The Skylab Student Project

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The Skylab Student Project The Space Congress® Proceedings 1973 (10th) Technology Today and Tomorrow Apr 1st, 8:00 AM The Skylab Student Project Henry B. Floyd Skylab Student Project Manager, Marshall Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Huntsville, Alabama Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-proceedings Scholarly Commons Citation Floyd, Henry B., "The Skylab Student Project" (1973). The Space Congress® Proceedings. 3. https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-proceedings/proceedings-1973-10th/session-1/3 This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Conferences at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Space Congress® Proceedings by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE SKYLAB STUDENT PROJECT Henry B. Floyd Skylab Student Project Manager Marshall Space Flight Center National Aeronautics and Space Administration Huntsville, Alabama ABSTRACT The National Aeronautics and Space Administra­ extensive periods in weightlessness on the crews' tion (NASA) and the National Science Teachers' physiology required unprecedented hardware for Association (NSTA) undertook in 1971 a coopera­ biomedical assessments and sampling in orbit. tive effort which brought high school students of the Nation into the mainstream of Skylab research Skylab has become monumental in its technology through the Skylab Student Project. This paper which is built on the solid foundations of the presents the background, objectives and scope of Apollo Program and its forerunners, Gemini and the project, experiment selection procedures, as Mercury. The Saturn family of launch vehicles well as experiment descriptions and status. The provide not only the capacity for launching up to paper includes observations on student caliber 200, 000 pounds in earth orbit but also provides and inclinations and implications of some develop­ the basic architecture for the Skylab workshop. ments for the benefit of future researchers. The excellence of the technology which Skylab represents is well known and is treated exten­ INTRODUCTION sively elsewhere. It is mentioned here to high­ light its sophistication and magnitude, and to Extensive peripheral involvement of youth in introduce the thought that technology obviously is space exploration has long been undertaken in a not an end in itself no matter how sophisticated. wide variety of forms. Science Fairs, Explorer Technology is a bridge between knowledge and Scouts, clubs, classroom projects and similar useful products; it is not a destination but a route; activities have provided means for young people technology is the collective system by which needs to observe activities and study the emerging are satisfied and fulfillment achieved. sciences and new technologies. Inasmuch as severe limitations on launch weight, volume and The product of Skylab's technology, in fact the operational environments of previous programs product of virtually all space technology, is were eased by the scope and capacity of Skylab's knowledge. The extensive new industries, systems, the Program was in a position to processes and useful by-products which have consider more direct involvement by the Nation's emerged are coincidental. We apply knowledge youth. through technology to gain greater knowledge. As our first satellites led to Mercury's suborbital To the launch, navigation, control, communica­ manned flight, to Gemini's orbital flight, to tions, life support and recovery capabilities of Apollo's moon explorations, so Skylab's solar, its predecessors, Skylab has added a new genera­ stellar, and earth observations will lead to tion of facilities. Comfortable and relatively unprecedented knowledge of our planet, solar spacious quarters, essential to the work of system and universe. The studies of man's Skylab experiments, replace the Spartan physiology and of other bio-systems will lead to austerity of earlier programs. Attitude control greater understanding of the fundamentals of life for target acquisition and experiment and opera­ processes. Basic insights into physical phe­ tional data management required new generations nomena and materials technologies will come of on-board computers and data sensors, condi­ from that group of experiments. The knowledge tioners, recorders, transmitters and so on. we gain from Skylab will contribute immeasura­ Habitability for periods of up to 56 days imposed bly to the demise of one of man's oldest and most new demands on food, waste and atmospheric illusive'enemies, the unknown; by providing management, on sleep, bathing and recreation insight into his origin and by allowing him to accommodations. The potential effects of such predict some of the hitherto unknown, Skylab will 1-13 enhance man's well being and under standing of the A regional evaluation system was set up by the world around him. NSTA whereby the Continental U.S. and overseas areas were divided into twelve approximately Since the product of space technology is know­ equal population segments. A chairman for each ledge, a close contact is essential with the region was appointed and committees of prominent consumers of this knowledge if a market is to be scientists, engineers and educators were maintained. In the past we have relied upon organized to review the proposals submitted. The higher institutions, teacher orientation, visiting review was carried out on the basis of creative lecturers, publishers and news releases to ability, clarity of presentation, organization and distribute our new-found information. The appropriateness to the Skylab Program as defined results are highly commendable, as attested by in the entry instructions. The ability to define a great world-wide awareness. well thought out experiment from conception of an idea to actual implementation and performance Asa complement to the established distributors, together with the appropriateness to the perform­ the Skylab Student Project envisioned a demand ance in the space environment were important. and market stimulator for even greater consump­ tion of our increasing supply of knowledge. The The regional evaluation resulted in the designa­ simple premise developed that by directly tion of 301 proposals (approximately 10 percent) involving students in secondary schools through­ as regional winners and candidates for further out the Nation in Skylab research, these most consideration in the Skylab Program. A national imaginative, uninhibited, enthusiastic, and judging committee was organized by the NSTA and promising of all users of knowledge could an intensive evaluation of the 301 regional become intimately aware and personally involved winners was carried out. A group of NASA in gaining and applying the new knowledge. engineers and scientists advised the judges on program compatibility. From this group of regional winners, 25 finalists, were selected by ANNOUNCEMENT OF COMPETITION AND the NSTA judges as candidate experiments for SELECTION OF NATIONAL WINNERS performance on Skylab. Formal announcement of the 25 finalists was made on March 1, 1972. NASA had no direct line of communication with the science schools and teachers of the Nation. A brief summary of statistics follows: Assistance was sought from the NSTA and, upon determination that NSTA represented the quick­ National Winners - 25 est, most direct route to the largest number of Age Range - 14-18 science teachers, and students, an agreement Mean Age - 15.8 years (Female 15.4, was entered into by which NSTA would accomplish Male 15. 9) announcement and selection activities with Median and Modal Age - 16 years technical advisory assistance from NASA and its Males - 80% contractors. Females - 20% In October 1971, over 100, 000 announcements of Breakdown by scientific disciplines: the project were mailed to secondary school science teachers in the United States (U.S. ) and Earth Observations - 2 U.S. sponsored schools overseas. High school Astronomy - 6 students in grades 9-12 of the school year 1971- Biology: 1972 were eligible if enrolled in the Continental Microbiology - 2 U.S. or in U.S. schools abroad. The response Zoology - 2 to this announcement far exceeded expectations Botany - 3 and requests for more than 8, 700 entry kits were Human Physiology - 2 received. The number of actual proposals sub­ Physics - 8 mitted was 3,401, representing the individual and joint efforts of over 4, 000 students. The Winners represent 17 states. Their geographic enthusiasm of the student community was dispersion is shown in the map in Figure 1. illustrated by the fact that some students submitted their entries on hand-typed forms rather than the formal, printed ones. A single school in Pennsylvania submitted more than 80 proposals. 1-14 ROMAN NUMERALS - NSTA REGIONS ^REGIONAL CENTERS DSKYLAB STUDENT PROJECT NATIONAL WINNERS DISTRIBUTION * VI - PLUS PUERTO RICO, CANAL ZONE & VIRGIN ISLANDS ** XI - PLUS ALASKA *** XII - PLUS GUAM & HAWAII HAWAII Q FIC.URE 1: DISTRIBUTION OF REGIONS, PROPOSALS RECEIVED AND NATIONAL WINNERS FEASIBILITY ANALYSES AND CATEGORIZA- . Detailed design studies and feasibility analyses TIQN OF WINNERS indicated a wide range of potential impact of winners upon the Skylab Program from mere After the selection of the national winners, it was duplication of data for the student's purposes, to necessary for NASA to determine which experi­ expanded use of existing hardware, to new ments could be accommodated on Skylab. hardware, to extensive cost and schedule impacts.
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