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

346 Rhyolite
Rhyolite
A series of U.S. SIGINT (signals intelligence) satellites
placed in quasistationary orbits in the 1970s to intercept,
for example, telemetry in radio nets controlling the
flight of Soviet bombers. Rhyolite satellites were also
used to spy on communications during local conflicts in
Vietnam, and also between India and Pakistan. When the
project’s code name was revealed during the espionage
trial of Boyce and Lee—the “Falcon and the Snowman”—
it was subsequently (from Rhyolite 3 on) changed to
“Aquacade.”
Ride, Sally Kristen (1951–)
The first American woman to fly in space. Ride was chosen
as an astronaut in 1978 and served as a mission specialist
for STS-7 (1983) and as a mission specialist on STS
41-G (1984). Following the Challenger disaster she was
elected as a member of the presidential commission to
investigate the accident and chaired a NASA task force
(1986–1987) that prepared a report on the future of the
civilian space program. 184 Ride resigned from NASA in
1987 to join the Center for International Security and
Arms Control at Stanford University. In 1989, she
assumed the directorship of the California Space Institute,
part of the University of California at San Diego.
Sally Ride Ride, mission specialist
on STS-7, monitors control
panels from the pilot’s chair
on the flight deck. Floating in
front of her is a flight procedures
notebook. NASA
Riedel, Klaus (1901–1944)
The head of the test laboratory at Peenemünde, who first
developed and perfected the handling of large rockets on
the ground. Riedel was reportedly the true genius of the
Verein für Raumschiffahrt team at Reinickendorf before
World War II, although he had no formal training. He
was killed in an automobile accident near the end of the
war.
RKA
See Russian Space Agency.
RME (Relay Mirror Experiment)
Also known as USA 52 and Losat-R; RME was launched
as a dual payload with LACE (Low-power Atmospheric
Compensation Experiment). Both satellites carried
defense experiments to help validate the technology
needed for a space-based antimissile laser system. RME
was designed to show stabilization, tracking, and pointing
technologies working at the performance levels
needed for Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) missions. Its
61-cm mirror tested laser pointing technology by deflecting
ground-based beams back to Earth. A problem
occurred immediately after launch, when RME’s attitude
control malfunctioned, shutting off a reaction wheel.