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

Service Module
See Apollo.
service tower
The vertical structure that provides access to various levels
of a spacecraft to prepare it for launch. The service
tower also supports the spacecraft until its own engines
and guidance system take over.
Serviss, Garrett (Putnam) (1851–1929)
An American journalist and a writer of popular astronomy
fiction and nonfiction, whose Edison’s Conquest of Mars 267
introduces the first-ever scenes of fleets of interplanetary
spacecraft. An experienced astronomer, Serviss was able to
inject a dose of realism into his narratives that was missing
from the space stories of many of his contemporaries.
Sfera
Soviet military geodetic satellites. Although Sfera
(“sphere”) data was applied to purely scientific problems
SERT Missions
Total mass: 1,404 kg
SFU (Space Flyer Unit) 373
Spacecraft Date
Launch
Vehicle Site Orbit
SERT 1 Jul. 20, 1964 Scout X-4 Wallops Island 30-min suborbital flight
SERT 2 Feb. 4, 1970 LT Thor-Agena D Vandenberg 1,037 × 1,044 km × 99.3°
such as measuring continental drift, it was used mostly by
the Red Army General Staff in military topographical
research. This work, in turn, allowed improved accuracy
for long-range weapons. Flight tests for Sfera took place
from 1968 to 1972 and operational launches from 1973 to
1980, using Cosmos-3M launch vehicles from Plesetsk.
SFU (Space Flyer Unit)
A Japanese satellite carrying materials, science, astronomy,
and biological experiments. Launched by NASDA
(National Space Development Agency), it was retrieved
Launch
Date: March 18, 1995
Vehicle: H-2
Site: Tanegashima
Orbit: 471 × 483 km × 28.5°
Mass: 4,000 kg
SERT (Space Electric Rocket
Test) Raymond J. Rulis, SERT-1
Program Manager, examining
SERT-1 after its arrival at Lewis
Research Center for preflight
testing. A Lewis-built ion engine
is in front of Rulis, and a
Hughes-built engine is on the
other side. NASA