Space Digest Sun, 25 Jul 93 Volume 16 : Issue 919 Today's Topics: Buran Hype? (was Re: DC-X Prophets and associated problems) Cryogenic Rockets - Controversy between U.S, Russia and India (2 msgs) DC-X Prophets and associated problems (2 msgs) Hubble solar arrays: how'd they foul up? Smallwood Memorial Spaceport (was: The 51 degree orbit) SPACE TRIVIA LIST - 24th July 1993 [Part 2] Welcome to the Space Digest!! Please send your messages to "space@isu.isunet.edu", and (un)subscription requests of the form "Subscribe Space " to one of these addresses: listserv@uga (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle (THENET), or space-REQUEST@isu.isunet.edu (Internet). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 24 Jul 1993 17:02:04 -0400 From: Pat Subject: Buran Hype? (was Re: DC-X Prophets and associated problems) Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1993Jul23.103403.1@fnalf.fnal.gov> higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes: > >We can conclude from this that it would be *very* interesting to learn >what the claims were when developers were "selling" the Buran project >within the Soviet bureaucracy. Alas, I don't think our chances of At least in Space News, there have been sideways references to Buran being hyped on the basis of the space shuttle. The statements were, THe americans are building Spaceski Shuttleski. It will fly over, steal satellittes with Bay and canadarm and drop nuclear bombs on moscow. around about 1986, the ruissians caught on the STS was not a ahppening thing. by 1989, it was obvious Buran wasn't either. pat -- God put me on this Earth to accomplish certain things. Right now, I am so far behind, I will never die. ------------------------------ Date: 24 Jul 93 21:11:55 GMT From: Dave Michelson Subject: Cryogenic Rockets - Controversy between U.S, Russia and India Newsgroups: sci.space,talk.politics.space In article <22rqcc$8ci@aludra.usc.edu> cuy@aludra.usc.edu (Dennis Cuy) writes: > >Cryogenic motors can and have been used as launch vehicles for >nukes. The US used them in the 50s (late?) and through the 60s >until they started replacing them with the solid-propelled >Minuteman I's in 1963 (followed by MMIIs and MMIIIs). The term "cryogenic motor" is usually reserved for engines which use both a cryogenic fuel *and* a cryogenic oxidizer. LH2/LOX engines are used *almost* exclusively on upper stages. They have never been used in ICBMs (or, for that matter, IRBM's). >The US >maintained the Titan missiles up until maybe the mid-80s when the >last one was taken out of service somewhere in the South (Alabama?) >- I think that's what I remember reading. However, they were >notorious as far as maintaining them on strategic alert all the >time. Trying to maintain the LOX/LH2 in the missile was probably >the biggest problem. Not quite. The Titan II used "room temperature" hypergolic fuels that could be stored for months. >With solid motors, all you have to do is >worry about the guidance and other avionics boxes from going down >- they're far better as strategic forces. Agreed! -- Dave Michelson -- davem@ee.ubc.ca -- University of British Columbia ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1993 21:40:09 GMT From: Paul Dietz Subject: Cryogenic Rockets - Controversy between U.S, Russia and India Newsgroups: sci.space,talk.politics.space In article <22rqcc$8ci@aludra.usc.edu> cuy@aludra.usc.edu (Dennis Cuy) writes: > Cryogenic motors can and have been used as launch vehicles for > nukes. The US used them in the 50s (late?) and through the 60s > until they started replacing them with the solid-propelled > Minuteman I's in 1963 (followed by MMIIs and MMIIIs). The US > maintained the Titan missiles up until maybe the mid-80s when the > last one was taken out of service somewhere in the South (Alabama?) > - I think that's what I remember reading. However, they were > notorious as far as maintaining them on strategic alert all the > time. Trying to maintain the LOX/LH2 in the missile was probably > the biggest problem. This is loaded with inaccuracy. The Atlas and Titan I (*not* the later Titans, which used UDMH/hydrazine/N2O4, and which were the ones maintained unti the mid-80s) used liquid *oxygen*, with kerosene (RP-1). None of them in ICBM form used liquid hydrogen, although later they have been retrofited with Centaur upper stages for use as space launchers. Paul F. Dietz dietz@cs.rochester.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Jul 93 22:20:32 BST From: amon@elegabalus.cs.qub.ac.uk Subject: DC-X Prophets and associated problems > BTW, DC has those built in already. Unlike the "man rated" shuttle, DC > offers fully intact abort througout its envelope. DC has engine out > capability throughout the flight. Shuttle has long periods of time > where a engine out will kill everybody. > And I'll add to that Alan... There is no STS abort mode (other than the KYAGB mode) from SRB ignition until SRB SEP about a two minutes or so later. Any failure during that time and you have dead astronauts. A problem which, as you pointed out, not even the subscale prototype DC/X shares. -- ======================================================================= Give generously to the Dale M. Amon, Libertarian Anarchist Betty Ford Home for amon@cs.qub.ac.uk the Politically Correct Greybook: amon%cs.qub.ac.uk@andrew.cmu.edu ======================================================================= ------------------------------ Date: 24 Jul 1993 16:58:51 -0400 From: Pat Subject: DC-X Prophets and associated problems Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1993Jul22.140756.7703@ke4zv.uucp> gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman) writes: > >Claims of 50 flights per year per vehicle are extraordinary. No other >space launcher has come close to these rates. There's no experience The soviets have. They were at one point up to 90 launches a year across 3? platforms. Not bad, for a country with the GNP of France. >reason to be skeptical. SSTO is a radically different way of doing spacefight. > Henry SPencer thinks highly of the concept. That's high praise indeed. Of course, he advocates leaving STS flying until DC-1 passes shake down. > Too Cheap to Meter was the justification for commercializing an otherwise highly controversial military technology that many people were not very trusting of. >condition for launch. Look at Atlas, it had a flawless record as a >man rated launcher, but only an 85% record as an unmanned launcher. >The hardware's the same, but the procedures are relaxed for the unmanned >missions. I am not certain, but the Atlas we see today is fairly different in some subtle but crucial ways from the Atlas of The mercury program. The latest Atlas the 2AS, is rated for almost an order of magnitude increase in performance. it added an extra stage ( A major source of all problems) and pushes the margins now quite strongly. At least, that's what the GD folks tell me. pat -- God put me on this Earth to accomplish certain things. Right now, I am so far behind, I will never die. ------------------------------ Date: 24 Jul 1993 17:12:08 -0400 From: Pat Subject: Hubble solar arrays: how'd they foul up? Newsgroups: sci.space In article <9307231407.AA22320@Phobos> GLANDIS@LERC.NASA.GOV (Geoffrey A. Landis) writes: >There's quite a body of experience with flexible arrays in the US, but the >Hubble arrays were the European contribution to the project... Well, the next time some european starts going off about how NASA can't meet obligations and is screwing up eoropean science, just remind them of this :-) pat -- God put me on this Earth to accomplish certain things. Right now, I am so far behind, I will never die. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Jul 93 22:28:01 BST From: amon@elegabalus.cs.qub.ac.uk Subject: Smallwood Memorial Spaceport (was: The 51 degree orbit) > J.Smallwood...). Actually, I should plug a nearby alternate > that features the benefit of easier transportation access: Cape Breton. > There's plenty of scrap steel up in Sydney to build a spaceport with :-) > and they could sure use the jobs too. And not to mention that they have great trad music, so there's plenty of local color for the tourists :-) -- ======================================================================= Give generously to the Dale M. Amon, Libertarian Anarchist Betty Ford Home for amon@cs.qub.ac.uk the Politically Correct Greybook: amon%cs.qub.ac.uk@andrew.cmu.edu ======================================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1993 19:50:47 GMT From: Luke Plaizier Subject: SPACE TRIVIA LIST - 24th July 1993 [Part 2] Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle,sci.astro,rec.radio.amateur.space the US version, where astronauts are so named as soon as they have been accepted into NASA employment after passing the selection tests. [Space Flight News, August 1987] (77) Pete Conrad became the first tattooed man in space on the Gemini 5 mission. He had a blue anchor and stars tattooed on his right arm. [Space Flight News, October 1987] (78) To train Shuttle pilots prior to making their flight, in the area of landing, NASA uses a modified Gulfstream 2 executive jet. The cockpit has been divided into two - with Shuttle controls on the left, and all the Gulfstream controls on the right. [Space Flight news, December 1987] (79) The flight dynamics of the Shuttle were calculated before the Shuttle actually flew, and the GUlstream 2 trainer was modified accordingly. The calculations were quite accurate, and very few changes have been made since the Shuttle has entered service. [Space Flight news, December 1987] (80) The following is a long list of trivia tid-bits which comes from the December 1987 issue of Space Flight News. It was published as a quizz, and the answers were found in the same issue. Only those questions worthy of being items of trivia are included. (a) This is a list of 'should not have but did' of what some astronauts/ cosmonauts took into space. (i) The crew of Vostok 2 used a box of matches they carried in their flight to light a fire after they had overshot the landing zone. (ii) Tom Stafford took a small set of handbells along for the Gemini 8 mission, which took place just before Christmas. (iii) The crew of Apollo 15 broke NASA regulations, and were later severely reprimanded, for carrying a batch of first-day covers to the surface of the moon in their personal lockers. (iv) Gus Grissom ate a corned beef sandwich on the Gemini 3 mission. It was given to him by his crewmate, John Young, who had sneaked it on board. Grissom later vomited, ruining a dietary experiment NASA had set for him. (b) Bits 'in Pieces. (i) A helmet visor was cracked on the Gemini 3 mission, when Gus Grissom's helmet struck the instrument panel as he was thrown forward during the automatic parachute descent sequence prior to splash- down in the Atlantic Ocean. (ii) A camera was left in Earth Orbit during the Gemini 10 mission. (iii) A feather was dropped on the Apollo 15 mission. This was done alongside a hammer to prove that one of Galileo's most significant laws was indeed correct. The feather and hammer hit the surface of the Moon at the same time. (iv) Apollo 16 astronaut John Young tripped over one of the leads attached to ALSEP, rendering it useless and falling to the surface. (v) Valentina Tereshkova bruised her nose on the landing of Vostok 6 in June 1963. (c) Planetary Bits (i) Luna 3, the Soviet Probe, returned the first pictures of the Moon's previously unseen farside in October 1959. (ii) Luna 10 became the first spacecraft to enter orbit around the Moon in April 1966. (ii) Venera 4 became the first successful soviet mission to Venus by delivering a small capsule in October 1967. (iv) Venera 9 returned the first pictures of Venus' surface in October 1975. (v)Mariner 10, from the US, is the only spacecraft ti have reached Mercury. It made 3 flybys of the planet. (vi) Pioneer 10 was the first operating spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt en route to Jupiter. (81) On the first separation test of Enterprise and the Boeing 747 in the Approach and Landing Test program of 1977, the Shuttle separated from the 747 that the first photograph - initially intended to be taken when the orbiter was a few feet away from the orbiter - was taken when the orbiter was over 70 feet away from it's carrier. [Bob Overmyer, Space Flight News, March 1988] (82) The original circular hatch to bu used ofr entering and exiting the Lunar Module on the suracfe of the Moon was squared-off when astronaut Roger Chaffee observed that it was difficult to clamber through a round hatch with a square backpack on - particularly going backwards. [David Shayler, Space Flight News, April 1988] (83) Descent and Ascent stages of the Lunar Module were passed through a bizarre procedure to ensure that loose parts or tools weren't left lying around inside it. This involved mounting the device on a large support structure and rotating it slowly to free loose items and let them drop to the floor. [David Shayler, Space Flight News, April 1988] (84) Once locked into their landing position, the legs on the descent stage of the Lunar Module could not be retracted again. [David Shayler, Space Flight News, April 1988] (85) The landing probes on the feet of the Lunar Module were fitted to all but the forward gear. The probe was removed from this leg after astronauts McDivitt and Schweickart tested the Lunar Module LM/3 Spider in Earth orbit for the first time in March 1969. It was thought that the probe might curl up and prove to be a hazard to the astronauts as they stepped on and off the final rung of the ladder that led them to the surface from the exit hatch of the Module. [David Shayler, Space Flight News, April 1988] (86) The ladder mentioned above was made of a material that was so light- weight that it could only support the weight of a man in the 1/6th gravity of the Moon. On Earth the ladder would break. [David Shayler, Space Flight News, April 1988] (87) Because the Lunar Module did not have an air-lock, the Module had to be depressurized and repressurized before and after every excursion. For this reason and as a general safety precaution, the hatch was left slightly ajar as the astronauts were roaming around the surface. Imagine being locked out of your vehicle so far away from home! [David Shayler, Space Flight News, April 1988] (88) On Feb. 21, 1969 in the final hours of the countdown of the first launch of the massive N1 booster, Cheif Designer Mishin went to the launch pad while propellants were still being loaded, and cristened the rocket traditionally be breaking a bottle of champaign against the cold hull of the rocket. [IZOBRETATEL I RATSIONALIZATOR, No. 8, Aug, 1990, pp 20-21, "The History of Technology: How We Conceeded the Moon: A Look by One of the Participants of the N-1 Drama at the Reasons Behind it", by Vad. Pikul. FBIS-USP-91-002. Submitted by dennisn@ecs.comm.mot.com] (89) Lazarev and Makarov, the crew of Soyuz 18-1, who were forced to abort the launch after half the explosive bolts holding the first and second stages of the booster together failed to blow. After a 14g reentry from 90 miles up their capsule hit a mountain near the Chinese border and rolled down, leaving another crew to spend a day huddled round a fire waiting for rescue. [Source: Janes Manned Spaceflight Log, from Mark Grant ] (90) Although during the day it is only possible to watch a shuttle launch with the naked eye until just past SRB seperation, a night launch with clear skies can be followed until the main engines cut out. [ Source: STS-35, which we could see until it disappeared behind a cloud when 1200 miles downrange. Mark Grant ] (91) The early days of space flight at Missile Firing Laboratory were a mixture of experienced engineers and scientists with seemingly crude and brute force methods to launch missiles. "With the launch of Redstone #1 in August 1953, the Missile Firing Laboratory inaugurated the testing of balistic missiles. In those days, launch procedures were unsophisticated. Albert Zeiler, one of the Peenemunde veterans, had to decide within a split second whether to shut off the engine immediately after ignition, basing his decision upon the color of the flames. An off-color indicated an improper mix of the propellants. A couple of minor delays had occurred earlier, but on the morning of 20 August 1953 the flame color met Zeiler's approval, and the Redstone rose." ["Moonport, A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations", Charles D. Benson, NASA History Series, NASA SP-4204, pages 7-8, 1978. Submitted by gregb@tunfaire.den.mmc.com] (92) The Russian Foton class Cosmos vehicle, used today for remote-sensing and Earth photography applications, is the same Vostok capsule that launched Yuri Gagarin into space back in 1961! [Space Flight News, June 1988] (93) Pad 39B, one of the two Shuttle Launch complexes, has been used very few times. In fact, the only times it has been used previous to Shuttle flights are:- (1) Apollo 10 in May 1969, (2) Skylab 2 in May 1973 (3) Skylab 3 in July 1973, (4) Skylab 4 in November 1973 (5) The Apollo/Soyuz flight in July 1975. [Space Flight News, August 1988] (94) Pad 39B was first used on a Shuttle Launch in 1986 by the ill-fated 51-L Challenger flight. This contributed nothing, by the way, to the accident itself. [Space Flight News, August 1988] (95) Astronaut Charlie Bolden, veteran of the 61-C/Atlantis missions in January 1986, became the first man to ride the slide-wire escape system on Pad 39B on July 8, 1988, reaching a maximum speed of roughly 55mph. [Space Flight News, September 1988] (96) Chinese SKW recoverable satellites have an interesting feature in their structure. To withstand the heat of re-entry, the shuttle uses special tiles, and soyuz uses a special ablative material that melts away as it gets hot. The Chinese, on the other hand, use Wood. [Space Flight News, October 1988] (We've heard that this wood is OAK. Does anyone have any information on this?) (97) The only two countries which refused to telecast Neil Armstrong's moonwalk were the USSR and China. [Space Flight News, March 1989] (98) LENGTH WARNING - This one's quite large..... One evening, during the launch pad checkout of the stacked Apollo spacecraft and Saturn 5 launch vehicle for Apollo 17, one of the support crew astronauts had to enter the Lunar Module to conduct some checking and testing. The Lunar Module was nestled under the protective shield of the Apollo Command & Service Module and the streamlined launch vehicle nose-fairings. Normally, all workers on the Saturn stack had to empty their pockets at the control points before getting close to the vehicle. Astronauts had permission to wear their standard flying suits in the Lunar Module and Command Module, as long as they kept their pockets zippered closed. On this particular day, however, the astronaut in question had some coins in his breast pocket, which had been left unzipped by mistake. As he traversed the catwalk to the Lunar Module, he leaned over and coins spilled out. They could be heard bouncing off the structure as they fell through the Instrument Unit ring and lodged somewhere against the top of the S4B third stage that would propel them from low-Earth orbit to the Moon. I calculate that the coins stayed there until after the Trans Lunar Injection 'burn', when the S4B put them on the same trajectory to the Moon as the CSM/Lunar Module combination. Some day in the distant future, people are going to walk on the Moon again, and they may just find a few US coins lying in the dust! [Bob Overmyer, Space Flight News, June 1989 ] (99) With a total Height of over 75 feet, the 747/Orbiter combination has been described by some journalists as 'The World's Largest Biplane!' [Space Flight News, June 1989 ] (100) The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft must never be flown with the Shuttle aboard if the ambient temperature is less then 15 degrees Farenheit. This is because, on the type of long-duration flights the SCA typically makes when ferrying the orbiter, there is a risk of fluids within the Orbiter freezing and causing some serious problems. [Space Flight News, June 1989 ] (101) The shuttle has two possible positions or 'attitudes' available when onboard the SCA 747. The initial attitude was a 'nose up' attitude, and this was used primarily for the Approach and Landing Tests of the late 1970's. Presently, the Shuttle spends most of it's time in the second available position, where it is more or less parallel to the SCA's upper fuselage. [Space Flight News, June 1989] (102) The Shuttle's tyres are designed to withstand temperature extremes of minus 65-degrees Farenheit to plus 200-degrees Farenheit, and are inflated, with the craft standing static on the runway, to a pressure of 327psi, with an over-inflation margin of 40psi. (103) Apollo 1 was scheduled to actually fly in late 1966. As development of the black-1 spacecraft progressed, it became apparent that the Command Module earmarked for the Apollo 1 missions would not be ready in time for a tentatively-scheduled joint flight involving the tenth and final manned Gemini mission, Gemini 12, in late 1966. The tragic Apollo 1 fire occurred in February, 1967. [Space Flight News, November 1989] (104) It is unfortunate that NASA did not learn earlier about the fire hazard problems associated with a pure-oxygen atmosphere in the Block 1 Apollo Comand Module design. Flash fires had previously broken out in two boilerplate cabin mock-ups in September and November of 1963. [Space Flight News, November 1989] (105) Post-accident investigations revealed that Ed-White spent his dying moments trying to open the hatch of the Apollo 1 spacecraft. The hatch was criticised as one of the major factors contributing to the death of the three astronauts in 1967. It is not widely appreciated that a revised hatch design was already under develpment at the time of the Apollo 1 tragedy. [Space Flight News, December 1989] (106) When Gus Grissom and John Young came to name their Gemini 3 spacecraft, they chose the title 'Molly Brown' after a character in a play that was running on Broadway at that time: The Unsinkable Molly Brown. NASA officialdom baulked at such an apparently flippant title and refused the astronauts permission to adopt it. Nevertheless Grissom and Young devised an appropriate patch to wear on their spacesuits: it depicted their Gemini capsule floating in the Ocean, with the name Molly Brown emblazoned above it. All of this should have been maintained in 'low profile' mode, with the official callsign being "Gemini 3". However, the CAPCOM (Capsule Communicator) at launch, astronaut Gordon Coo[er, blew Grissom and Young's cover by exclaiming, as the rocket cleared the tower 'You're on your way, Molly Brown!'. [Chris Faulkner, Space Flight News, January 1990] (107) On average, the Apollo astronauts spent a total of about 22,000 hours in simulator sessions, 5,000 hours in briefings, and 3,000 hours conducting hardware tests. If one includes in this figure time engaged in related training, the eleven Apollo-series missions absorbed a staggering 84,000 hours of astronaut training and briefing time. [Space Flight News, January 1990] (108) On Apollo 11, the crew were worried that Neil Armstrong's leg might snag the abort handle, ending the mission in the Atlantic ocean just minutes after it had started! [Space Flight News, January 1990] (109) Dick Gordon, on Apollo 12, was so convinced that lightning storms would delay the launch 24 hours, that he managed to drift off to sleep during the countdown. [Space Flight News, January 1990] (110) At the end of Apollo 12, the hardest ocean landing was recorded - 15G! This jarred a 16mm camera from it's mounting, hitting Al Bean's head. [Space Flight News, January 1990] (111) Many of the tests that the Mercury astronaut candidates took are now considered to have been unnecessary. Things like 'Write twenty sentences beginning with the words 'I am...', or stare at a blank piece of paper and describe what you see. Scott Carpenter, it is reputed - when stuck for his twentieth sentence, wrote in anticipation 'I am an astronaut.' stating afterwards that this simple statement tipped the balance towards his selection. [Space Flight News, January 1990] (112) The Mercury capsule had in effect some seven miles of wire used for it's control system, but had a total internal volume roughly equal to that of a telephone booth. [Space Flight News, January 1990] (113) The Pad Rescue Team came closest to performing an emergency rescue during a launch attempt for the maiden votage of Discovery - mission 41-D - on June 26, 1984. At T-4 seconds, the SSME main engines were abruptly shut down. With hydrogen running free in the vicinty of the now hot engines, everyone held their breath. Then a fire was detected along the trailing edges of the orbiter's elevons, and the orbiter itself began to burn. The crew sat tight as the water-deluge systems were activated. A few tense moments rolled by with the Rescue Team sitting suited and waiting for a 'Go' from mission control. The fire went out, the vehicle made safe and the crew extracted after just 35 minutes. [Space Flight News, June 1990] (114) Of the Apollo astronauts, nearly all of them are alive. Sadly, Jack Swigert was the first Lunar-Orbiting astronaut, and Deke Slayton the first Moon Walking astronauts to die. ***************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************** * * * SPACE RUMOURS - Interesting Rumours - True or Popular - that have * * surfaced from anywhere around the globe concerning * * space topics. * * * ***************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************** (1) Grissom had a reputation for speaking Army Creole. Lines like "F***ing A, Well Told, Bubba". It was a factor in the vote for Sheperd being the first man up. The other astronauts were kind of concerned about Grissoms First words. (2) Weightless intercourse - "Sex in Space" - is said to have been accomplished in both the US and Soviet/Russian Space programs. This has been said to have happened not once but as much as 7 times! [The Three Dolphin Club, G Harry Stine, Analog Science Fiction/ Science Fact.] (3) In terms of complexity, it is interesting to gain a comparison of the Shuttle and Apollo systems. It has been estimated that the whole Service Module is only equivalent of each one of the Orbital Maneouvering Systems on the rear of each orbiter. (4) In 1969, when Donald Buchanan - KSC's chief of engineering - travelled to London to accept the Diamond Jubilee trophy of the Royal Automobile Club for "The Outstanding Contribution on the field of Automotive Transport", he carried with him a small scale model of the crawler vehicle (He was accepting the award because of the Crawler Trans-porter). On seeing the model in Buchanan's suitcase, the customs officier on duty at the airport - obviously unaware of the real-life crawler - earnestly enquired if he was a travelling salesman selling farm machinery! (5) Other than the launch escape tower, the entire Mercury-Atlas vehicle that put John Glenn into orbit will fit inside the payload bay of the shuttle (or at least it works with 1/144 scale plastic kits 8-)). I don't have any mass information handy on the Atlas, so I'm not sure whether a fully fuelled Mercury-Atlas would be under the shuttles payload mass limits though. [Mark Grant ] ***************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************** * * * PURE GUESSWORK - Items that are awaiting verification for * * placement into either rumour or fact trivia. * * * * * ***************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************** (1) The tip of the escape tower on the Saturn V/Apollo was topped by an item called a Q-Ball made by a company called Nortronics. That's all I know for certain. I surmise it may have been an optical retroreflector to get an accurate position measurement at initial lift-off, but it could have been something more exotic. Any answers would be appreciated. [From rriemer@nas.edu] (2) It seems that after STS-1 got in orbit, one of the astronauts was eager to try out the (older, also expensive) toilet. I think it was Crippen. Apparently all John Young heard was this "Whoosh AHHHHHH!!!!!". There is a fan in it to suck down the contents. Apparently the fan was verified to be working correctly (i.e. it spun up) but nobody ever checked to see if it sucked or blew... [From HOLLIS@TITAN.KSC.NASA.GOV] (3) When trying to find a way to keep the water out of the parachute compartment after splashdown, scientists ended up using a product from a drug store. I saw this on a space travel special. The story goes something like one of the project scientists son's was up with a cold. So, the scientist mixed up a cold remedy gel (added water to a powder) for his son late one night. This gave him the idea. When itemizing the inventory for the project budget, they used the drug store product code and used a backwards spelling of the product name. Of course, they adapted it a bit for the spacecraft, but the same principle of this gel was used. [mark.blevis@qmail.dgrc.doc.ca] (4) Supposedly, one shuttle launch was delayed due to a rare bird nesting in the launch pad gantry. Does anyone know if this is true and if so which launch ? (According to the guide on a KSC coach tour - probably not the most reliable of sources 8-}) [Mark Grant ] (5) John Young is the only astronaut to have flown 6 missions. To date, no other astronaut has even flown 5. (One of our local NSS chapter members pointed this out, and I was wondering if it was true. Can anyone help here?) (6) NASA was planning at some stage to fly Columbia unmanned so that they could remove the back-log of payloads waiting to reach orbit. NASA had 13 old-specification SRB's in storgae at the time. [Space Flight News, September 1988, but I find this one hard to believe. That's why it is down here.] The next four were from a TRUE or FALSE quizz in Space Flight News April 1989 issue. The answers weren't published (as far as I can find) so I am including the items here so that someone else can tell us which are true and which are false. (7) There was a much cheaper way of launching satellites, according to McGill University experimenters in 1963. Developing an idea first proposed by Jules Verne, the McGill team used a rebored 50-foot-long cannon from the battleship USS Washington to loft missiles to an altitude of 65 miles. By employing this technique to launch a Martlet rocket, the McGill experimenters reckoned they could put a 50-pound payload into orbit for less than the dollar equivalent of 18,000 pounds. (8) The Demise of Blue Streak and ELDO put paid to plans laid in 1968 to launch leeches - 'the world's most ideal space travellers' - on an extended flight. "Give them a bloody meal before they go, and they'll need nothing for a year-and-a-half!" was how one scientist characterized the suitability of leeches for space travel. Posing no feeding or waste disposal problems, leeches might even breed en-route - providing researchers with a useful insight into the genetic side- effects induced by exposure to radiation in space. (9) In some respects, Neil Armstrong was fortunate to become the first Moonwalker. In 1963, his place in the history books was under seige from a chimpanzee named Howard! After just one year of study at the US Space School, Howard had broken the world's land speed record in a rocket propelled sled, and had been banned from playing noughts-and-crosses with visitors because he usually won! The chances are that if a monkey had been selected to fly to the Moon instead of a man, it would have been Howard. (10) Under the direction of NASA's Ameas Research Centre in California, a study was conducted into the viability of employing a 'vacuum cleaner' type device in Low-Earth orbit to collect some of the particles of Moonrock (tectites) that are dislodged from the lunar surface by annual meteorite showers and sometimes find their way to the Earth's surface. Collected in orbit and returned to Earth by parachute, samples gathered in this way would be free from the contamination caused by passage through the Earth's atmosphere. ***************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************** * * * Trivia List Submission Policies and Guidelines * * * ***************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************** The policies dictating what should be included in this file are subject to change at any notice, but will hopefully remain solid around the following short guidelines:- (1) Comparisons of Space Hardware to common concepts or everyday objects. (eg the list of interesting facts on the strength and capabilities of the Space Shuttle Main Engines) (2) Similar to No.1, comparisons of modern hardware to older hardware (eg how a Mercury capsule could fit inside the engine shroud of the F-1 engines on the Saturn V) (3) Plans of what different space agencies were once planning but have since cancelled. (4) Stories of lost opportunities from funding cuts. (5) Personal accounts of what 'Human Space Travellers' (Cosmonauts, Astronauts, Euronauts etc) have said or done that are suprising, astounding or otherwise interesting in some way. (6) Miscellaneous pieces of trivia with a sufficiently high interest quotient. (ie, something likely to lift the eyebrows of perhaps just a few people and warrant a real 'Oh WOW, I didn't know that!'. (7) Rumours of a justifiable nature. This will need a separate section to be included in the list (To be set aside from trivia FACTS). Policy on excessive rumours and untruths:- As it is planned for this list to be updated regularly, additions to this file will hopefully come at a regular rate. Posting to newsgroups sci.space, sci.space.shuttle, sci.astro and perhaps the new space group of the ham.radio collection of groups will hopefully arouse enough regular interest to keep this list growing. Additions will then undergo minor scrutiny before inclusion in the list. If the moderator or any other person on the net have any reason to believe that a certain item of trivia may be false, then the item will be included in an 'Un-justified' group in this list. The owner of the information may then be asked to include some sort of evidence of information - whether it be references to works of other people, or working-out from scratch - then this will be investigated to determine whether the item has been doctored in any way. We hope to have our facts as found on record in at least one place around the globe, and our rumours as heard by at least a number of people. ***************************************************************************** * Submissions: * ***************************************************************************** For these reasons, we have a rough guideline for the format of submissions to this list, namely:- (1) In the subject header for the message, please include somewhere 'Submission for Trivia List'. You may include a brief title or whatever if you can squash it in. No need for a summary unless you are just accustomed to doing them. (2) FACTS: Please include some source information for your information. This sort of thing usually depends on the circumstance. Cost comparisons etc would prefer sources for values, Size comparisons would prefer measurements and where they were quoted from etc. If the trivia isn't yours, then let us know from where it came. (3) RUMOURS: It is hard to justify this one, but let us know if it is complete hear-say or if it is based on some report issued by whatever agency on the efficiency of whatever you think appropriate. Just give us some background - if you could. It's not like we'll be critical or anything - beggars can't be choosers - but it would help in the final organisation of everything if these simple guides were included. We'd like to include that, if the work gets hard, we'll issue a semi-formal-submission-format so that we can semi-automate the process. ***************************************************************************** * UPDATE LOG: * ***************************************************************************** 28/6/93 - Started the list for the first time, created the initial policy guidelines and posted the request for more trivia information to newsgroups sci.space, sci.space.shuttle, sci.astro and rec.radio.amateur.space. (It may prove necessary to remove this last group from the list if any of their group mentions that it is an inappropriate item for their group. The initial posting is to perhaps include some interesting trivia from their own personal experience, so for the moment it is to be included. ) Only items so far included are those from the Trivia Section of the 'Newcastle Space Fronter Society Update' - a privately distributed newsletter of the Newcastle chapter of the National Space Society of Australia, the Australian Network of Chapters of the National Space Society. (That's a lot to get down into one paragraph!) 17/7/93 - Changed the layout of the List by basically inverting the submission information - from top to bottom to make it better to read. Also, have received suggestions of posting only an updated list, but rather I think I'll include a list of changes in the first few lines, and people can still read through the rest if they've never seen it before. Included new ones from Shuttle by Nigel MacKnight, and also from the BIS Spaceflight Magazine. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Luke Plaizier - Entomological Toxophilist Extraordinaire Editor - Newcastle Space Frontier Society UPDATE Moderator - SPACE TRIVIA LIST lukpla@scorch.apana.org.au =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 919 ------------------------------