STS-50 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, the 12th mission of the Columbia orbiter. Columbia landed at Kennedy Space Center for the first time ever due to bad weather at Edwards Air Force Base caused by the remnants of Hurricane Darby.
NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is a NASA center within the cities of Brook Park and Cleveland between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Rocky River Reservation of Cleveland Metroparks, with a subsidiary facility in Sandusky, Ohio. Its director is James A. Kenyon. Glenn Research Center is one of ten major NASA facilities, whose primary mission is to develop science and technology for use in aeronautics and space. As of May 2012, it employed about 1,650 civil servants and 1,850 support contractors on or near its site.
The John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC) is a NASA rocket testing facility in Hancock County, Mississippi, United States, on the banks of the Pearl River at the Mississippi–Louisiana border. As of 2012, it is NASA's largest rocket engine test facility. There are over 50 local, state, national, international, private, and public companies and agencies using SSC for their rocket testing facilities.
In physics and materials science, a drop tower or drop tube is a structure used to produce a controlled period of weightlessness for an object under study. Air bags, polystyrene pellets, and magnetic or mechanical brakes are sometimes used to arrest the fall of the experimental payload. In other cases, high-speed impact with a substrate at the bottom of the tower is an intentional part of the experimental protocol.
Space manufacturing or In-space manufacturing is the fabrication, assembly or integration of tangible goods beyond Earth's atmosphere, involving the transformation of raw or recycled materials into components, products, or infrastructure in space, where the manufacturing process is executed either by humans or automated systems by taking advantage of the unique characteristics of space. Synonyms of Space/In-space manufacturing are In-orbit manufacturing, Off-Earth manufacturing, Space-based manufacturing, Orbital manufacturing, In-situ manufacturing, In-space fabrication, In-space production, etc. In-space manufacturing is a part of the broader activity of in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM) and is related to in situ resource utilization (ISRU).
A space toilet or zero-gravity toilet is a toilet that can be used in a weightless environment. In the absence of weight, the collection and retention of liquid and solid waste is directed by use of airflow. Since the air used to direct the waste is returned to the cabin, it is filtered beforehand to control odor and cleanse bacteria. In older systems, wastewater is vented into space, and any solids are compressed and stored for removal upon landing. More modern systems expose solid waste to vacuum pressures to kill bacteria, which prevents odor problems and kills pathogens.
The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) is an astronaut training facility and neutral buoyancy pool operated by NASA and located at the Sonny Carter Training Facility, near the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The NBL's main feature is a large indoor pool of water, in which astronauts may perform simulated EVA tasks in preparation for upcoming missions. Trainees wear suits designed to provide neutral buoyancy to simulate the microgravity that astronauts experience during spaceflight.
Space Power Facility (SPF) is a NASA facility used to test spaceflight hardware under simulated launch and spaceflight conditions. The SPF is part of NASA's Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility, which in turn is part of the Glenn Research Center. The Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility and the SPF are located near Sandusky, Ohio.
Rocket Engine Test Facility was the name of a facility at the NASA Glenn Research Center, formerly known as the Lewis Research Center, in Ohio. The purpose of the Rocket Engine Test Facility was to test full-scale liquid hydrogen rockets at thrust chamber pressures of up to 2100 psia and thrust levels to at least 20,000 pounds. Work on the design of the facility began in 1954 under the auspices of NACA's Rocket Branch of the Fuels and Combustion Research Division. It was built at a cost of $2.5 million and completed in 1957. The facility was located at the south end of the center, adjacent to Abrams Creek 41.404°N 81.868°W. It was demolished in 2003 in order to make way for the runway expansion of the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
In fluid dynamics, slosh refers to the movement of liquid inside another object.
The Neutral Buoyancy Simulator was a neutral buoyancy pool located at NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Engineers and astronauts developed hardware and practiced procedures in this tank from its completion in 1968 through its decommissioning in 1997. Marshall recognized the need for underwater simulations of extra-vehicular activities (EVAs) and developed three successively larger tanks for the purpose. The Neutral Buoyancy Simulator contributed significantly to the American crewed space program. Skylab, the Space Shuttle, Hubble Space Telescope, and the International Space Station have all benefited from the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator. Until Johnson Space Center constructed the Weightless Environment Test Facility in the mid-1970s, MSFC had the only NASA-owned test facility that allowed engineers and astronauts to become familiar with the dynamics of body motion under weightless conditions.
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The Propulsion and Structural Test Facility, also known as Building 4572 and the Static Test Stand, is a rocket testing facility of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Built in 1957, it was the site where the first single-stage rockets with multiple engines were tested. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1985 for its role in the development of the United States space program.
The Twenty-Five-Foot Space Simulator is a chamber for testing spacecraft in space-like conditions, including extreme cold, high radiation, and near-vacuum pressure. Built in 1961, it is located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. It has been used to prepare many American space probes for their launches, including the Ranger, Surveyor, Mariner, and Voyager spacecraft.
The Spacecraft Propulsion Research Facility, now known as the In-Space Propulsion Facility, is, the "world’s only facility capable of testing full-scale upper-stage launch vehicles and rocket engines under simulated high-altitude conditions." The facility, located at NASA's Plum Brook Station of the Glenn Research Center near Sandusky, Ohio, was built in 1968. Its first major use was for testing stages of the Centaur Rocket, which was used to launch some of America's most important space probes. The facility was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985.
The Space Environment Simulation Laboratory (SESL) is a facility in Building 32 at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center that can perform large-scale simulations of the vacuum and thermal environments that would be encountered in space. Built in 1965, it was initially used to test Apollo Program spacecraft and equipment in a space environment, and continues to be used by NASA for testing equipment. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985.
Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g or, incorrectly, zero gravity.
The International Space Station is a platform for scientific research that requires one or more of the unusual conditions present in low Earth orbit. The primary fields of research include human research, space medicine, life sciences, physical sciences, astronomy and meteorology. The 2005 NASA Authorization Act designated the American segment of the International Space Station as a national laboratory with the goal of increasing the use of the ISS by other federal agencies and the private sector.
ELIPS - European Programme for Life and Physical Sciences in Space and applications utilising the International Space Station started in 2001 and was intended to cover the activities for the following 5 years. This Microgravity Programme at the European Space Agency (ESA) is an optional programme, with currently 17 ESA member states participating. The ELIPS programme prepares and performs research on the International Space Station, and other uncrewed mission platforms like Sounding Rockets, in fundamental and applied life and physical sciences. ELIPS is the continuation of the earlier European microgravity programmes EMIR 1&2, and the Microgravity Facilities for Columbus, MFC.
Dropping In Microgravity Environment (DIME) is an annual contest held by NASA's Glenn Research Center. Teams of high school students, with one "faculty adviser", from anywhere in the United States or its territories can enter. The teams prepare and submit proposals for research to be performed; four teams are selected to travel to the Glenn Research Center and perform their experiments at the Zero Gravity Research Facility, in the "drop tower", a deep shaft that can be completely depressurized and thus simulate microgravity when an object is in free fall in it. A further four teams' experiments are selected and conducted by the Center staff. The teams are responsible for writing their proposals, assembly of the necessary equipment if their experiments are chosen to be performed, testing of the setups at their respective homes, and preparation and submission of reports to NASA about their results.
