"6_10_7_4_6.TXT" (13956 bytes) was created on 08-11-89 KENNEDY SPACE CENTER Traditional Center Roles and Missions Carved out of virgin savannah and marsh in the early 1960s as the departure point for Project Apollo's manned explorations of the Moon, the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has primary responsibility for ground turnaround and support operations, pre-launch checkout and launch of the Space Shuttle and its payloads, including those of Space Station Freedom. This responsibility extends to Space Transportation System (STS) operations, including the construction and maintenance of STS payload and flight element processing facilities, and the development of ground operations management, processing schedules and logistics, and their use in support of the STS and payloads. The construction of a Space Station Processing Facility is scheduled to begin in January of 1990. Kennedy Space Center responsibility also extends to the facilities and ground operations at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California and designated contingency landing sites. Shortly after President John F. Kennedy announced bold plans in 1961 to fly American astronauts to the Moon and return them safely by the end of the decade, Congress approved development of a strip of marsh and sandy scrub 34 miles long and five to ten miles wide on Florida's east coast, midway between Jacksonville and Miami. The "space coast" of Florida has long been determined ideal for launches and landings. The Atlantic Missile Range was built at Cape Canaveral, adjacent to the northern part of Merritt Island where KSC is now located. Later the Cape Canaveral peninsula became the Eastern Test Range where both Mercury and Gemini Spacecraft where launched. NASA began acquiring land across the Banana River from Cape Canaveral in 1962. By 1967, Complex 39 was operational, and the new space center was variously known as Cape Kennedy, Cape Canaveral, and the Cape. Complex 39 is strategically located next to a barge site and soon consisted of a variety of structures including a vehicle assembly building, processing facilities, press site, crawlways to various launch pads and the launch control center. The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is described as the "heart" of Complex 39. This huge building, covering eight acres and standing 525 feet tall, is used for assembly, stacking and mating of rockets and orbiters. The Launch Control Center (LCC) is described as the "brain" of Complex 39. Launch, mission support and loading are controlled here. Twelve manned and unmanned Saturn V/Apollo missions were launched from "the Cape" between 1967 and 1972, and in 1973 the Skylab space station was placed into high-circular orbit, followed by three-member crews aboard Saturns later that year to tend the station. The Saturn/Apollo era ended in 1975 with the launch of a Saturn IV/Apollo crew on a joint manned mission with the Soviet Union. Earlier, in 1972, KSC was selected as the primary launch and landing site for the Space Shuttle because of its existing facilities and structures. A three-mile Shuttle Landing Facility and an Orbiter Processing Facility were built, and the Orbital Flight Test Program began at KSC in 1979. Within three years, KSC launched the STS four times. The Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System was tested, and both government-sponsored and commercial experiments were conducted in the payload bay on a Spacelab pallet. The current phase, commencing in 1982, is called the STS Operational Period for KSC. The European-built Spacelab was flown within 18 months, plus a variety of observational, scientific and communications payloads. By 1983, KSC was involved with parallel processing of three Shuttle orbiters for the STS. Today KSC continues lead responsibility for Shuttle integration and rollout, cargo processing, launch pad operations and Shuttle recovery. With the launch of STS-26, the Discovery Orbiter, KSC resumes its primary role with the Space Shuttle and continues its launch capability of unmanned rockets as America prepares to enter the space station era. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) By March of 1994, Kennedy Space Center plans operational readiness for a $68.74 million Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF). Construction begins in January of 1990. The SSPF will be a 264,000 square foot building designed especially for the processing of Space Station Freedom payloads to be launched by multiple Space Shuttles in the cargo bay. Flight elements arrive at KSC by various means, including a C-5B, currently being modified by the U.S. Air Force to carry Shuttle payloads. A mobile transporter moves the hardware to the SSPF where it is removed from shipping containers, inspected and serviced in preparation for power-up testing, if necessary. Some flight elements, such as the basic truss structure, are "ship and shoot" items, requiring little KSC testing or processing. Other elements, such as pressurized modules, will require full functional testing at the SSPF. Specific processing steps are being selected from capabilities appropriate for each flight element. Generally, each flight element follows a four-part handling in the SSPF. First, post shipment verification is conducted by inspecting the quantity and condition of each package. Accompanying data packages are reviewed, and problems or discrepancies are documented. The flight elements are serviced by filling, purging, sampling and leak-testing all fluid and gas containers. Ground support equipment is connected and the system is powered up to detect shipping damage or defects. Finally, the Interface Test, the most critical of all, is conducted. Current planning indicates that each element will be tested for exact interface with all other pertinent elements by the use of simulation. The interface test includes functional verification of one work package to the others, then functional verification of the on-orbit configuration. Verification of critical interfaces, and verification of the on-orbit installation sequence are performed. Possible other tasks include verification of interfaces between the on-orbit station and the Orbiter flight decks, and verification of on-orbit assembly procedures involving the astronauts. Subtasks of the Interface Test involve international partners, communications and software systems. Functional verification of the space station core systems and the Canadian, Japanese and European elements are required to assure compatibility and critical interfaces. Major concerns are fire detection and suppression, environmental control and life support systems, and auxiliary power. Two separate tests will verify the Space Station Information System (SSIS). One test will verify the compatibility of SSIS hardware and software, confirm SSIS operational procedures and validate the software for the Space Station Control Center which will command and monitor the core systems of the space station. Another test verifies the end-to-end interfaces between experiments and their Payload Operations Control Centers scattered throughout the nation and across the oceans at the international partner centers. Finally, flight software load and verification are handled in the SSPF. Tests are performed to verify that flight software and hardware are compatible and correctly installed. After all this testing, fluids and gases are prepared for flight, switches are reset, non-flight items are removed, and the flight elements are packaged for launch. Crew members may participate so they can determine the best methods of unpacking once they are aboard Space Station Freedom. Upon return of the Shuttle from orbit, user payloads are removed at the SSPF and routed to international, governmental and private users. Logistics modules are refurbished and refilled for the next flight to the station. An estimated 20,000 orbital replacement line items will be handled at KSC for logistical purposes aboard the space station. Non-hazardous station elements will be processed at the SSPF. Such items as gaseous oxygen and hydrogen will be loaded on modules at the hazardous processing facility. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER Space Station Freedom Unique Activities Once the space station elements and systems are manufactured and tested by either the NASA Work Package Centers, their contractors or international partners, all roads lead to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The various shipments are off-loaded at KSC for receiving and inspection in the proposed Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF). There the space station elements, systems and user payloads to be launched by the Space Shuttle are inspected and monitored for damage or leaks. All structural and mechanical parts are reviewed for safety, verification and interface with elements or systems from other Centers and partners. Both hardware and software are verified for post-shipment health, fit and functionality. Pressure, temperature and humidity are evaluated, and some assembly may take place there before the payload is placed into a canister for transport. Ground processing of logistics elements is critical to Space Station Freedom operations. Three types of logistics carriers are designed for the station, supplied and resupplied by the ground crew at KSC. A pressurized logistics module will carry hardware and consumables in a benign temporary storage facility, accessible in orbit without EVA equipment. A fluids pallet handles the resupply of consumables for the on-orbit Environmental Control and Life Support System, laboratories and satellite servicing. An unpressurized cargo pallet carries tools, equipment and supplies. Each of these is loaded into the canister for transportation and installation in the Shuttle cargo bay at KSC and off-loaded after return for refurbishing and resupply in the Space Station Processing Facility. Users are expected to provide payload-peculiar Ground Support Equipment (GSE) and technical data documentation. All international and domestic users must ensure interface compatibility of their equipment. Interface and verification of payload-to-station and station-to-Shuttle are required before canisters leave the Space Station Processing Facility. Hazardous payloads, such as those containing fuel or power cells, are trucked to the Hazardous Processing Facility at KSC for servicing. Other station-related facilities include the Logistics Facility at KSC and the Payload Processing Facility at the Vandenburg Launch Site. Eventually, the various space station payloads end up at the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in Complex 39, the heart of KSC. The VAB covers eight full acres and stands 525 feet high, one of the largest buildings in the world. Here the solid rocket boosters are stacked and mated to the Space Shuttle orbiter. The environmentally controlled payload canisters arrive at the VAB on a 48-wheel, self-propelled truck, able to move forward, backward, sideways and diagonally. The cannister containing the payload is rotated to a vertical position and carried out to the launch pad. The orbiter and attached rockets are moved to the launch pad in a vertical position. They are carried by a crawler with four double-track drives, each 10 feet high and 41 feet long. They travel along a roadway as broad as an eight-lane turnpike at about two miles per hour. The upright payload canister follows later, after the Shuttle propulsion and rockets are tested. At the launch pad, the Space Station Freedom payload is installed in the Orbiter as KSC personnel verify the interface before closeout. Nominal postlanding processing follows roughly the same procedure in reverse. The Shuttle payload from Space Station Freedom is transported to the Space Station Processing Facility after the Orbiter has been inspected and the flight systems hardware removed. At the SSPF, Kennedy Space Center workers examine the payload and return the experiments or products to the users. The reusable flight systems hardware, such as spools, dispensers and pallets, are refurbished and tested for the next flight to Space Station Freedom. Currently, STS flights to the station are scheduled over a period of four years, with elements being flown in a "phased construction" approach to space station assembly. Payload processing can begin from one year to six months before flight. At any one time, pay-loads for four separate flights can be processed. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER Space Station Freedom Projects Office Until the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) is built at Kennedy Space Center, the KSC Space Station Projects Office is devoted to systems engineering and integration, ground support equipment management, operations and customer support, project control and logistics systems. The SSPO Manager reports to the Space Station Program Office in Reston, Virginia. Because NASA has overall responsibility for the integration of both international and U.S. elements and systems with the National Space Transportation System, Kennedy will be the focal point for pre-launch and launch activities. Technicians from Japan, Canada and ESA will provide technical and hands-on support for the integration of international elements at the KSC Space Station Projects Office. The KSC Space Station Freedom test teams will provide launch site final acceptance testing and certification of facilities at science and technology centers, if requested. Launch site testing is designed to verify major interfaces, provide confidence tests of critical systems, and verify end-to-end operations between the flight elements and ground control centers. The KSC processing team is also responsible for the resupply of the fluids, supplies and hardware that require early access to the Orbiter cargo bay upon return. Less critical items, such as experiment racks and specimens are off-loaded at the SSPF and routed to users.