IML-1: The First International Microgravity Laboratory For seven days in early 1992, NASA's Spacelab will transform the Space Shuttle Discovery into an international, orbiting laboratory. Discovery's crew of seven, representing three different countries, will explore the effects of weightlessness on both materials and certain life functions. While some experiments will be carried out in the Shuttle crew cabin, most will take place in the shirtsleeve environment of Spacelab, a fully-equipped research laboratory carried within the orbiter's cargo bay. The first in a series of International Microgravity Laboratory missions, IML-1 is a NASA Office of Space Science and Applications mission operation and a cooperative venture of space agencies around the world. It is managed by and controlled from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. More than 220 scientists from 14 nations (including the U.S.) have contributed to the experiments for the IML-1 flight aboard Shuttle mission STS-42. The near weightlessness, or "microgravity," of low-Earth orbit makes it a unique environment for science. Gravity is an influential factor in the way life develops and how materials interact on Earth. The IML-1 science crew will delve into the fundamentals or materials processing, measuring subtle interactions that would be masked by gravity's pull on Earth. They will grow crystals of interest to researchers in advanced electronics and medicine. They will test the adaptation to microgravity of their own bodies, as well as that of life forms ranging from tiny cells to plants and insects. The physical changes astronauts experience in space, such as the space adaptation syndrome and bone and muscle deterioration, will be closely examined. Lessons learned will be important to planning future long-term missions aboard Space Station Freedom and exploration of the moon and Mars. Discoveries gained through the IML-1 mission will not only aid future space exploration; they hold potential for improving life on Earth as well. As space experiments increase our knowledge about biological processes such as bone cell production and inner ear sensitivity to gravity, we can apply what we learn to medical problems at home. Insights into the influence of gravity and other physical phenomena on producing improved materials will be useful on Earth. Also, in some cases higher quality protein crystals can be grown in space than on the ground, assisting scientists in the definition of the structures of these proteins -- many of which are basic components of life and a few of which may be keys to producing more effective treatments for disease. An International Mission IML-1 equipment has been provided by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the French National Center for Space Studies (CNES), the German Space Agency (DARA), and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). The experiments were developed by scientists from those agencies and from other institutions around the world. Together, principal investigators (experiments science team leaders) for each of the experiments form the IML-1 Investigator Working Group which guides science planning for the mission. The international cooperation of missions such as IML-1 is a mutually beneficial arrangement. NASA provides mission management and some experiments, prepares the payload, and furnishes Shuttle transportation to and from orbit. Other space agencies provide additional hardware of particupar interest to U.S. scientists that both international and American scientists use. In addition to reducing costs for the individual agencies, this cooperation allows scientists from all over the world to share experiment results. The Laboratory In view of their international nature, it is appropriate that the IML flights are Spacelab missions. The European Space Agency provided Spacelab to NASA in 1981 as its contribution to the Space Shuttle program. Spacelab equipment, which operates within the Shuttle's cargo bay throughout a mission, consists of several components which can be assembled into different configurations to meet needs of specific missions. A fully-equipped pressurized laboratory module allows scientists to work much as they would in Earth-bound labs, while open platforms, called pallets, are available for mounting experiments requiring direct exposure to space. The IML-1 mission uses the module only, which is connected to the orbiter's crew cabin by a pressurized tunnel. Spacelab control equipment and experiment facilities are stowed in racks lining the sides of the module. For the IML-1 mission, the center aisle of the laboratory will also be occupied by experiment equipment. One important advantage of Spacelab is that all hardware is returned to Earth, allowing it to be used again. The four previous Spacelab module missions have produced an impressive international inventory of hardware equipment. Some 60 percent of the IML-1 experiments flew aboard previous Spacelabs. During Spacelab missions, controllers and experiment scientists direct science activities from the Spacelab Mission Operations Control facility in Huntsville, Ala. They have a direct voice communication link with the orbiting Spacelab crew, and on-board video cameras make it possible for them to view crew and experiment activities. Scientists and controllers on the ground can receive information from Spacelab experiments and send commands via computer links. With this ready communications access, scientists on the ground and scientists in orbit can work together sharing information about experiments, monitoring data, solving problems and revising experiment plans to take advantage of unexpected research opportunities. The IML-1 Crew The STS-42 IML-1 flight has a seven-member crew. Air Force Colonel Ronald J. Grabe, a NASA astronaut since 1980 and veteran of two previous Shuttle missions, serves as commander. The orbiter crew, which will support scientific research in addition to operating the Shuttle, includes on their first Shuttle flight Pilot Stephen S. Oswald and Mission Specialist William R. Readdy, both aerospace engineers and former test pilots. Science investigations in orbit will be conducted primarily by the Spacelab payload crew, composed of two mission specialists and two payload specialists. Mission specialists are NASA astronauts with expertise in medicine, science or engineering. Payload specialists are not career NASA astronauts, but rather scientists nominated by the Investigator Working Group to participate in a Shuttle mission. The two mission specialist members of the payload crew are: Dr. Norman E. Thagard, a medical doctor, electrical engineer, and former naval aviator; and Marine Lieutenant Colonel David C. Hilmers, an electrical engineer. Both have flown on three previous Shuttle missions. Payload specialists are: Dr. Roberta L. Bondar, a medical doctor who has been a member of the Canadian Astronaut Program since 1983; and Dr. Ulf D. Merbold, a German physicist representing the European Space Agency and head of his country's astronaut office. Merbold flew on the first Spacelab mission (Spacelab 1, 1983) as a payload specialist. Alternate payload specialists, who serve as backup for the payload specialists, are Dr. Roger K. Crouch, chief scientist in NASA's Microgravity Science and Applications Division; and Dr. Kenneth E. Money, a Canadian scientist who has done extensive research in vestibular function and motion sickness. During the mission, they will perform a key role in the Spacelab control center as communicators between the scientists on the ground and the crew in orbit. The IML-1 Mission Many IML experiments require a very smooth ride through space so their delicate operations will not be disturbed. Therefore, when the Shuttle Discovery achieves its 160-nautical-mile orbit, it will be placed into a "gravity-gradient" attitude with its tail pointed toward Earth. This allows its position to be maintained primarily by natural forces and reduces the need for frequent orbiter thruster firings which could disturb sensitive experiments. Because of the great number of experiments planned for the mission, the crew will work around the clock in two 12-hour shifts. The first hours of the mission will be especially busy. The payload crew will begin the mission by setting up equipment and turning on experiment facilities. Because the Spacelab module is placed in the Shuttle's cargo bay weeks before launch, critical biological and materials samples, which degrade quickly, will be loaded into crew-cabin lockers a few hours before liftoff. Orbiter and payload crew members will transfer these samples to experiment facilities in the laboratory before science operations are begun. During the first days of the mission, the payload crew will activate critical biological and materials experiments and set up those involving plants, cells and crystals. Much of the crew time throughout the mission will be devoted to experiments which measure how their own bodies adapt to living in space. Throughout the mission, crystal growth and fluid physics research will be conducted, and experiments will be carried out. Experiments also will continue with plants, cells and other biological specimens. The crew will check investigations periodically, make adjustments needed to enhance results and, when necessary, replace specimens or preserve them for ground-based analysis. The payload crew aboard Spacelab will use both voice and video links to consult with the scientists on the ground during critical operations and to modify experiments as required. The last days will be spent completing investigations. The crew will repeat some experiments performed earlier in the mission to measure how their bodies have adapted to space over the course of the flight. On the final day, they will turn off the equipment, store samples and specimens, and prepare the laboratory for landing. Complete analysis of all the data acquired during the mission may take from a few months to several years. Results will be shared with the worldwide scientific community through normal publication channels. The IML-1 Experiments Life science and materials science are logical partners for Spacelab missions. Materials processing facilities draw an extensive amount of the power available for experiments, but they demand comparatively little crew time. On the other hand, life science experiments -- particularly those where the crew serve as test subjects as well as scientists -- are time-intensive but do not require a great deal of power. Life Science Many of the IML-1 life science experiments will study the impact of weightlessness on certain elements of human function, using the crew as experiment subjects. Others will concentrate on the effects of gravity and radiation on the development of biological samples -- from spores and plants to bacteria and fruit flies. Before we can send astronauts on long space journeys or establish outposts on other worlds, we must know more about the effects of space on all forms of life. NASA's Microgravity Vestibular Investigations place a crew member in a rotating and oscillating chair, located in the center aisle of the laboratory, to test optic and inner ear responses to head and body movements in weightlessness. On Earth, the brain perceives movement by comparing what a person sees and hears with signals from the gravity- and motion-detecting vestibular organs of the inner ear. These vestibular signals are altered in space, so astronauts often experience unusual motion sensations or even experience nausea similar to motion sickness until they adjust to the new environment. Crew members will be subjected to different frequencies and directions of rotation in the test chair, while eye motions are recorded with a tiny video camera mounted in a special helmet. These types of data will be taken at the beginning, in the middle, and near the end of the flight, allowing scientists to track changes over time. Effects of weightlessness on the human body will also be evaluated with five Space Physiology Experiments, provided by Canada. The most extensive of these focuses on the vestibular system, while others study cardiovascular deconditioning, the back pain often experienced by astronauts, crew member energy expenditure, and eye movement resulting from motion stimulation of the inner ear. Crew member test subjects will ride in a mini-sled attached to a track on the Spacelab floor. A sixth experiment, investigating the physics of phase partitioning (separation of two materials), a process which may be used to separate biological materials, is also included in this group. The Mental Workload and Performance Evaluation, a NASA experiment, has a very practical purpose: determining the most comfortable positions and efficient equipment for doing "desk work" in space. Crew members will perform various tasks requiring interaction with a computer workstation. The facility includes an adjustable surface for planning sessions and record keeping, as well as a portable computer with a keyboard, joystick, and trackball. Crew reports on the most efficient positions and equipment will influence the design of workstations for future missions. NASA's Gravitational Plant Physiology Experiments will study the response of plants to two forces: gravity and light. Normally on Earth, the roots of a plant grow downward -- even if the plant is turned on its side -- and its stem grows upward and bends toward the light. In the low gravity of space, it is possible to study the effects of light and gravity separately. To evaluate the influence of gravity on plants, payload crew members will place oat seedlings in one centrifuge for germination, then in another that exposes them to various levels of gravity parallel to the soil surface. They will be illuminated only by infrared light (to which the plants do not respond). Plant responses to light in the absence of the complicating force of gravity will be studied by exposing wheat seedlings in microgravity to varying durations of blue light (to which plants are most sensitive). Responses in both experiments will be recorded on videotape for later study. Biorack, a European Space Agency facility which was flown on Spacelab D-1 in 1985, hosts 17 international experiments -- three of them from the U.S. They will study the effects of both microgravity and space radiation on plants, tissues, cells, bacteria, fruit flies, frog eggs, and other biological samples. Crew members will conduct experiments on duplicate sets of up to 150 pre-packaged samples, placing one of each sample in a rack exposed to weightlessness and putting its twin in a centrifuge which spins to approximate Earth's gravity. Meanwhile, scientists on Earth will conduct the same experiments in true gravity. Samples will be compared after the mission for variations in development. Duplicate specimens grown in different environments will help scientists determine whether changes were caused by the trauma of launch, microgravity, radiation or a combination of these. Radiation, like microgravity, is a factor of the space environment whose impact on people and plants is little understood. Most harmful radiation never reaches Earth, because it is filtered out by the atmosphere. However, it is a long-term hazard in space. In addition to Biorack, two other IML experiments will measure the effects of radiation. Germany's Biostack package, which alternates sheets of plastic radiation detectors with layers of bacteria, fungus spores, thale cress seeds and shrimp eggs, will be placed in various parts of the Shuttle. After the mission, scientists can track paths of radiation particles and determine if they altered the samples. Japan's Radiation Monitoring Container Device, which also layers radiation detectors and biological samples, is enclosed on all sides by gauges which measure radiation dosages. It will be mounted on the end cone of Spacelab, which has somewhat lower radiation protection than other areas in the module. Materials Science IML-1 materials science experiments primarily concentrate on various methods of crystal growth, along with the study of fluid behavior in microgravity. Pure, nearly perfect crystals are needed in computers, lasers, and other optical and electrical devices. Crystals grown on Earth are often flawed, since they are pulled downward by gravity during their formation or distorted by their containers. In microgravity, crystals are free to develop without distortion. Two facilities will be used to grow mercury iodide crystals, used as X-ray and gamma-ray detectors. These crystals are so fragile they can be deformed under their own weight when grown on Earth. Both the Vapor Crystal Growth System, provided by NASA, and France's Mercury Iodide Crystal Growth experiment use vapor transport to form crystals. Various temperatures and pressures are used to determine conditions which produce the best crystal growth results. Both experiments have flown on previous Spacelab missions. Japan's Organic Crystal Growth Facility will grow organic superconductor crystals from solution. Researchers are interested in these materials because, in spite of their organic nature, they can -- at extremely low temperatures -- transfer electric current with no resistance, just like a metal superconductor. Superconductors are key components of computers, communications satellites, and other electrical devices. NASA's Fluids Experiment System will allow scientists, using sophisticated optics, to monitor the flow of fluids during crystallization. A laser system will make three-dimensional holograms of samples, and a video camera will record images of fluid flows. Triglycine sulfate crystals, valuable as room-temperature infrared detectors, will be grown in the facility. Also conducted in the facility will be an experiment which uses a metal-modeling salt to study how alloys solidify. Of particular interest to industry, it will improve our understanding of methods used to produce high performance alloys for jet engines, nuclear power plant turbines, and future spacecraft. Two different facilities for growing protein crystals -- large, complex molecules that are essential to all life -- will fly aboard IML-1. Germany's Cryostat will grow protein crystals in two thermostat chambers: one in a room-temperature stabilizer mode and the other in a freezer mode which varies from below freezing to room temperature during an experiment. NASA's Protein Crystal Growth experiment is the only IML-1 materials science facility not located in the Spacelab module. Rather, it is mounted in place of two Shuttle middeck lockers and operated by the orbiter crew. During previous Shuttle missions, this experiment produced several crystals of better quality than any grown on Earth. Scientists may use their analyses of protein crystals to develop more effective disease-fighting drugs. ESA's Critical Point Facility is designed for the optical study of transparent fluids. Scientists will use it to observe fluids at their "critical point," where a precise combination of temperature and pressure makes the vapor and liquid states indistinguishable. Such observations are hampered on Earth, since as soon as vapor begins to liquefy, forming droplets, gravity pulls the drops down. IML-1 will be this facility's first Shuttle flight, so results gained during this mission will offer unique new insights on fundamental questions about the basic laws of physics. Many different materials behave in a very similar manner near their critical points. Thus, observations of experiment samples in the facility may be related universally to various physical problems regarding phase changes in both liquids and solids. In addition to the experiment facilities, the IML-1 payload includes the Space Acceleration Measurement System, which measures and records disturbances in the Spacelab caused by crew motion, experiment and Spacelab operations, and orbiter thruster firings. Also on board will be the IMAX camera, a 70-millimeter large-format movie camera for filming mission activities. IML-1 Management The IML program is sponsored by NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications in Washington, D.C. Mission management and science mission control is the responsibility of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Spacelab module and experiment racks are processed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which is also responsible for launching the lab aboard the Space Shuttle. Shuttle orbiter control during the mission is furnished by Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., provides communications links between the Shuttle and ground controllers via a network of satellites and relay stations. Goddard also records experiment data. Program Manager Mr. R. Wayne Richie NASA Headquarters Office of Space Science and Applications Program Scientist Dr. Ronald J. White NASA Headquarters Office of Space Science and Applications Mission Manager Mr. Robert O. McBrayer Marshall Space Flight Center Payload Projects Office Assistant Mission Manager Mr. John L. Frazier Marshall Space Flight Center Payload Projects Office Mission Scientist Dr. Robert S. Snyder Marshall Space Flight Center Space Science Laboratory Assistant Mission Scientist Ms. Teresa Y. Miller Marshall Space Flight Center Space Science Laboratory IML-1 Quick Facts Flight Number: STS-42 Orbiter: Discovery Altitude: 160 nautical miles (296 kilometers) Orbital Path: Circular Inclination: 57 degrees Mission Duration: 7 days Payload Operations: Around the clock; two 12-hour shifts Crew Assignments: Blue Team: Commander Ron Grabe, New York, N.Y. Pilot Steve Oswald, considers Bellingham, Wash., to be hometown Mission Specialist Norm Thagard, considers Jacksonville, Fla., to be hometown Payload Specialist Roberta Bondar, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada Red Team: Mission Specialist Bill Readdy, considers McLean, Va., to be hometown Mission Specialist Dave Hilmers, considers DeWitt, Iowa, to be hometown Payload Specialist Ulf Merbold, Greiz, Germany Spacelab Configuration: Long module, 23 feet (7.0 meters) in length and 14 feet (4.27 meters) in diameter Equipment Racks: More than 30 feet (9.14 meters) of racks line the Spacelab module, with four 40-inch (1.01-meter) wide double racks and four 19-inch (0.48-meter) wide single racks dedicated to science experiments. Others are occupied by the Spacelab computer control center, a work bench and support equipment. Participating Agencies: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) European Space Agency (ESA) Canadian Space Agency (CSA) French National Center for Space Studies (CNES) German Space Agency (DARA) National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA)