NASA appoints Belgian payload specialist

The Mini Pressurized Logistics Modules (MPLM) are intended for transporting user payloads and resupply items in a pressurized environment to Space Station Freedom and for returning items to the ground. The MPLM’s will be capable of remaining at the Space Station until the arrival of the following pressurized logistics module. The first MPLM is currently scheduled to be tr~spo~ed to the Space Station by Space Shuttle in May 1997 and the second in August 1997. A finai decision on proceeding with the design, development, operation and utilization of the pressurized Mini Laboratory (ML) will be made no later than February 1993. The ML wilf include a subsystem rack and provisions for accommodating a variety of research equipment. It will be dedicated i~ti~~y to life sciences research. At minimum, the ML will be capable of accommodating a 2.5 metre tilting centrifuge and three international standard payload racks. The ML would, if provided, be scheduled for launch in October 1999. In exchange for ASPS contributions, NASA will provide to ASI a proportion of its share of utilization of Space Station pressurized volume and accommodation for external payloads, a propo~ion of its Space Station utilization resources and the oppor~nity to provide Space Station crew.

5.9. NASA April

BELGIAN PAYLOAD SPECIALIST

A Belgian, Dr Dirk Frimout, has been designated by NASA as payload specialist for the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (Atlas-l) Spacelab mission scheduled far flight in mid-March 1992. Dr Frimout, previously an alternate payload specialist for Atlas-l, is the Spacefab Utilization Manager in the Microgravity and Coiumbus Utilization Department of ESA’s Space Station and Mi~~g~~ty Directorate. He received his Ph.D. in applied physics from the University of Ghent in Belgium in 1970; his thesis on the measurement of the solar spectrum between 200 and 220 nm was the resuh of work at the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BISA). Frimout, 50, is a ho-investigator for the Grihe Spectrometer expe~ment, part of the Atlas-l payload and a joint venture of BISA, the Centre National d’Etudes et de Recherehes Aerospatiaies and the Laboratoire de Physique Molecuiaire et Applications (France). Three other investigations in atmospheric science and solar physics for the Atlas mission are being provided by Belgium: the ALAE (Atmospheric LymanAlpha Emission) and SOLSPEC (Solar Spectrum) experiments of BZSA, in collaboration with the Service d~~ronomie du CNES (France) and, separately for SOLSPEC, the Landesternwa~e Heidelberg (Germany); the third contribution is the SOLCON (Solar Constant) expe~ment provided by the Royal Meteoro~o~c~ Institute.