Lost Science and Technology Missions

Abstract

Space is not the exclusive domain where NASA operates its assets and conducts research. In fact, throughout the years, the American space agency has enjoyed several research opportunities well within the boundaries of the Earth’s atmosphere, onboard aircraft fitted as an airborne laboratory. For instance, in the sixties and seventies, the NASA Ames Research Center flew a Convair 990 and Lear Jet, respectively, a jet airliner and a business jet, for astronomical and Earth observations. Such platforms provided a quick turnaround of experiments, short lead times, allowed for multidiscipline missions with the direct involvement of the scientists, afforded a rapid, high-quality data return and, last but not least, a comfy short-sleeve environment. Ames managers and scientists argued that such benefits could be expanded and extended to a crew-tended spaceborne platform with the additional benefits of weightlessness, higher altitudes, comprehensive Earth coverage and limitless vacuum.