
1) mission in July 1992, yielded diffraction size crystals, 
several of which were superior to any previously grown on 
Earth.

     With continued research, the commercial applications 
developed using protein crystal growth have phenomenal 
potential, and the number of proteins that need study exceeds 
tens of thousands. Current research with the aid of 
pharmaceutical companies may lead to a whole new generation of 
drugs, which could be able to help treat diseases such as 
cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, periodontal disease, influenza, 
septic shock, emphysema, aging and AIDS.  These possibilities 
plus drugs and other products for agriculture, proteins for 
bioprocessing in manufacturing processes and waste management, 
and other biotechnical applications, represent critical 
capabilities for dealing with the future of our world.

     A number of companies are participating in the CMC's 
protein crystal growth projects including:  BioCryst 
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Eli Lilly & Co., Schering-Plough 
Research, Du Pont Merck Pharmaceuticals, Sterling Winthrop 
Inc., Eastman Kodak Co., The Upjohn Co., Smith Kline Beecham 
Pharmaceuticals, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  Principal 
Investigator for the STS-60 protein crystal growth experiments 
is Dr. Charles E. Bugg, Director of the CMC.


Three-Dimensional Microgravity Accelerometer 

     The Consortium for Materials Development in Space (CMDS), 
is sponsoring the Three-Dimensional Microgravity Accelerometer 
(3-DMA) on the STS-60 mission.  The CMDS is a NASA Center for 
the Commercial Development of Space (CCDS) based at the 
University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).

     The acceleration measurements system will help chart the 
effects of deviations of zero gravity on the experiments 
conducted in space.  The microgravity environment inside the 
SPACEHAB Space Research Laboratory will be measured in three 
dimensions by the 3-DMA at different locations, allowing 
researchers to review experiment results against deviations 
from zero gravity.  This information will be used to determine 
the degree of microgravity achieved inside the SPACEHAB Space 
Research Laboratory.  3-DMA will measure disturbances caused by 
operating various experiments in SPACEHAB and the residual 
microgravity resulting from orbiter rotational motions and by 
the resistance of extreme upper atmosphere fringes.  The 3-DMA 
experiment was successful on the SPACEHAB-01 STS-57 flight; all 
twelve accelerometers situated at four different locations 
worked well and continuously generated data.  All data desired 
for the technology development were obtained.

     The 3-DMA hardware consists of four accelerometer 
assemblies to be located in different parts of the SPACEHAB 
Space Research Laboratory.  The accelerometer package is 
comprised of three remotely located standard three-dimensional 
systems and three new invertible accelerometers in the central 
unit.  The signal processing system and the new, unique 
invertible feature permit measurements of absolute microgravity 
and low-level, quasi-steady, residual accelerations.  Those 
extremely low frequency disturbances are particularly 
detrimental to space processes such as crystal growth and have 
proven difficult to measure in the past.  The accelerometers 
provide the acceleration data to a central control unit located 
in a single locker.  The data are recorded in flight on three 
two-gigabyte magnetic hard drive devices.

     A potential application of 3-DMA would be to characterize 
the microgravity environment of space station in support of 
experiments, research and commercialization activities.
Principal Investigator for 3-DMA is Jan Bijvoet of the UAH 
CMDS.  

Space Acceleration Measurement System

     NASA's Microgravity Science and Applications Division at 
the Lewis Research Center is sponsoring the Space Acceleration 
Measurement System (SAMS) on the STS-60 mission.  The SAMS is 
designed to measure and record low-level accelerations during 
experiment operations. The signals from these sensors are 
amplified, filtered and converted to digital data before being 
stored on optical disks and sent via downlink to the ground 
control center.
SAMS has flown successfully on seven previous Shuttle flights 
and acquired nearly 15 gigabytes of data which represents 50 
days of operation.  Approximately two gigabytes of data will be 
acquired on the SPACEHAB-2 mission.

     The capacity of SAMS' double-sided optical disk used on 
Shuttle missions is 400 megabytes.  This compares to 
approximately 400 high density floppy disks, or forty standard 
boxes of ten disks.  All the data will fit on one optical disk 
measuring about 5 inches square.  

     Three sensors will be flown.  One sensor will measure the 
disturbances near an Environmental Control Support System.  
Another sensor will be located on the support structure of the 
SPACEHAB Space Research Laboratory.  The third sensor will be 
attached to a locker door to determine the level of 
disturbances experienced by experiments in the locker and 
nearby.  Data from all three sensors will be used to further 
characterize the SPACEHAB Space Research Laboratory 
microgravity environment.  SAMS data will be compared with data 
from the Three-Dimensional Microgravity Accelerometer (3-DMA.)

     Scientists may use the SAMS data in different ways, 
depending on the nature of the science experiment and the 
principal investigators' experience and ground-based testing 
results.  The principal investigators will typically look for 
acceleration events or conditions that exceed a threshold where 
the experiment results could be affected.  This may be, for 
example, a frequency versus amplitude condition, an energy 
content condition or simply an acceleration magnitude 
threshold.  Data from previous missions were used to 
characterize the Shuttle middeck and Spacelab microgravity 
environment, including disturbances caused by thruster firings 
and crew exercise with the treadmill and bicycle ergometer.

     SAMS flight hardware was designed and developed in-house 
by the NASA Lewis Research Center.  Ronald Sicker is the SAMS 
Project Manager and Richard Delombard is responsible for 
analyzing SAMS data.

     The flight of the Stirling Orbiter Refrigerator/Freezer 
(SOR/F) on SPACEHAB-2 is a demonstration to obtain necessary 
information and characterization about the operation of 
Stirling refrigerator/freezer technology in microgravity.  If 
proven successful, this technology will be targeted to replace 
the current vapor compression systems, which historically have 
had marginal reliability and lower theoretical efficiencies.

     The Stirling system in the SOR/F uses environmentally 
benign helium as a working fluid, has an easily variable 
capacity, a quick chill capacity, long life gas bearings, and a 
motor hermetically sealed within the fluid loop, thus avoiding 
leakage.

     Refrigerator/freezer technology for support of on-orbit 
investigations has been identified by the NASA Office of Life 
and Microgravity Sciences and Applications, the SOR/F sponsor, 
as one of its highest priority technologies for development.  
Since microgravity operation of the SOR/F Stirling unit has not 
been proven on orbit, this flight test requirement was 
established as a requirement before the unit can become 
operational.

     SOR/F is a system the size of two standard lockers and was 
developed under the auspices of the Life Sciences Project 
Division at the Johnson Space Center.  It weighs a total of 
nearly 100 pounds (97.8 kilograms) and consumes 50 watts of 
electricity at refrigerator conditions and 70 watts at freezer 
conditions, with cold set points ranging from -22<C to +10<C.  
The volume within the refrigerator/freezer unit is slightly 
less than one cubic foot.  

SAMPLE RETURN EXPERIMENT

Principal Investigator:  Peter Tsou, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Coinvestigator:  Donald E. Brownie, University of Washington

     The Sample Return Experiment sits on top of the Spacehab 
Module poised to capture intact cosmic dust particles as they 
come in contact with the 160 capture cells.  The capture cells 
consist of transparent silica aerogel with a density of 0.02/ 
g/cm3.  Silica aerogel is the lowest density known solid 
material and has extremely fine structure, about 50A.

     Cosmic dust particles come from other planetary bodies, 
remnants of the formation of our solar system, or materials of 
other stellar systems.  Capturing them allows detailed 
laboratory studies needed to gain understanding of their 
composition, type of cosmic processing and even the age.  The 
information will contribute to answering the questions 
pertaining to the origin and development of our solar system 
and life itself.  Along with the cosmic dust, space debris and 
other hypervelocity materials will be captured to provide 
detailed tracing of the sources of these other particles as 
well.



GET AWAY SPECIAL (GAS) PAYLOADS


     STS-60 is especially significant to the Get Away Special 
(GAS) program because Discovery will fly the 100th GAS payload 
since the program's inception.   NASA began flying small self-
contained payloads in 1982.  The program, managed by the 
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, Md., fully 
utilizes the Shuttle's capacity not used by major payloads.  It 
affords the average person a chance to perform small 
experiments in space.  The program enhances education with 
hands-on space research opportunities and generates new 
activities unique to space.  Customers also are able to 
inexpensively test ideas that could later grow into major space 
experiments.
 
     The first GAS payload reservation was purchased by R. 
Gilbert Moore.  Moore enthusiastically advocated the GAS 
program throughout aerospace circles.  Soon, others began 
depositing money for GAS payload reservations.  When Moore, a 
Martin Thiokol Corporation executive, donated the first GAS 
payload to Utah State University (USU), he presented USU 
students with a new world of hands-on space research.

     USU's first payload was very ambitious.  Students put ten 
experiments into a 5 cubic-foot  (.14 cubic-meter) GAS 
container.  One experiment grew successive generations of fruit 
flies to see if microgravity would affect their genetic 
structure.  Other tests examined the effects of microgravity on 
epoxy resin-graphite composite curing, brine shrimp genetics, 
duckweed root growth, soldering, homogeneous alloy formation, 
surface tension, growth rate of algae, and thermal conductivity 
of a water and oil mixture.

     From this first payload a scholarship program emerged in 
which undergraduate students could design and build experiments 
to be flown in GAS payloads.  Students have since generated 
payloads totaling numerous experiments, while assisting other 
universities and institutions with their GAS projects.  

     Since the program's early days, the GAS team at Goddard 
have relied on numerous NASA and contractor personnel at the 
Johnson and Kennedy Space Centers.  Without their active 
support, GAS payloads never would have left the ground.  GAS 
team members at Johnson helped establish simplified 
integration, operational, and safety documentation procedures.  
Personnel at Kennedy streamlined techniques and procedures for 
processing payloads from arrival at Kennedy to installation in 
the orbiters and from their postflight removal to their 
shipment back to the experimenters.  As well, Kennedy team 
members found a home for the GAS program on Cape Canaveral.

     An unusual feature of the GAS program is that 
experimenters are not required to furnish postflight reports to 
NASA.  NASA feels that GAS customers can best speak for their 
own experiments.  The payloads results can be reviewed in 
detail by obtaining papers presented by the experimenters at 
NASA's Get Away Special Experimenter's Symposiums.  

     To date, 97 payloads have flown on 19 Shuttle missions.  
STS-60 will fly four GAS experiments as well as three other 
payloads on the GAS bridge.  Clarke Prouty is GAS Mission 
Manager and Lawrence R. Thomas is Customer Support Manager for 
the Shuttle Small Payloads Project at Goddard.  The following 
is a brief description of the payloads that will fly on 
Discovery:


G-071  The Orbiter Ball Bearing Experiment 

Customer:  California State University, Northridge
Customer Manager:  Joan Yazejian
NASA Technical Manager:  Dave Peters

     A team of researchers from California State University, 
Northridge, have built an experiment apparatus called the OBBEX 
(Orbital Ball Bearing Experiment),  to test the effects of 
melting cylindrical metal pellets in microgravity.  If 
successful, this experiment may produce a new kind of ball 
bearing, which has never before been built.

     One of the goals of the OBBEX experiment is to create the 
world's first seamless, hollow ball bearing.   The hollow 
characteristic of the ball can improve the service-life rating 
of a ball bearing.  This permits higher speeds and higher load 
applications, and may reduce the friction encountered in normal 
operation.  

     The OBBEX is a self-contained package that provides its 
own energy needs and is controlled by an on-board computer.  
The system will be activated by one of the Space Shuttle's crew 
members at a pre-determined time during the flight, starting 
with a 90-minute process to melt several metal alloy pellets.  

G-514  The Orbiter Stability Experiment

Customer:  Dr. Werner Neupert
Customer Manager:  James Houston
NASA Technical Manager:  Charlie Knapp


     The primary scientific objective of this experiment is to 
measure the vibration spectrum of the orbiter structure that is 
present during normal orbiter and crew operations.    The 
information received as a result of this measurement is 
valuable for any fine-pointed optical instrument mounted in the 
orbiter bay, as even small orbiter disturbances, such as those 
that  may result from normal crew activity, could have an 
impact on the line-of-sight stability of sensitive optical 
systems.   The net effect is that the vibration spectrum acts 
as a low level acceleration spectrum that may influence 
experiments requiring a low gravity environment.  

     This primary experiment consists of rapid and accurate 
measurements of the direction of the Sun while the orbiter is 
oriented with the bay (-Z axis) pointed to the center of the 
Sun with a nominal deadband.   It also measures the effects of 
exposure to space environment on over-the-counter medicines and 
plant seeds.

     Piggy-backing on this experiment are:  Morgan State 
University, Baltimore,  Md., Howard University, Washington, 
D.C., and native-American high school students from South 
Dakota.  They are participants in the Scientific Knowledge for 
Indian Learning and Leadership (SKILL) program.

G-536 The Pool Boiling Experiment

Customer:  NASA Headquarters, Office of Space Science and 
Applications, Microgravity Sciences Division, Washington, D.C. 
Customer Manager:  Warren Hodges
NASA Technical Manager:  Tom Dixon, GSFC

     The Pool Boiling Experiment marks the 100th GAS payload to 
fly since the program's inception.  The objective of this 
experiment is to improve the understanding of the boiling 
process in microgravity.  This involves putting a pool of 
liquid in contact with a surface that can supply heat to the 
liquid.  The experiment will observe heating and vapor bubble 
dynamics associated with bubble growth/collapse and subsequent 
bubble motion.  The lack of gravity driven motion makes the 
boiling process easier to study in microgravity.

     This will be the third flight of this payload.  The two 
previous flights have been extremely successful.  The data in 
each flight have been used to improve the science return on the 
next flight.

G-557  The Capillary Pumped Loop Experiment

Customer:  The European Space Agency, The Netherlands
Customer Manager:  Dr. G. Reibaldi
NASA Technical Manager:  Rich Hoffman

     This experiment gives an in-orbit demonstration of the 
working principle and performances of a two-phase Capillary 
Pumped Loop (CPL), a two-phase Vapor Quality Sensor, and a two-
phase multi-channel Condenser Profile.  It also compares data 
on CPL behavior in a low-gravity environment with analytical 
predictions resulting from modeling and on-Earth performance.


The Capillary Pumped Loop (CAPL)

     The CAPL payload is sponsored by the Goddard Space Flight 
Center Earth Observing System project  and will fly as a 
Hitchhiker payload on the Space Shuttle.  The CAPL experiment 
will provide a microgravity test of a full sized prototype for 
a capillary pumped thermal control system.  This two-phase 
system utilizes an ammonia working fluid to transfer large 
amounts of heat over long distances at nearly constant 
temperature.  Capillary pumped systems will be used for thermal 
control on Earth Observing System satellites and other future 
missions.  


Orbital Debris Radar Calibration Spheres (ODERACS)

     ODERACS is a project of the Space Sciences Branch of the 
Solar System Exploration Division at the Johnson Space Center, 
Houston, Texas and NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.  This 
experiment deploys six spheres of three different sizes from 
the orbiter payload bay.  The spheres range in size from two to 
six inches in diameter (five to 15.2 centimeters).  The spheres 
will be observed, tracked, and recorded by ground-based radars 
and optical telescopes.  ODERACS enables end-to-end calibration 
of the radar facilities and data analysis systems.  This 
calibration is particularly geared toward the small debris size 
range.  Additionally, ODERACS enables the correlation of 
controlled empirical optical and radar debris signatures to the 
spheres which have physical dimensions, compositions, albedos, 
and electromagnetic scattering properties. 
  
The University of Bremen Satellite (BREMSAT)

     BREMSAT is a 140 lb (63 kilogram) small satellite built by 
the University of Bremen's Center of Applied Space Technology 
and Microgravity (ZARM) under sponsorship of the German Space 
Agency (DARA).  This 480 mm (19 inch) deployable satellite is 
contained in a GAS canister with a Standard Door Assembly and a 
modified GAS Carrier Ejection System.  BREMSAT performs the 
following scientific activities at various mission phases 
before and after satellite deployment:

       Measures heat conductivity.

       Measures residual acceleration forces by acceleration 
sensors to estimate the in-orbit microgravity quality onboard 
BREMSAT.

       Investigates the density distribution and dynamics of 
micrometeorites and dust particles in low-Earth orbit.

       Maps atomic oxygen.

      Measures the exchange of momentum and energy between the 
molecular flow and the rotating satellite.

       Measures pressure and temperature during satellite re-
entry.



GRAPHIC



GRAPHIC


Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX)

     Students in the U.S. and Russia will have a chance to 
speak via amateur radio with astronauts aboard the Space 
Shuttle Discovery during STS-60.  Ground-based amateur radio 
operators ("hams") will be able to contact the Shuttle through 
automated computer-to-computer amateur (packet) radio link.  
There also will be voice contacts with the general ham 
community as time permits.  

     Shuttle commander Charles Bolden (license pending) and 
mission specialists Ronald Sega (license pending) and Sergei K. 
Krikalev (call sign U5MIR) will talk with students in 5 schools 
in the U.S. and Russia using "ham radio."  

     Students in the following schools will have the 
opportunity to talk directly with orbiting astronauts for 
approximately 4 to 8 minutes:

    *  Boise Senior High School, Boise, Idaho (WA7QKD)
    *  Chariton High School, Chariton, Iowa  (KB0IWE)
    *  James Bean School, Sidney, Maine (N1IFP)
    *  Mars Area Middle School, Mars, Penn (N3HKN)
    *  House of Science and Technology for Youth,
       Central Moscow,  Russia (UA3CR)

     The radio contacts are part of the SAREX (Shuttle Amateur 
Radio EXperiment) project, a joint effort by NASA, the American 
Radio Relay League (ARRL), and the Radio Amateur Satellite 
Corporation (AMSAT) 

     The project, which has flown on 11 previous Shuttle 
missions, is designed to encourage public participation in the 
space program and support the conduct of educational 
initiatives through a program to demonstrate the effectiveness 
of communications between the Shuttle and low-cost ground 
stations using amateur radio voice and digital techniques.

     Information about orbital elements, contact times, 
frequencies and crew operating schedules will be available 
during the mission from NASA, ARRL (Steve Mansfield, 203/666-
1541) and AMSAT (Frank Bauer, 301/ 286-8496).  AMSAT will 
provide information bulletins for interested parties on 
INTERNET and amateur packet radio.

     The ham radio club at the Johnson Space Center, (W5RRR), 
will be operating on amateur short wave frequencies, and the 
ARRL station (W1AW) will include SAREX information in its 
regular voice and teletype bulletins.

     There will be a SAREX information desk during the mission 
in the Johnson Space Center newsroom.  Mission information will 
be available on the computer bulletin board (BBS).  To reach 
the bulletin board, use JSC BBS (8 N 1 1200 baud): dial 713-
483-2500, then type 62511.

     The amateur radio station at the Goddard Space Flight 
Center, (WA3NAN), will operate around the clock during the 
mission, providing  SAREX information and retransmitting live 
Shuttle air-to-ground audio.



STS-60 SAREX Frequencies

     Routine SAREX transmissions from the Space Shuttle may be 
monitored on a worldwide downlink frequency of 145.55 MHz.  

     The voice uplink frequencies are (except Europe):
          144.91 MHz
          144.93
          144.95
          144.97
          144.99

      The voice uplink frequencies for Europe only are:
          144.70
          144.75
          144.80

Note:   The astronauts will not favor any one of the above 
frequencies.  Therefore, the ability to talk with an astronaut 
depends on selecting one of the above frequencies chosen by the 
astronaut.

	The worldwide amateur packet frequencies are:

Packet downlink        145.55 MHz
Packet uplink          144.49 MHz

     The Goddard Space Flight Center amateur radio club planned 
HF operating frequencies: 

             .860 MHz      7.185 MHz
              4.295        21.395 
                           28.650


                          -  end  -


AURORAL PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIMENT (APE-B)

     The objectives of the Auroral Photography Experiment-B 
(APE-B) is to obtain spectral images of orbiter thruster 
emissions, Shuttle glow, air glow and auroral glow.  This will 
be accomplished by photographing these phenomena with the on 
board CCTV cameras and recording the information on two video 
cassettes.

     Still photos will be taken with a spectrometer assembly 
consisting of a 35mm camera, intensifier assembly, 55mm lens, 
clamp and spectrometer section.  The experiment will be 
operated by the flight crew at pre-determined times throughout 
the mission.


CREW BIOGRAPHIES

     Charles F. Bolden, 47, Col., USMC, is the commander (CDR) 
of STS-60. A native of Columbia, S.C., Bolden was selected as 
an astronaut in 1980 and will be making his third Space Shuttle 
flight.

     Bolden graduated from C.A. Johnson High School in Columbia 
in 1964; received a bachelor's degree in electrical science 
from the Naval Academy in 1968; and received a master's in 
systems management from the University of Southern California 
in 1977.

     After flying more than 100 sorties in Vietnam as a Marine 
Corps aviator, Bolden graduated from the Naval Test Pilot 
School in 1979. Following his selection by NASA, Bolden's first 
flight was as pilot of Shuttle mission STS-61C in January 1986. 
His second flight was as pilot of Shuttle mission STS-31 in 
April 1990, and his third flight was as commander of STS-45 in 
March 1992. His technical assignments with NASA have included 
service as a Special Assistant to the Johnson Space Center 
Director in Houston and as an Assistant Deputy Administrator at 
NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

     Bolden has logged more than 481 hours in space.

     Kenneth S. Reightler, Jr., 42, Capt., USN, is the pilot 
(PLT) of STS-60. Selected as an astronaut in 1987, Reightler 
considers Virginia Beach, Va., his hometown and will be making 
his second space flight.

     Reightler graduated from Bayside High School in Virginia 
Beach in 1969; received a bachelor's degree in aerospace 
engineering from the Naval Academy in 1973; received a master's 
in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School 
in 1984; and received a master's in systems management from the 
University of Southern California in 1984.

     As a Naval aviator, Reightler attended the Naval Test 
Pilot School in 1978, and, following service as a test pilot 
for a variety of Naval aircraft, later was serving as chief 
instructor at the test pilot school when selected by NASA.His 
first Shuttle flight was as pilot of STS-48 in September 1991. 
Reightler has logged more than 128 hours in space and 4,500 
hours flying time in over 60 different types of aircraft.

     Dr. N. Jan Davis, Ph.D., 40, is mission specialist 1 (MS1) 
on STS-60. Selected as an astronaut in 1987, Davis considers 
Huntsville, Al., her hometown and will be making her second 
space flight.

     Davis graduated from Huntsville High School in 1971; 
received bachelors' degrees in applied biology from the Georgia 
Institute of Technology and in mechanical engineering from 
Auburn University in 1975 and 1977, respectively; and received 
a master's and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the 
University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1983 and 1985, 
respectively.

     Davis joined NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in 1979 
as an aerospace engineer, where, in 1986, she was named team 
leader in the Structural Analysis Division. Projects with which 
Davis was involved during her tenure at Marshall included 
structural analysis of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Advanced 
X-Ray Astrophysics Facility and the redesign of the Shuttle 
solid rocket booster external tank attach ring. After her 
selection as an astronaut, she first flew aboard Endeavour in 
September 1992 on Shuttle mission STS-47.

     Davis has logged more than 188 hours in space.

     Dr. Ronald M. Sega, Ph.D., 41, is mission specialist 2 
(MS2) on STS-60. Selected as an astronaut in 1991, Sega 
considers Northfield, Ohio, and Colorado Springs, Co., his 
hometowns, and he will be making his first space flight.

     Sega graduated from Nordonia High School, Macedonia, Ohio, 
in 1970; received a bachelor's degree in mathematics and 
physics from the Air Force Academy in 1974; received a master's 
in physics from Ohio State University 1975; and received a 
doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of 
Colorado in 1982.

     Sega completed Air Force pilot training in 1974 and served 
as an instructor pilot in the Air Force from 1976-1979. From 
1979-1982, he was on the faculty of the Air Force Academy's 
Dept. of Physics, and, from 1982 through 1990 was actively on 
the faculty of the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, 
from which he is currently on a leave of absence. From 1989-
1990, while on leave from the University of Colorado, Sega 
served as research associate professor of physics at the 
University of Houston and is a co-prinicipal investigator of 
the Wake Shield Facility.

     Sega has logged more than 3,700 hours flying time in 
aircraft.

     Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, Ph.D., 43, is payload 
commander and mission specialist 3 (MS3) on STS-60. A native of 
San Jose, Costa Rica, Chang-Diaz was selected as an astronaut 
in 1980 and will be making his fourth space flight.

     Chang-Diaz graduated from Colegio De La Salle in San Jose 
in 1967 and from Hartford High School, Hartford, Ct., in 1969. 
He received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from 
the University of Connecticut in 1973; and received a doctorate 
in applied plasma physics from the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology in 1977.

     Chang-Diaz has been a visiting scientist with the MIT 
Plasma Fusion Center since 1983, working with the institute to 
develop a future propulsion system for spacecraft based on 
magnetically confined high temperature plasmas. As an 
astronaut, his non-flight assignments have included starting 
the Astronaut Science Colloquium Program and the Astronaut 
Science Support Group, implementing closer ties between the 
astronaut corps and the scientific community.

     Chang-Diaz first flew on STS-61C in January 1986 as a 
mission specialist. His second flight was on STS-34 in October 
1989, and his third Shuttle flight was on STS-46 in August 
1992.

     Chang-Diaz has logged more than 457 hours in space.

     Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev, 35, a Russian Space 
Agency cosmonaut, is mission specialist 4 (MS4) on STS-60. A 
native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Krikalev is one of two 
candidates named by the Russian Space Agency to fly on the 
Space Shuttle. Krikalev is a veteran of two flights in space, 
both long-duration stays aboard the Russian Mir Space Station.

     Krikalev graduated from high school in 1975 and received a 
mechanical engineering degree from the Leningrad Mechanical 
Institute, now renamed the St. Petersburg Technical University, 
in 1981.

     Krikalev joined NPO Energia, the Russian industrial 
organization responsible for manned space flight activities in 
1981, and his duties included testing space flight equipment, 
developing space operations methods, and ground control 
operations. He worked with the rescue team for the Salyut 7 
space station failure in 1985, developing methods for docking 
with the uncontrolled station and for repair of the station.

     Krikalev was selected as a cosmonaut in 1985 and first 
flew aboard Soyuz TM-7 as a flight engineer. The Soyuz TM-7 
mission was launched Nov. 26, 1988, and the crew stayed aboard 
the Mir space station until their return on April 27, 1989.

     His next flight was as flight engineer aboard Soyuz TM-12, 
the ninth Mir mission, launched on May 19, 1991. Krikalev 
remained aboard the Mir station, performing seven spacewalks 
during his stay, until his return on March 25, 1992.

     Krikalev has logged a total of more than 1 year and three 
months in space.




PREVIOUS SHUTTLE MISSIONS  (graphic)


                      - end, STS-60 press kit -