THE DESIGN AND UTILIZATION OF A SPACELAB FOR SORTIE MISSIONS

SUMMARY The purpose of this paper is to describe the unique capability of the “sortie” type of mission in which a manned laboratory is carried into near Earth orbit for a 7–30-day mission and is then returned to Earth for reconfiguration and subsequent re-flight. During the past several years this capability has been known to us as Sortie Can or Sortie Module, then Sortie Lab, and finally, Spacelab. Underlying all of our efforts in this program is a strong desire to reduce significantly the costs for conducting space research and applications missions. The availability of an Earth-like atmosphere, the low “g” level, the capability for repeat missions, and the separation of experiment operations from the space transportation system will make it feasible to consider the use of ground-laboratory-type equipment on-board. The weight and size capacity of the Shuttle and the presence of man in the Spacelab will permit simplification of equipment designs and a reduction in reliability testing requirements. All of these factors give strong promise that the Spacelab will provide a new, unique, and desirable facility in space for the researchers of the next decade.