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

submillimeter band
That part of the electromagnetic spectrum lying
between the far infrared and the microwave region, corresponding
to wavelengths between about 300 microns
and 1 mm.
suborbital
A flight or trajectory that reaches to Earth’s upper atmosphere
or the edge of space but does not involve the completion
of an orbit. The first American manned flight into
space, by Alan Shepard in May 1961, was suborbital.
subsatellite
A portion of a satellite that has a mission objective of its
own. Once in space, the subsatellite is ejected and
assumes its own orbit.
subsonic
Less than the speed of sound.
Suisei
A Japanese probe, launched by ISAS (Institute of Space
and Astronautical Science), that rendezvoused with Halley’s
Comet on March 8, 1986. It was identical to Sakigake
apart from its payload: a CCD (charge-coupled
device) ultraviolet (UV) imaging system and a solar wind
instrument. The main goal of the mission was to take
UV pictures of the hydrogen corona for about 30 days
before and after Halley’s descending crossing of the
ecliptic plane. Measurements of the solar wind were
taken over a much longer period. Suisei began UV observations
in November 1985, producing up to six images
per day. The spacecraft encountered Halley on the sunward
side at 151,000 km during March 8, 1986, suffering
only two dust impacts. During 1987, ISAS decided to
guide Suisei to a November 1998 encounter with comet
Giacobini-Zinner, but due to depletion of the
hydrazine, this, as well as plans to fly within several million
kilometers of comet Tempel-Tuttle in February
1998, were cancelled. Suisei (“comet”) was known before
launch as Planet-A.
Launch
Date: August 18, 1985
Vehicle: M-35
Site: Kagoshima
Orbit around Sun: 1.012 × 0.672 AU × 0.89°
Mass: 141 kg
Sullivan, Kathryn D. (1951–)
The first American woman to walk in space. A veteran of
three Space Shuttle flights, Sullivan was a mission specialist
on STS-41G (October 1984), STS-31 (April 1990),
SURFSAT (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Satellite) 423
and STS-45 (March to April 1992). She received a B.S. in
earth sciences from the University of California, Santa
Cruz (1973) and a Ph.D. in geology from Dalhousie University
in Halifax, Nova Scotia (1978). Sullivan left
NASA in August 1992 to become chief scientist at
NOAA(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
and is currently president and CEO of Center of
Science & Industry, Columbus, Ohio.
sun-synchronous orbit
An Earth orbit in which a satellite remains in constant
relation to the Sun, passing close to both poles and crossing
the meridians at an angle. The orbit, at an altitude of
about 860 km, takes about 102 minutes and carries the
satellite over a different swathe of territory at each pass,
so every point on the surface is overflown every 12 hours,
at the same local times each day. Another advantage of a
sun-synchronous orbit is that a spacecraft’s solar arrays
are in almost continuous sunlight, enabling it to rely primarily
on solar rather than battery power. Also known as
a dawn-dusk orbit.
superluminal
Greater than the speed of light.
supersonic
Greater than the speed of sound.
supine g
Acceleration experienced in the chest-to-back direction,
expressed in units of gravity. Also known as “eyeballs in.”
Also see prone g(“eyeballs out”), negative g(“eyeballs
up”), and positive g(“eyeballs down”).
surface gravity
The rate at which a freely falling body is accelerated by
gravity close to the surface of a planet or other body.
SURFSAT (Summer Undergraduate Research
Fellowship Satellite)
A small satellite built by undergraduate students and JPL
(Jet Propulsion Laboratory) to support experiments by
NASA’s Deep Space Network. The satellite is designed to
mimic signals from planetary spacecraft and radiates
Launch
Date: November 4, 1995
Vehicle: Delta 7925
Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base
Orbit: 934 × 1,494 km × 100.6°
Size: 0.8 × 0.3 m
Mass: 55 kg