Project POSTAR

Last updated
STS-47patch.jpg
STS-47 Mission Patch
GAS logo.gif
Get Away Special Logo

Project POSTAR was the first space experiment created entirely by members of the Boy Scouts of America. On September 12, 1992, Space Shuttle Endeavour mission STS-47 carried 10 Get Away Special (GAS) canisters. Amongst these GAS cansisters was G-102 [1] sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America's Exploring Division in cooperation with the TRW Systems Integration Group, Fairfax, Virginia. The project was named Project POSTAR. (The name was a combination of the words "Post" and "Star"). [2]

Contents

Beginnings

What was to become Project POSTAR began in late 1978 when TRW purchased the "GAS Can" for $10,000. The Exploring Division of the Boy Scouts of America announced the opportunity for Explorer Posts and Sea Explorer (see: Sea Scouting) Ships to design experiments to fly on the Space Shuttle. [1] [2]

Approximately two-hundred Posts and Ships from around the United States expressed interest in developing an experiment, and thirty-eight submitted a first phase proposal. [1] A panel of scientists and engineers from NASA, TRW, and the Boy Scouts of America, headed by astronaut James A. Lovell, selected eighteen experiments for the second phase. In 1982, the experiments were pared down to a final eleven. NASA Explorer Post 1275 located at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland integrated all the experiments into the GAS canister. [2]

Tragedy and success

NASA grounded the Space Shuttle program after the explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger during the launch of mission STS-51-L on January 28, 1986. This action meant that Project POSTAR might not ever fly. Due to the hard work of many, an albeit smaller Project POSTAR was launched on Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992. [1]

The final seven experiments and their sponsors were:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-5</span> 1982 American crewed spaceflight to deploy communications satellites

STS-5 was the fifth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia. It launched on November 11, 1982, and landed five days later on November 16, 1982. STS-5 was the first Space Shuttle mission to deploy communications satellites into orbit, and the first officially "operational" Space Shuttle mission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Casper</span> American astronaut (born 1943)

John Howard Casper is a former American astronaut and retired United States Air Force pilot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goddard Space Flight Center</span> NASAs first space research laboratory

The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately 6.5 miles (10.5 km) northeast of Washington, D.C., in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC employs about 10,000 civil servants and contractors. Named for American rocket propulsion pioneer Robert H. Goddard, it is one of ten major NASA field centers. GSFC is partially within the former Goddard census-designated place; it has a Greenbelt mailing address.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-41</span> 1990 American crewed spaceflight to deploy Ulysses

STS-41 was the 36th Space Shuttle mission and the eleventh mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery. The four-day mission had a primary objective of launching the Ulysses probe as part of the "International Solar Polar Mission" (ISPM).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-42</span> 1992 American crewed spaceflight

STS-42 was a NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission with the Spacelab module. Liftoff was originally scheduled for 8:45 EST on January 22, 1992, but the launch was delayed due to weather constraints. Discovery successfully lifted off an hour later at 9:52:33 EST. The main goal of the mission was to study the effects of microgravity on a variety of organisms. The shuttle landed at 8:07:17 PST on January 30, 1992, on Runway 22, Edwards Air Force Base, California. STS-42 was the first of two flights in 1992 of Discovery, the second of which occurred during STS-53, which launched on December 2, 1992. The mission was also the last mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery to have a seven-member crew until STS-82, which was launched on February 11, 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-47</span> 1992 American crewed spaceflight

STS-47 was NASA's 50th Space Shuttle mission of the program, as well as the second mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The mission mainly involved conducting experiments in life and material sciences inside Spacelab-J, a collaborative laboratory inside the shuttle's payload bay sponsored by NASA and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). This mission carried Mamoru Mohri, the first Japanese astronaut aboard the shuttle, Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to go to space, and the only married couple to fly together on the shuttle, Mark C. Lee and Jan Davis, which had been against NASA policy prior to this mission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-56</span> 1993 American crewed spaceflight

STS-56 was a NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission to perform special experiments. The mission was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on April 8, 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-67</span> 1995 American crewed spaceflight

STS-67 was a human spaceflight mission using Space ShuttleEndeavour that launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on March 2, 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-69</span> 1995 American crewed spaceflight

STS-69 was a Space Shuttle Endeavour mission, and the second flight of the Wake Shield Facility (WSF). The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 7 September 1995. It was the 100th successful crewed NASA spaceflight, not including X-15 flights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-77</span> 1996 American crewed spaceflight

STS-77 was the 77th Space Shuttle mission and the 11th mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The mission began from launch pad 39B from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 19 May 1996 lasting 10 days and 40 minutes and completing 161 revolutions before landing on runway 33. The defense and aerospace technology company L'Garde was responsible for the design and manufacture of the Antenna in the Inflatable Antenna Experiment, a key component of the STS-77 mission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-80</span> 1996 American crewed spaceflight and longest duration Space Shuttle mission

STS-80 was a Space Shuttle mission flown by Space Shuttle Columbia. The launch was originally scheduled for October 31, 1996, but was delayed to November 19 for several reasons. Likewise, the landing, which was originally scheduled for December 5, was pushed back to December 7 after bad weather prevented landing for two days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-96</span> 1999 American crewed spaceflight to the ISS

STS-96 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Discovery, and the first shuttle flight to dock[a] at the International Space Station. The shuttle carried the Spacehab module in the payload, filled with cargo for station outfitting. STS-96 launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 27 May 1999 at 06:49:42 AM EDT and returned to Kennedy on 6 June 1999, 2:02:43 AM EDT.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-99</span> 2000 American crewed spaceflight to conduct the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

STS-99 was a Space Shuttle mission using Endeavour, that launched on 11 February 2000 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The primary objective of the mission was the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) project. This was also the last solo flight of Endeavour; all future flights for Endeavour became devoted to the International Space Station. STS-99 was also the first Shuttle mission of the 2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-105</span> 2001 American crewed spaceflight to the ISS

STS-105 was a mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station, launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, 10 August 2001. This mission was Discovery's final mission until STS-114, because Discovery was grounded for a refit, and then all Shuttles were grounded in the wake of the Columbia disaster. The refit included an update of the flight deck to the glass cockpit layout, which was already installed on Atlantis and Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-108</span> 2001 American crewed spaceflight to the ISS

STS-108 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour. Its primary objective was to deliver supplies to and help maintain the ISS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Getaway Special</span>

Getaway Special was a NASA program that offered interested individuals, or groups, opportunities to fly small experiments aboard the Space Shuttle. Over the 20-year history of the program, over 170 individual missions were flown. The program, which was officially known as the Small, Self-Contained Payloads program, was canceled following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael R. Clifford</span> American army officer and astronaut (1952–2021)

Michael Richard Clifford was a United States Army officer and NASA astronaut. Clifford was a Master Army Aviator and logged over 3,400 hours flying in a wide variety of fixed and rotary winged aircraft. He retired from the U.S. Army at the rank of lieutenant colonel. He logged six hours of spacewalk time over three Space Shuttle missions. He was also one of the first people to conduct a spacewalk while docked to an orbiting space station: that spacewalk was conducted during STS-76, while docked at the Russian space station Mir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-127</span> 2009 American crewed spaceflight to the ISS

STS-127 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It was the twenty-third flight of Space ShuttleEndeavour. The primary purpose of the STS-127 mission was to deliver and install the final two components of the Japanese Experiment Module: the Exposed Facility, and the Exposed Section of the Experiment Logistics Module (ELM-ES). When Endeavour docked with the ISS on this mission in July 2009, it set a record for the most humans in space at the same time in the same vehicle, the first time thirteen people have been at the station at the same time. Together they represented all ISS program partners and tied the general record of thirteen people in space with the first such occurrence of 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G-616</span>

G-616, formally known as GAS canister #G-616: The Effect of Cosmic Radiation on Static Computer Media & Plant Seeds Exposure to Microgravity was an experiment flown on the Space Shuttle as a self-contained experiment, as part of STS-40.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hitchhiker Program</span> Shuttle-borne experimentation program by NASA

The Hitchhiker Program (HH) was a NASA program established in 1984 and administered by the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The program was designed to allow low-cost and quick reactive experiments to be placed on board the Space Shuttle. The program was discontinued after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster of STS-107.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "STS 47 Press Kit". NASA. 1992. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Endeavour STS-47 Explorer Scout Rocket Mail". SOSSI. 1994. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  3. Schrader, Ann (1992-09-12). "Local Explorer Scouts put fluid-droplet test on shuttle". The Denver Post. The students are members of Explorer Posts 822 and 2268, sponsored by Martin Marietta Astronautics Group and Gates Planetarium at the Denver Museum of Natural History.