SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT OF HOUSTON - OF HOUSTON

scientific equipment

Charges for the purchase of equipment used in scientific research.

houston

An inland port in Texas, linked to the Gulf of Mexico by the Houston Ship Canal; pop. 1,953,631. Since 1961, it has been a center for space research and manned space flight; it is the site of the NASA Space Center
the largest city in Texas; located in southeastern Texas near the Gulf of Mexico; site of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
United States politician and military leader who fought to gain independence for Texas from Mexico and to make it a part of the United States (1793-1863)
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States of America and the largest city in the state of Texas. As of the 2009 U.S. Census estimate, the city had a population of 2.3 million within an area of .

Dave Scott

Scott was one of the third group of astronauts named by NASA in October 1963.

On March 16, 1966, he and command pilot Neil Armstrong were launched into space on the Gemini 8 mission–a flight originally scheduled to last three days but terminated early due to a malfunctioning thruster. The crew performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space and demonstrated great piloting skill in overcoming the thruster problem and bringing the spacecraft to a safe landing.

Scott served as command module pilot for Apollo 9, March 3-13, 1969. This was the third manned flight in the Apollo series, the second to be launched by a Saturn V, and the first to complete a comprehensive earth-orbital qualification and verification test of a "fully configured Apollo spacecraft." The ten-day flight provided vital information previously not available on the operational performance, stability, and reliability of lunar module propulsion and life support systems. Highlight of this evaluation was completion of a critical lunar-orbit rendezvous simulation and subsequent docking, initiated by James McDivitt and Russell Schweickart from within the lunar module at a separation distance which exceeded 100 miles from the command/service module piloted by Scott. The crew also demonstrated and confirmed the operational feasibility of crew transfer and extravehicular activity techniques and equipment, with Schweickart completing a 46-minute EVA outside the lunar module. During this period, Dave Scott completed a 1-hour stand-up EVA in the open command module hatch photographing Schweickart’s activities and also retrieving thermal samples from the command module exterior. Apollo 9 splashed down less than four miles from the helicopter carrier USS GUADALCANAL.

In his next assignment, Scott was designated backup spacecraft commander for Apollo 12.

He made his third space flight as spacecraft commander of Apollo 15, July 26 – August 7, 1971. His companions on the flight were Alfred M. Worden (command module pilot) and James B. Irwin (lunar module pilot). Apollo 15 was the fourth manned lunar landing mission and the first to visit and explore the moon’s Hadley Rille and Apennine Mountains which are located on the southeast edge of the Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains). The lunar module, "Falcon," remained on the lunar surface for 66 hours and 54 minutes (setting a new record for lunar surface stay time) and Scott and Irwin logged 18 hours and 35 minutes each in extravehicular activities conducted during three separate excursions onto the lunar surface. Using "Rover-1" to transport themselves and their equipment along portions of Hadley Rille and the Apennine Mountains, Scott and Irwin performed a selenological inspection and survey of the area and collected 180 pounds of lunar surface materials. They deployed an ALSEP package which involved the emplacement and activation of surface experiments, and their lunar surface activities were televised using a TV camera which was operated remotely by ground controllers stationed in the mission control center located at Houston, Texas. Other Apollo 15 achievements include: largest payloads ever placed into earth and lunar orbits; first scientific instrument module bay flown and operated on an Apollo spacecraft; longest distance traversed on lunar surface; first use of a lunar surface navigation device (mounted on Rover-1); first subsatellite launched in lunar orbit; and first extravehicular (EVA) from a command module during transearth coast. The latter feat performed by Worden during three excursions to "Endeavour’s" SIM-bay where he retrieved film cassettes from the panoramic and mapping cameras and reported his personal observations of the general condition of equipment housed there. Apollo 15 concluded with a Pacific Ocean splashdown and subsequent recovery by the USS OKINAWA.

He has logged 546 hours and 54 minutes in space, of which 20 hours and 46 minutes were in Extravehicular Activity. He is only one of three Astronauts who have flown both earth orbital and lunar Apollo Missions.

William F. Fisher

William F. Fisher was the husband of astronaut Anna Lee Fisher.

Selected by NASA in May 1980, Fisher became an astronaut in August 1981. His technical assignments to date include: scientific equipment operator for high altitude research on the WB57-F aircraft (1980-1981); astronaut medical support for the first four Shuttle missions (1980-1982); astronaut office representative for Extravehicular Mobility Unit (spacesuit) and Extravehicular Activity (EVA) procedures and development, including thermal vacuum testing of the suit (1981-1984); astronaut office representative for the Payload Assist Module (PAM-D) procedures and development (1982-1983); astronaut office representative for Shuttle Mission Simulator (SMS) development (1983); support crewman for STS-8; CAPCOM for STS-8 and STS-9; Remote Manipulator System (RMS) hardware and software development team (1983); Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) development team (1983); Deputy Director of NASA Government-furnished and Contractor-furnished Equipment (1982-1983); Chief of Astronaut Public Appearances (1985-1987); Head, Astronaut Office Space Station Manned Systems Division, and Health Maintenance Facility (1987-1989); Astronaut Office representative on space crew selection and retention standards for Space Station (1989-1991). Fisher also practiced emergency medicine at a hospital in the greater Houston area in conjunction with his astronaut duties.

Fisher was a mission specialist on STS-51-I, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August 27, 1985. STS-51-I was acknowledged as the most successful Space Shuttle mission yet flown. The crew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery deployed three communications satellites, the Navy SYNCOM IV-4, the Australian AUSSAT, and American Satellite Company’s ASC-1. They also performed a successful on-orbit rendezvous with the ailing 15,400 pound SYNCOM IV-3 satellite, and two EVA’s (space walks) by Fisher and James D. A. "Ox" van Hoften to repair it, including the longest space walk in history. Discovery completed 112 orbits of the Earth before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on September 3, 1985. In completing this flight, Fisher has logged over 170 hours in space, including 11 hours and 52 minutes of EVA.

According to published sources, Fisher’s second flight was to have been STS-61-M/Challenger, and deployment of a Tracking and Data Relay satellite in July 1986. But the loss of Challenger that January meant a postponement of that mission.

(Gregory B. Jarvis, who died on Challenger, was to have flown on STS-51-I, which deployed a Hughes satellite. But the task of satellite retrieval and related equipment added to the mission meant removing Jarvis’ experiment on fluid dynamics, and Jarvis was bumped first to 61-C, then 51-L.)

Fisher left NASA in 1991 and as of December 1993 was currently practicing full-time medicine at Humana Hospital in Webster, Texas.