The Complete Book of Spaceflight: From Apollo 1 to Zero Gravity

In 1998, former NASA administrator Daniel Goldin
announced that Morgan had been accepted as a full-time
astronaut candidate; she then went through a year of
training to become a flight-qualified, full-time astronaut.
In April 2002, Goldin’s successor, Sean O’Keefe, gave a
speech at Syracuse University announcing a new initiative
to recruit educator-astronauts and naming Morgan
to an unspecified mission in 2004.
MORL (Manned Orbiting Research Laboratory)
A 1960s NASA concept, never built, for a cylindrical
space station, 6.6 m in diameter (enabling it to fit on top
of a Saturn IB launch vehicle), which would have a crew
of six to nine and be powered by solar panels. The design,
developed extensively by Douglas Aircraft, called for a
crew quarters area, a laboratory area, and a hangar for
receiving space freighters to transfer supplies.
MOS (Marine Observation Satellite)
Japan’s first Earth resources satellites, also known by the
national name Momo (“peach blossom”). MOS-1A and
-1B, launched by NASDA(National Space Development
Agency), monitored ocean currents and chlorophyll levels,
sea surface temperature, atmospheric water vapor,
precipitation, and land vegetation, and also acted as data
relays for remote surface sensor platforms. (See table,
“MOS Missions.”)
Launch site: Tanegashima
Size: 2.4 × 1.5 m
MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars)
An astronomical microsatellite mission proposed by
Dynacon Enterprises of Canada and sponsored by the
Canadian Space Agency’s Small Payloads Program. Also
participating in the mission are the University of
Toronto’s Institute for Aerospace Studies, and the physics
and astronomy department of the University of British
Columbia. With a mass of only 60 kg, MOST is the
world’s smallest space telescope; its 15-cm telescope and
photometer are intended to measure tiny stellar pulsations
and so, indirectly, the ages of stars. The spacecraft
was scheduled for launch, in the last quarter of 2002, into
a 780-km dawn-dusk sun-synchronous orbit, in order to
MOS Missions
MTI (Multispectral Thermal Imager) 285
permit observations of single objects for up to eight
weeks.
motor
A device that imparts motion through reaction.
motor chamber
In a liquid rocket engine, the combustion chamber. In a
solid-fuel motor, the chamber that also contains the solid
fuel.
MOUSE (Minimum Orbital Unmanned Satellite of
the Earth)
An early design for an artificial satellite, proposed by
Sam Fred Singer in 1953.
MSX (Midcourse Space Experiment)
A BMDO (Ballistic Missile Defense Organization) -sponsored
mission designed to demonstrate various multispectral
imaging technologies for identifying and tracking
Launch
Date: April 24, 1996
Vehicle: Delta 7925
Site: Vandenberg
Orbit: 897 × 907 km × 99.4°
Mass: 2,700 kg
ballistic missiles during flight. It also studied the composition
and dynamics of Earth’s atmosphere by observing
ozone, chlorofluorocarbons, carbon dioxide, and
methane. Onboard instruments consisted of 11 optical
sensors for making observations at infrared, visible, and
ultraviolet wavelengths from 110 nm to 28 µm.
MTI (Multispectral Thermal Imager)
A satellite sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s
Office of Nonproliferation and National Security to
demonstrate advanced multispectral and thermal imaging,
image processing, and associated technologies that
could be used in future systems for detecting facilities
that produce weapons of mass destruction. MTI carries a
sophisticated telescope to collect day and night images
of Earth in 15 spectral bands ranging from the visible to
Launch
Spacecraft Date Vehicle Orbit Mass (kg)
MOS-1A Feb. 19, 1987 N-2 907 × 909 km × 99.1° 745
MOS-1B Feb. 7, 1990 H-1 908 × 909 km × 99.1° 740