The Black Vault - Wednesday Space Shuttle mission includes Space Station frame and science experim

A new piece of the International Space Station tested at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and new scientific experiments managed by the Marshall Center are among the payloads for the upcoming launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis.

"The cargo aboard Shuttle Atlantis is typical of Marshall's broad capabilities in space exploration," Marshall Center Flight Projects Director Dr. Jan Davis said. "From large structures to research at the microscopic level, Marshall's expertise continues to be a critical part of the ongoing mission of the world's only research center in space."

During the upcoming mission Atlantis will deliver the backbone-like S-1 Truss segment to the Space Station. Once attached to the Station, its main job will be to provide structural support for the orbiting research facility's radiator panels, which use ammonia to cool the Station's complex power system. The S-1 truss segment also will house communications systems, attachment points for external experiments and other subsystems.

Primarily built of aluminum, the truss segment is 45 feet long, 15 feet wide and 10 feet tall. When fully outfitted, it will weigh 31,137 pounds. Manufactured by the Boeing Company, in Huntington Beach, Cal., the truss primary structure was transferred to Marshall from February 1999 until October 1999 for hardware installations and manufacturing acceptance testing. The S1 Structural Test Article (STA), a full-scale test piece, which was also manufactured in Huntington Beach, Cal., was outfitted with hardware installations and test sensors then underwent dynamic testing at the Marshall Center.

"Boeing shipped the truss to Marshall from California," said Lanny Upton, a test engineer at the Marshall Center. "Boeing employees here installed cabling, fluid lines and other equipment. Then our NASA engineers attached several hundred sensors to it and subjected it to a variety of strains and stresses that it will experience in the Shuttle cargo bay during launch and during its lifetime in space."

Boeing employees and local contractors built more than 140 wiring harnesses and welded metal tubing to carry power and fluids for the Station's cooling radiator panels. They designed 600 pieces of multi-layer insulation to shield the S-1 truss from the extreme cold and heat of space. They also built 34 umbilical mating adapters and 11 video cameras that will be fitted along the full length of the Station framework by the time it's completed. The adapters will serve as plug-ins for spacewalking astronauts' power tools, while the cameras will give astronauts inside the Station a full-length view of the Station's exterior. Boeing workers also installed a new antenna on the S-1 truss that will markedly improve communications with ground controllers.

"This is much more than just a structural component," said Alex Pest, a Boeing manager who oversaw the completion of the S-1 truss. "It's a very important part of the Station. "

Testing allowed engineers to prove that the truss as built matched the strength requirements of the design, as well as verify electrical connections and fluid line integrity, said Marshall Center test engineer Alan Patterson. Test engineers used both electromagnetic shakers and hydraulic cylinders to simulate events such as launch, assembly, Shuttle docking and other stresses that the truss will have to withstand.

Continuing scientific research of the fifth crew to occupy the Space Station, Atlantis will carry three new experiments for transfer to the Station and additional samples for a fourth. Four completed experiments will be transferred from the Station to the Shuttle for return. The exchange of scientific experiments represents research in the fields of medicine, biotechnology, agriculture, petroleum processing and pharmaceuticals.

Two of the experiments headed to the Space Station involve commercial research sponsored by private industry through NASA's Space Product Development Program at the Marshall Center. A third is fundamental research managed by the Macromolecular Biotechnology Program at Marshall.

The Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA) will serve as a refrigerator to stabilize biological samples from the Plant Growth Bioprocessing Apparatus for post-flight analyses. The Plant Growth Bioprocessing Apparatus (PGBA) will fly to the Station to investigate the effects of microgravity on plant structures. Following flights on Expeditions Two and Four, the Protein Crystal Growth Single-locker Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES) again will provide a temperature-controlled environment for growing high-quality protein crystals of selected proteins in microgravity for analysis on the ground. And the Shuttle will bring fresh Zeolite Crystal Growth (ZCG) samples for processing.

Returning to Earth with Atlantis on this mission are soybean plants grown in the Advanced Astroculture experiment, PCG-STES protein crystals for analysis, experimental capsules for drug delivery from the Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing experiment, liver cell tissue samples cultured in the StelSys experiment, and Zeolite Crystal Growth samples processed during the mission.

Marshall Space Flight Center's Role in the STS-112 Space Shuttle Mission and International Space Station Expedition Five

- The S-1 truss that contains heat radiators and other essential hardware for the Station was tested at Marshall.
- Several experiments flying to the Station aboard the Space Shuttle and returning to Earth are managed by the Marshall Center.
- All science facilities and experiments will be controlled from the Payload Operations Center at Marshall.
- Engineers working in the Huntsville Operations Support Center at Marshall will monitor the Shuttle's propulsion systems.

Source: NASA Press Release

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