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

344 remaining mass
remaining mass
The mass of a spacecraft that reaches space after all its
launch stages have been used and discarded.
Remek, Vladimir (1948–)
The first non-American/non-Soviet in space. Remek, a
Czech, flew to the Salyut 6 space station as a guest cosmonaut
on Soyuz 28 in 1978.
Remote Manipulator System (RMS)
Two large robot arms and associated equipment, one of
which is attached to the Space Shuttle Orbiter for payload
deployment and retrieval, the other to the International
Space Station (ISS). The RMSs were designed,
developed, tested, and built by the Canadian company
Spar Aerospace, with some components from other
Canadian firms, and so are also known as Canadarm
(Shuttle version) and Canadarm 2 (ISS version).
The Shuttle’s RMS is 15.3 m long and 38 cm in diameter
and weighs 408 kg. It has six joints that correspond
roughly to the joints of the human arm, with shoulder
yaw and pitch joints, an elbow pitch joint, and wrist
pitch, yaw, and roll joints. The end effector is the unit at
the end of the wrist that actually grabs, or grapples, the
payload. Two lightweight boom segments, called the
upper and lower arms, connect the shoulder and elbow
joints and the elbow and wrist joints, respectively. The
Shuttle RMS can handle payloads with masses up to
Remote Manipulator System
An artist’s rendering of the RMS
attached to the International
Space Station. NASA
29,500 kg. It can also retrieve, repair, and deploy satellites;
provide a mobile extension ladder for spacewalking
crew members; and be used as an inspection aid to allow
flight crew members to view the orbiter’s or payload’s
surfaces through a TV camera on the arm. One flight
crew member operates the RMS from the aft flight deck
control station, and a second flight crew member usually
assists with television camera operations.
The 17.6-m-long RMS fitted to the ISS in April 2001 is
crucial to the rest of the Space Station’s assembly. It forms
the main component of the Mobile Service System (MSS)
for moving equipment and supplies around the ISS, supporting
astronauts working in space, and servicing instruments
and other payloads attached to the Station. The
other parts of the MSS are the Special Purpose Dextrous
Manipulator (SPDM), a small, highly advanced detachable
two-armed robot that can be placed on the end of the
RMS for doing detailed assembly and maintenance work,
and the Mobile Remote Service Base System (MRSBS), a
movable platform for the RMS and SPDM that slides
along rails on the Station’s main truss structure.
remote sensing
The observation of Earth from distant vantage points,
usually by or from satellites or aircraft. Sensors, such as
cameras, mounted on these platforms capture detailed
pictures of Earth that reveal features not always apparent
to the naked eye.