Spacelab-1: an early space station for science and technology

The first flight of Spacelab is primarily a system verification and test flight, but it will also carry a payload of scientific and technological experiments to demonstrate the capability of performing multidisciplinary research in space. The payload covers the disciplines atmospheric physics, plasma physics, solar observations, astronomy, Earth observations, and material and life sciences. In this paper we will give for all represented disciplines short discription of their scientific objectives and experimental techniques. Particular emphasis is placed on how different disciplines utilize features characteristic for manned space stations, such as weight and power capabilities the availability of a human operator, the microgravity environment, the possibility to return samples or recordings and the recoverability of hardware together with a reflight capability. These advantages will be reviewed against the background of the relatively short mission duration, safety requirements and environmental influences caused by the presence of men in space. We will identify a research scenario for which Spacelab offers distinct advantages compared to conventional free-flying satellites, one which might also be pursued from larger space stations in the future.