Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT_ZIP/spacedig/V16_9/V16NO919.ZIP/V16NO919

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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
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 24 Jul 1993 17:02:04 -0400
From: Pat <[e-mail]>
Subject: Buran Hype? (was Re: DC-X Prophets and associated problems)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (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 <[e-mail]>
Subject: Cryogenic Rockets - Controversy between U.S, Russia and India
Newsgroups: sci.space,talk.politics.space

In article <22rqcc$[e-mail]> [e-mail] (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  --  [e-mail]  --  University of British Columbia

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1993 21:40:09 GMT
From: Paul Dietz <[e-mail]>
Subject: Cryogenic Rockets - Controversy between U.S, Russia and India
Newsgroups: sci.space,talk.politics.space

In article <22rqcc$[e-mail]> [e-mail] (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
        [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 24 Jul 93 22:20:32 BST
From: [e-mail]
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                    [e-mail]
the Politically Correct     Greybook:  [e-mail]
=======================================================================

------------------------------

Date: 24 Jul 1993 16:58:51 -0400
From: Pat <[e-mail]>
Subject: DC-X Prophets and associated problems
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (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 <[e-mail]>
Subject: Hubble solar arrays:  how'd they foul up?
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <9307231407.AA22320@Phobos> [e-mail] (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: [e-mail]
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                    [e-mail]
the Politically Correct     Greybook:  [e-mail]
=======================================================================

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1993 19:50:47 GMT
From: Luke Plaizier <[e-mail]>
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 [e-mail]]

(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 <[e-mail]>]

(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 <[e-mail]>]

(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 [e-mail]]

(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.


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*                                                                           *
*      SPACE RUMOURS - Interesting Rumours - True or Popular - that have    *
*                       surfaced from anywhere around the globe concerning  *
*                       space topics.                                       *
*                                                                           *
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(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 <[e-mail]>]

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*                                                                           *
*      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 [e-mail]]

(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 [e-mail]]

(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.
        [[e-mail]]

(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 <[e-mail]>]

(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.

*****************************************************************************
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*                                                                           *
*             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
                                                [e-mail]
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

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End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 919
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