+ 1970 News Releases (7.6 Mb PDF file) - NASA

! ..,TIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE NISTRATIO
MANNEDSPACECRAFT :- , ,Hous'l:on
CENTER I..
Texas
483-5111 March 10, 1970
MSC 70-32
HOUSTON_ TEXAS--An experimental_ low-cost spacecraft module_ the
Subsystem Test Bed (STB), began a ten-day vacuum chamber test today,
March 10, at the _SA Manned Spacecraft Center.
The test is being conducted in the 65-foot-diameter, 120-foothigh
chamber A of MSC's Space Environment Test Division and will
determine how the STB reacts to the temperature and vacuum extremes
of
space.
Engineers at MSC will compare thermal-vacuum results on the
full-scale STB with results from similar tests on smaller scale
models and with mathematical predictions. By correlating the results
it would be possible to verify the thermal-vacuum design of future,
large space vehicles using smaller and less expensive scale models
in vacuum ch_aber tests.
The test is planned to last 257 hours and will subject the
15-foot-diameter, 9-foot-high STB to teraperatures ranging from 100
degrees Fahrenheit below zero to 230 degrees above zero and to a
vacuum equivalent to that almost 100 miles above Earth.
Solar s_nulators in the huge vacu_ml chamber will reproduce heating
from the sun while chamber _all panels cooled to 300 degrees below zero
Fahrenheit with liquid nitrogen will s_mulate the coldness of space.
For the current test the STB will have no interior subsystems
except for a temperature and humidity control package which will
circulate air inside the vehicle and control the air temperature.
T_o of the STB's six circular windows will have motorized shades which
can be raised and lowered during the test.
In future tests the STB will provide a realistic spacecraft
structure for development work on advanced space vehicle equipment
such as environmental control systems for long-duration missions and
on-board checkout systems for maintenance during flights.
-more-