Spacelab status report

Abstract

This paper describes the status of the Spacelab program to date, including the current baseline configuration and subsystems. Emphasis is placed on the features afforded to researchers and experimenters and approaches to experiment accommodation. The status of planning for use of the Spacelab is described as well as the role and training of the payload specialist. Several typical missions are presented to show how these concepts might be implemented. Discussion of the roles and responsibilities of the NASA and the European Space Agency in development of the Spacelab is included.