An Overview of the Ease/Access Space Construction Demonstration

by George M. Levin,
Jerry L. Ross,
Sherwood C. Spring,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Engineering, Construction, and Operations in Space

Abstract:

With the successful completion of the EASE/ACCESS demonstration, NASA took a significant step toward understanding construction in space. These experiments were performed on November 29 and December 1, 1985, during shuttle mission 61-B. EASE/ACCESS was an integrated payload developed under the auspices of the Office of Space Flight. The experiments were developed and integrated over a three year period which included extensive simulations of assembly and disassembly conducted in the NASA neutral buoyancy simulators. During the course of the mission all objectives were met and all hardware functioned as planned. Vivid downlinked television, as well as recorded television, 16 mm time synchronized stereoscopic film, and still photographs from cameras in the payload bay, on the remote manipulator arm, and in the aft flight deck windows resulted in this being the most photographically documented space demonstration undertaken by NASA. This paper describes the process required to develop the EASE/ACCESS space construction demonstration.

Subject Headings: Space construction | Space structures | Space stations | Federal government | Space exploration | Photography | Payloads

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