discovery Houston winter Hawaiian with
America shuttle fleet is playing a vital
role in preparing people and machinery
for a more permanent presence in space
Space Station freedom
shuttle is on orbit testing of new
hardware like this restorable solar
array has helped engineers designed
lightweight contact structures for the
station astronauts also gain knowledge
in handling large objects and connecting
space station like components even
devices for transporting crew members
along freedoms 350 foot trusts of been
tested
on several occasions the shuttles
payload Bay has been converted to accept
spacelab similar in design to the
scientific laboratories plan for station
freedom here life science experiments
focus on the bodies and apt ation to
weightlessness without gravity bones and
muscles deteriorate rapidly astronauts
conduct research to find out why and
test possible countermeasures to prepare
for extended stays aboard freedom
microgravity research gives America a
competitive edge in today's high-tech
marketplace providing valuable new
developments in such fields as materials
electronics and Biosciences for example
protein crystals can be grown larger and
more uniform in space researchers want
to unlock the molecular structure of
proteins large molecules that perform
any key functions in our bodies so they
can design drugs targeting specific
diseases and viruses shuttles spend only
a few weeks in Earth orbit while space
station is designed for a long-term stay
its state-of-the-art laboratory will
house more than a hundred scientific
including those to develop better
more efficient semiconductors and solar
energy systems this research will
revolutionize our way of life in the
same way the Apollo era gave us
technology for computers laser surgery
long distance calling and even ATM
machines already prototype components
are being built and tested engineers are
also fine-tuning power systems and
simulating the station's demands on
electricity 18 Shuttle missions will
carry prefabricated sections of the
station into orbit using robotic arms to
assist astronauts during assembly once
completed a single habitation and three
laboratory modules will be clustered
together shared by the United States of
its international partners Canada Japan
and 13 European countries
freedoms for person cruz are scheduled
to spend three to six months at a time
living working and observing from its
unique vantage point
the station will regularly be visited by
shuttle ferrying food supplies and new
scientific experiments from Earth one
thing is certain the key to this country
space future is tied to the ability to
live and work there on a permanent basis
Station freedom a unique outpost built
on the strength of America's space
program
every year nearly half a million
Americans suffer sudden cardiac arrest
the heart begins to beat a rapidly
losing its ability to pump blood often
the only hope for survival is a
defibrillator sending electrical shocks
to the heart that can restore normal
rhythms in the past those fortunate
enough to live through an episode like
this faced more bad news a 50-50 chance
of it happening again within two years
today these odds can be reduced to about
two percent thanks to this automatic and
plentiful cardioverter defibrillators or
aicd incorporating a variety of NASA
developed technologies the device
consists of a pulse generator in a
series of wire leads all implanted in
the body the generator about the size of
a deck of cards is inserted under the
skin in the abdomen leads connected to
the generator sewn onto are placed
inside the heart once implanted the AICD
continually monitors cardiac activity
delivering corrective electrical shocks
any time erratic rhythms occur according
to dr. ray Beltran a chief of cardiology
at sinai hospital in baltimore city more
than half of the 250 patients he is
treated with the device experienced a
shock within the first two years if we
equate that first shock as being
potentially a life-saving intervention
then obviously sixty percent of those
patients would not have lived to tell
about it Michael lederer is one of these
patients he runs his own eating and air
conditioning come
Mike describes the shock is implanted
device delivers as akin to a kick in the
chest not pleasant but something you
recover from quickly his job requires
spending time at different construction
sites his active lifestyle both in and
out of the workplace maybe aicd a
logical choice physically I'm doing the
same thing always did I've been thrown
off my lawn mower and I played golf and
a volleyball and I've been knocked down
and what have you it's no effect I'm
glad I got it the AICD is manufactured
by cardiac pacemakers incorporated st.
Paul Minnesota microelectronic
microcomputer battery and telemetry
technologies originally developed for
the space program are all incorporated
dr. Morton Mauer a vice president at CPI
is co-inventor of the device our work
with the device actually was in the same
time period as the putting a man on the
moon and bringing him back safely within
10 years and it was the push that this
gave to science engineering which
finally benefited the device
there are currently over 25,000 people
like Don Gallagher who have received a I
CDs and the new lease on life I can't
imagine the circumstances where a person
wouldn't want to live and certainly it's
it's a device that gives you the
opportunity to continue living every
time it goes off literally it saves your
life and mine's gone off almost 50 times
in the four years so it definitely saved
my life many occasions in 1990 shuttle
discovery launched NASA's Hubble Space
Telescope the most powerful Observatory
ever built able to image detail up to 15
billion miles away Hubble has provided
astronomers with a clear window to our
universe
soon after Hubble was deployed
scientists discovered an aberration in
the 94 inch primary mirror even so the
huge spaceborne telescope has been
returning a steady stream of new
information particularly with the aid of
computer enhancement similar processing
has been used on data from other
spacecraft like Voyager which traveled
past the planets enhancement now brings
out more detail for Hubble scientists
this is the telescope's original image
of a galaxy 52 million light-years from
Earth as it is cleaned up to its final
version here light pulses in a straight
line between Earth and the distant
quasar years ago Albert Einstein
suggested that if a uniform object
crossed the path light would bend into a
ring but if the object were not uniform
the ring would break up into four
patches known as the Einstein cross
Hubble's imagery confirmed this part of
Einstein's theory of relativity
hubbell also showed scientists a
celestial X marking the exact spot of a
black hole with the possible mass of 1
million of our sons astronauts are
already training to fix the Hubble
mirror problem during a shuttle service
call scheduled for late nineteen ninety
three by substituting a special
component in the telescope the
aberration will be repaired called
co-star this corrective optics package
contains a series of mirrors that work
like contact lenses to restore huddle
close to its full imaging potential in a
clean room at NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center technicians also practice
removing the spacecraft star tracker
which helps point the telescope
in the meantime Hubble continues to send
back fine detail of the planets faraway
galaxies black holes and distant stars
rewriting the textbooks on how we do our
universe
it will take off from an airport runway
achieve speeds over 17,000 miles per
hour and fly directly into low Earth
orbit called the National aerospace
plane or x 30 this sleek research craft
will lead to a new generation of
vehicles providing affordable flexible
access to space in the 21st century to
help ensure that this high-tech concept
becomes a reality a group of about 50
engineering students faculty matters and
technicians of Mississippi State
University set out to build the one in
third scale mock-up of the all space
play they were selected for the job in a
competition open to all 350 engineering
schools around the country the goal was
to create something that would help
communicate what the x30 is all about a
marvel folks could see and touch at air
shows and museums around the country it
had to be rugged enough to withstand the
rigors of both the road and mother
nature this wasn't a problem for the
project team they built it just like an
actual flying prototype professor of
aerospace engineering masood ratio honey
it is quite realistic where did not make
any shortcuts or we did not take into
consideration that this thing is not
going to fly so if you don't have to
make this part strong or that part
strong we did not think that way at all
building it like a real plane gave
aerospace engineering students who
worked on the mock-up an opportunity to
apply what they've learned in four years
of classwork and get a better idea of
what to expect once they graduate it
senior lagunya pack you can sit in class
and listen to lectures I mean make sure
you have to lecture after lecture but
you can't really get a good feeling for
what's going on until you've actually
had hands-on experience
one of the keys to designing and
building the model in just one semester
was the use of a robotic router to cut
molds for key component an approach that
spurred real interest in the aerospace
industry professor Kenneth hall we
actually have people waiting in line now
that they see our construction
techniques to apply these techniques to
their aircraft prototype development at
a ceremony in the school hanger with
some five hundred supporters on hand the
50-foot five thousand pound Markov was
presented to the public for the first
time
congratulations accepted it was time to
ready the model for the road its wings
were stowed and landing gear removed
once loaded on to a large flat bed truck
the two-and-a-half tonne markup was
bound for its first air show beginning a
journey that will help usher in a new
era of space travel