America should man a permanent space station, and one of its primary goals should be the study of "microgravity" effects, says Col. John Blaha, commander of the most recent space shuttle mission.
Blaha, along with the other four astronauts who flew the Atlantis to a nearly perfect mission last month, went to the Thiokol Space Operations plant Tuesday afternoon on a morale-boosting visit to the builders of the solid rocket motors that lifted them into orbit.The astronauts, Gov. Norm Bangerter and Thiokol officials praised 13 company employees who earned NASA's "Silver Snoopy" award for outstanding support of manned space missions.
The astronauts presented Thiokol officials with a large flag emblazoned with the name "Atlantis," which was carried into space during the August mission. It is to fly at the manufacturing facility whenever Atlantis goes into space.
Speaking from a rostrum before Thiokol employees assembled on a parking lot at the remote plant site, Blaha said American astronauts will perform experiments in the space station "in conjunction with European and Japanese scientists." They will examine the strange factor called microgravity, which he said he has observed on all of his three orbital flights.
Microgravity is the gravitational attraction that relatively small objects exert on each other in the absence of a large gravitational field, as in an orbiting spacecraft. Its potential applications in science and manufacturing are unknown.
"It's an entirely new arena," he said. "It's a gold mine."
Intriguing possibilities for research seem almost within reach, said Blaha, who serves in the Air Force. Microgravity effects can be seen in low orbit just beyond the atmosphere. "It's 200 miles up there."
Blaha told Thiokol employees, "You are the reason that (the space station) will happen. Only because of your excellent work here in building solid rocket motors will we achieve that dream."
In interviews before the ceremony, astronauts said that although the Soviet Union is offering to sell off many of its space facilities - including the long-tested Mir space station - America should build its own station.
Col. James C. Adamson, a mission specialist on the flight, said if the only objective were to operate a space station, the Mir would be "a bird in the hand." But he quickly added that it's important for America to develop the technology and achieve the feat itself.
Shannon W. Lucid, a mission specialist who went to space for the third time aboard Atlantis, added that building America's own station is important because of the aerospace jobs the project would provide.
The proposed space station Freedom would cost an astronomical $30 billion, according to NASA's own figures, or $40 billion, according to the General Accounting Office.
In an attempt to head off arguments that purchasing Mir would save some of those billions, Blaha said adapting Soviet hardware to American needs would be expensive.
Only indirect references were made to the 1986 Challenger disaster, in which a defective O ring seal in a Thiokol booster caused an explosion that killed seven astronauts.
Blaha said at the start of his speech that about five years ago the United States was faced with "a very big problem, a huge problem. And each of you stood up to the task."
Because of their fine efforts since then, he said, America has flown 17 shuttle missions, using 34 of the company's solid booster motors.
Accompanying Blaha, Lucid and Adamson were the flight's other astronauts, G. David Low and Navy Cmdr. Michael A. Baker.