For Release: Sept. 30, 1997

Steve Roy
Media Services Branch
(256) 544-6535
steve.roy@msfc.nasa.gov

Release: 97-246

A spacewalking U.S. and Russian team will retrieve four experiments that have been measuring the long-term, harsh effects of space on the Russian space station Mir.

One of the devices, known as the Passive Optical Sample Assembly-1, was developed at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. It, and the other three experiments, will be returned to Earth on Space Shuttle Atlantis for study and analysis of findings.

The retrieval operation is planned for Wednesday, Oct. 1, at 1:44 p.m. CDT, during a four-and-a-half-hour extravehicular activity, or spacewalk.

Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Titov, making his fourth spacewalk, will be the first Russian cosmonaut to ever use a U.S. space suit. Titov and U.S. astronaut Scott Parazynski will team up to retrieve the space environments and effects experiments, which are expected to yield vital information on the harsh conditions of space travel, orbital debris and the endurance of various spacecraft materials.

The Marshall-managed and developed Passive Optical Sample Assembly-1 consists of nearly 400 samples of thermal control paints, chemical coatings, mirrors, optics and other materials being considered for future enhancements on the International Space Station. This next-generation space station is a multi-national cooperative effort to establish a large laboratory platform in orbit around the Earth.

"We're looking forward to seeing the experiment returned to Marshall Center for analysis," explained project engineer Jim Zwiener of Marshall. "We anticipate learning a great deal about the effects of the space environment on materials important to the long-term health of other spacecraft, including the International Space Station."

The four experiments, attached to the Mir during a spacewalk from Atlantis in March 1996, are part of studies to understand the contamination spacecraft face in their orbiting environment. This includes observations of the effects of natural radiation and meteor and orbital debris.

"A major objective of the Shuttle/Mir missions, and investigations such as the space environments and effects experiments, is to lower design and operational risks for the Space Station," said Steve Pearson, Marshall’s program manager for the space environments and effects program.

Other Marshall-managed and developed space environment experiments aboard Mir include the Optical Properties Monitor, which was attached to the exterior of the Mir Docking Module during a January spacewalk by U.S. astronaut Jerry Linenger. This device measures the effects of the space environment on materials ranging from telescope mirrors to coatings used on spacecraft.

The current Shuttle mission is transporting the Space Portable Spectroreflectometer to Mir. The device is designed to shine light on the surface of Mir and measure how much of the light is absorbed or reflected by the spacecraft surface. This will tell researchers how much deterioration of the exterior surface has occurred. The instrument is scheduled to be used during a spacewalk planned for later this year.

AZ Technology of Huntsville, Ala., built both the Optical Properties Monitor and the Space Portable Spectroreflectometer experiments.