Spacelab Payloads: Prepping Experiments and Hardware for Flight

Spacelab was a reusable laboratory facility that was flown on the Space Shuttle from 1983 to 1998. Completing 22 major missions and contributing to many other NASA goals, Spacelab stands as one of the Shuttle program’s most resounding successes.

The system comprised multiple components, including a pressurized laboratory module, unpressurized carrier pallets and other related hardware, all housed in the Shuttle’s Payload Bay and crew compartment. But how did all those varied components actually come together?

The answer is the little-known “Level-IV”, a team of managers and engineers who molded separate elements of hardware into cohesive and safe payloads. Without the dedication and drive of the Level-IV team, the huge successes of the Spacelab missions would not have been achieved. This is their story.

You will learn herein how Level-IV was formed, who was involved, and the accomplishments, setbacks and problems faced along the way, in a story that blends both the professional and personal sides of Level-IV operations and its legacy. Upon reading this book, you will gain a new appreciation for this crucial team and understand what is meant when you hear the term “Level-IV”.

Michael E. Haddad retired 2011 from NASA at Kennedy Space Center with 32 years of Flight and Ground systems engineering and operational experience. His responsibilities included hands-on processing for different classifications of flight hardware for: domestic and international payloads; Spacelab payloads, shuttle planetary, observatory and satellite class payloads such as Galileo, Ulysses, and Gamma Ray Observatory; TDRS communication satellites and Hubble Space Telescope. He was the KSC Point-of-Contact for Extravehicular Activities (EVA) & Crew Systems for International Space Station (ISS) and Constellation Program, as well as the integration engineer for the ISS Multi-Element Integrated Testing (MEIT). Haddad created On-Orbit Constraints Tests that verified interfaces between flight systems launched on different missions then assembled in space.

David J. Shayler has been following the shuttle operational story for over 30 years and in particular aspects of its relationship with space stations. He has presented numerous papers on the topic and has authored series of articles published by the BIS in support of this outreach program and research. This work includes:

• 1991: The proposed USSR Salyut and US Shuttle Docking Mission circa 1981 (paper presented at the BIS Soviet Technical Forum 1991; paper published in JBIS 1991)
• 2000: American flights to Mir (Space shuttle) (published in BIS publication History of Mir; paper presented at BIS Soviet Technical Forum)
  
• 2002: NASA Shuttle missions to ISS (1998-2002) (published in BIS publication From Imagination to Reality: the ISS Volume 1)
  
• 2005: NASA Shuttle missions to ISS (2002-2005) (published in the BIS publication From Imagination to Reality: the ISS Volume 2)
  
• Unpublished: NASA Shuttle missions to ISS (2005-2011)

Shayler joined the BIS in January 1976 and has participated in numerous activities, programs and projects including chairing meetings, working on committees and contributing to society publications. Dozens of his articles have appeared in BIS publications since 1977. He created Astro Info Service in October 1982 to focus his space writing and research, with lectures and educational outreach activities. Early publications included the periodicals ORBITER (on the Shuttle) and ZENIT (on Soviet activities), and a growing range of biographies on the world's space explorers. In 1990 he co-created the Midland Spaceflight Society and acts as its chairman. His first books were published in 1987 by Ian Allen and Salamander Books and since then over 20 titles have been authored including 13 titles in the Praxis Space Library between 2000 and 2009. He has also contributed to U. S. books and collections on human spaceflight including the three editions of Macmillan’s Who’s Who in Space edited by Michael Cassutt. In 2008 his authorised biography on Skylab astronaut Jerry Carr was published after 20years’ research. Personal research has been conducted at NASA JSC in Houston and at KSC in Florida, as well as at Rice and Clear Lake Universities and NARA archives in Texas. His research has also allowed him to complete a fascinating and informative visit to Russia in 2003 visiting the Cosmonaut Training Center and other facilities around Moscow.