The Skylab experiments under development for the past several years are currently being manufactured and qualified for installation in the various modules of the Skylab Cluster, together with their associated controls, displays and support equipment. Integration test requirements and procedures for installation and integration testing of all experiments in the various modules of the Orbital Workshop are completed. Installation of flight experiments in flight modules will start in a few months.

APOLLO TELESCOPE MOUNT EXPERIMENTS

Development and qualification testing of the six instruments has been completed. During qualification testing, the flight prototypes were subjected to both functional and environmental tests, including thermal vacuum, vibration, and electromagnetic interference tests. The flight units were also subjected to thermal vacuum and vibration tests, at reduced levels. Three of the six flight units have been completed and are awaiting installation at MSFC. The prototype qualification experiments are being installed on the prototype flight module for thermal/vacuum testing, ML 71-5076. These experiments will subsequently be refurbished and used as flight backups if required.

Designs for medical experiments have been finalized, formal qualification tests are underway, and flight hardware deliveries are scheduled for mid 1971. Critical Design Reviews have been completed. Integrated systems verification tests are underway. Flight hardware deliveries are scheduled for mid 1971, followed by functional test checkout of the experiments as installed in the Workshop.

EARTH RESOURCES EXPERIMENTS PACKAGE

The contract awards for five Earth Resources Experiment Package experiments were let in 1970, and design and development of the experiments are nearing completion.

Qualification tests will be initiated in 1971 and will consist of both functional and environmental tests. The qualification hardware is currently being manufactured. In addition to individual experiment tests, integrated bench tests of the whole package prior to installation will be made. After integration bench testing, the flight hardware will be installed in the Multiple Docking Adapter and the Airlock Module for integrated testing.

OTHER EXPERIMENTS

Formal design reviews have been held for 27 other experiments and experiment equipment is being qualified for flight. The two scientific Airlocks have been built and qualified. All of these experiments are to be delivered, installed and be ready for module checkouts starting in 1971.

LAUNCH FACILITIES

In May 1970, a major management decision was made to launch the manned Saturn IB vehicles from Launch Complex 39, allowing the complete closedown of the original Saturn IB launch complex and improving the operating efficiency by integrating all manned launch operations at a single launch facility. Saturn IB vehicles will undergo checkout and be launched from a modified launch umbilical tower previously used for Saturn V. The major change will be the addition of a 128 foot pedestal on the launch platform which permits use of existing swing arms and locations for servicing S-IVB stage and the spacecraft.

Major design effort on the new pedestal was completed in 1970. Wind tunnel tests and pull tests to provide data on vehicle/pedestal deformation will be conducted during 1971.

Design of modifications to Vehicle Assembly Building and the launch pad to accommodate the Saturn IB vehicle will be finalized by mid 1971, with facility modifications to be accomplished in early 1972 so the flight articles can be received and processed.

PREPARING FOR OPERATIONS

The past year has been the beginning of mission preparation as operations plans and procedures were developed. The following sections briefly describe progress to date and the activities planned for the coming year: first, in the broad area of mission planning and preparation; and second, in the specific area of flight crew selection and training.

MISSION PLANNING

Detailed plans are being developed for orbital operations, including the activation of the Workshop, performance of the in-flight experiments, preparation of the Workshop for storage in orbit, return to earth, and recovery.

A preliminary trajectory of the Workshop and the Command Service Module was published during 1970, and is now being updated as part of a continuing process of refinement which will continue well into 1972.

MISSION CONTROL PREPARATIONS

Mission control for Skylab will differ from Apollo by virtue of a shift in emphasis from the attainment of a single specific goal to the performance of a multiplicity of continuing or repetitive experiment operations. In this regard, the Skylab experience will be a forerunner of future Shuttle and Space station operations.

A major element of mission control planning is the preparation of the Launch and Flight Mission Rules. These rules will guide the mission controllers as they respond to contingencies which may develop. They are in essence premade decisions for application to specific situations. Their purpose is to shorten the real time decision process, thus enhancing crew safety and the probability of mission success. Work on both the launch and flight mission rules will accelerate in 1971 and early 1972.

As with Apollo, overall responsibility for the Skylab mission control will rest with the Program Offices with direction through Mission Control personnel, who in turn depend upon systems engineers, physicians, experiment investigators, and program management personnel for reporting of hardware systems and missions status, resolution of problems, and the real time scheduling of flight activities. All these diverse elements must be integrated into a smoothly functioning team capable of accurate judgment and rapid action. Building this team has already begun. Flight control and technical support roles, lines of communication, data flow planning, computer software definition, and many other aspects of mission control are now under development.

Mission control will also depend on agencies and capabilities outside the Manned Space Flight organization. The worldwide Manned Space Flight Network will provide voice, tracking, telemetry, and command communications. The Air Force will provide vital range safety and tracking functions during launch and ascent, and the Navy will conduct the post landing recovery operations. The coming year will see increasing activity as specific requirements for mission control evolve into plans and capabilities.

CREW SELECTION AND TRAINING

At the present time, there are 20 astronauts assigned to the Skylab Program, who are actively participating in the review of the spacecraft design, development of crew systems and procedures, and planning of the missions. Several have had flight experience in Gemini and Apollo, while others are qualified as scientists, engineers, and physicians. These latter qualifications are particularly important for this program's wide range of scientific, technological, and medical experiments. Crew assignments to specific missions will be determined later in the current year.

Formal general mission training of the crews has already begun and will accelerate in the coming year. The astronauts will undergo an intensive program of classroom instruction, spacecraft familiarization, and mission simulation. The program will include courses in solar astronomy and space medicine, vertification of the many interfaces between crew and flight software, and simulations of extra-vehicular activity. The crews will also train for orbital operations in a special Workshop simulator. This device, which will become operational at the Manned Spacecraft Center in late 1971, will simulate many of the Workshop systems and experiments, including the solar astronomy experiments.

LAUNCH OPERATIONS PLANNING

The Kennedy Space Center is currently developing plans and procedures for both the manned and unmanned launch operations. The pace of this activity will increase greatly over the coming year, particularly as training of the Skylab launch crews begins.

SKYLAB SAFETY

It is a basic policy that System Safety is an inherent function of the "in-line" disciplines of design, test, manufacturing, reliability, operations. There is also a separate and distinct System Safety management function at the Centers and the major contractors. The role of this function is:

A. Establish System Safety Requirements and Criteria.

B. Assure compliance with System Safety requirements by means of 1) formal audits of the "in-line" disciplines (i.e., design, test, operations, reliability); 2) participation in program milestone reviews; and 3) formal review and concurrence in procedures to be used during hazardous testing, checkout, launch, and mission operations.

C. Formal "tracking" and disposition of safety problems as identified in the various engineering analyses, mockup reviews, procedural reviews, etc.

The concern for the safety of the crew manifests itself in many ways. The fundamental approach is to recognize the hazards and take them into account as far as possible in the basic design, eliminating avoidable hazards and adding specific safety features to make sure that if problems do occur that they can be met and overcome, or, at a minimum, that the crew can abandon the mission and return to earth.

Some of the specific safety features are:

Redundancy of life support and environmental control systems in both the Airlock Module and the Command Service Module. The large volume of air in the total cluster provides ample time for retreat into the Command Service Module in case of an Airlock Module Environmental Control/Life Support Systems failure.

Redundant communications from the Airlock Module and the Command Service Module.

Stringent criteria for flammability, toxicity, out-gassing of non-metallic materials in all Skylab hardware.

Strategically placed fire detection sensors and portable fire extinguishers throughout various modules of the cluster for damage containment.

Inclusion of a Caution and Warning system so that potential hazards in all modules of the Workshop are detected and displayed. This system will sense extreme temperature, fire, rapid loss of pressure, cluster leak, excessive number of circulating fans inoperative, high or low bus voltages, low oxygen partial pressure, coolant pump flow, caution and warning power failure, and dozens of other parameters.

In-orbit simulated emergency drills, ingress and egress to Airlock and Command Service Module reentry vehicle, rendezvous operations to simulate rescue. evaluation of caution and warning system alarms are being considered for cluster operations.

SUMMARY

We have now achieved completion of the basic Skylab design and are along with fabrication and test of the flight hardware. Preparations for flight operations and training of the flight crews have started. Close to 26,000 men and women-scientists, engineers, specialists in many fields, technicians, draftsmen, analysts, programmers, secretaries are actively engaged in building a new and productive capacity for their country.

When it flies in 1973, Skylab will produce a quantum step in the devedopment of space operations for useful purposes and will be a forerunner of the next ra of the exploitation of space to serve the needs of mankind.

SPACE SHUTTLE

INTRODUCTION

Over the past decade this Nation has achieved a capability in space that has ho equal. Space exploration, scientific knowledge, practical applications-all have been pursued with success by a competent government industry team dedicated to provide the benefits of space for all mankind. New horizons, undreamed of by most of us in our younger years have now been opened to mankind.

We must now leave the excitement behind and proceed along new paths in space. Until now, we have been interpid explorers traveling into the unknowns of space and we have made great strides. Consider for instance, that Alan Shepard only ten years ago was the first American in space-his mission lasted but 15 minutes. Consider that this same Alan Shepard with his partner Ed Mitchell have just now completed the first truly scientific expedition to the moon.

We have come a long way; we have shown that man can adapt to a space environment, that he can conduct useful work, and that he is a most effective tool n space exploration.

Through the use of meteorlogical, communications, and observation satellites man is harnessing space for practical applications. The practical uses of space will be further demonstrated in the Skylab program that we have just discussed. However, if we are to reap the benefits of space we must do things differently than we are doing today.

Accessibility to space is costly using our existing space systems. If we are to continue meaningful use, and exploration of space we must increase the efficiency of our operations and reduce the cost of space activities.

The key to greater efficiency and reduced cost lies in the development of a ersatile and reusable system of transportation between the earth and earth orbit.

A system that is large enough that it can replace most of our present day inventory of launch vehicles and is so configured that it will provide easy access to space for a great variety of payloads, including passengers.

Last year we described to the Committee a Space Shuttle which we had under consideration as a prime candidate for the earth to earth orbit transportation system of the future. This candidate emerged from study contracts we had undertaken in 1969. We have since proceeded one step further and awarded two sets of lefinition contracts-one for the engine and one for the vehicle itself. These contracts are well underway and what is beginning to emerge is a confirmation of our original conclusions based on the earlier studies. A reusable transportation system embodying both spacecraft and aircraft characteristics that can revolutionize present day space operations is feasible. The technology required, for the most part, is well in hand except for design verification of materials and structures required to withstand, repeatedly the high temperatures of reentry into the earth's atmosphere. The systems now being defined consist of two reusable stages, an orbiter and booster, powered by common engines, that can be used as many as 100 times or more with short turnaround time for a wide range of scientific, defense, commercial and international uses.

However, while we have high confidence in the configurations being defined, we have not foreclosed other candidates and are continuing to study other alternatives which will be considered in our final decisions to proceed to actual design.

At this point, we are convinced that we must get an early start on a new high pressure engine that can be used on both the orbiter and the booster. Engines, as you know have historically been the longest lead item in our space transportation systems to date. Enough work has already been done in this area so that we intend to move into design this summer.

Also this summer we will begin our intensive reviews of the vehicle study and definition results together with a thorough review of our technology. From all evidence to date we are confident that we are on the right track. Shuttle airframe design is proceeding on an orderly step-by-step basis which may lead to continued detailed design or initiation of development of a specific design.

The Space Shuttle will become the primary vehicle for earth orbit traffic; the only other systems remaining after it becomes operational will be a Scout class