Getaway Special was a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

program that offered interested individuals, or groups, opportunities to fly small

experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into Causality, cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome oc ...

s aboard the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

. Over the 20-year history of the program, over 170 individual missions were flown. The program, which was officially known as the ''Small, Self-Contained Payloads program'', was canceled following the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster on February 1, 2003.

History

The program was conceived by

Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. I ...

manager John Yardley, and announced in the fall of 1976. The "Getaway Special" nickname originated from a special vacation fare for flights between Los Angeles and Honolulu being advertised by

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...

at the time around the program's conception. The first Getaway Special was purchased by Gilbert Moore of

Thiokol Thiokol (variously Thiokol Chemical Corporation(/Company), Morton Thiokol Inc., Cordant Technologies Inc., Thiokol Propulsion, AIC Group, ATK Thiokol, ATK Launch Systems Group; finally Orbital ATK before becoming part of Northrop Grumman) was an ...

on October 12, 1976, and donated to

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

. It was flown on '' Columbia'' during STS-4 in June/July 1982. The program was canceled after the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster on February 1, 2003. The last Getaway Special, which was carried aboard

STS-107 STS-107 was the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle program, and the 28th and final flight of Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 16, 2003, and during its 15 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes ...

, was the Freestar experiment package, which carried six different experiments. Much of the data was lost when ''Columbia'' was destroyed, but some data was transmitted during the mission. After reorganization of the Shuttle Program, NASA cited the need for the remaining Shuttle fleet to complete assembly of the ISS to justify its decision to cancel the program. The GAS program canisters and GAS Bridge combined weight were only usable on low orbit missions, which were rescheduled with higher priority payloads. With payload and program limits set on the remaining Shuttle missions until the expected STS close-out in 2010, the GAS program was eliminated.

Allocation

To assure that diverse groups would have access to space,

rotated GAS payload assignments among four major categories of users: educational, foreign, commercial, and U.S. government. GAS payloads had been reserved by foreign governments and individuals; U.S. industrialists, foundations, high schools, colleges and universities; professional societies; service clubs; and many others. Although persons and groups involved in space research obtained many of the reservations, a large number of spaces were reserved by persons and organizations outside the space community. GAS requests were first approved at

NASA Headquarters NASA Headquarters, officially known as Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters or NASA HQ and formerly named Two Independence Square, is a low-rise office building in the two-building Independence Square complex at 300 E Street SW in Washington, D.C. ...

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, by the director of the Transportation Services Office. At that point NASA screened the propriety and objectives of each request. To complete the reservation process for GAS payloads, each request was accompanied or preceded by the payment of $500. Approved requests were assigned an identification number and referred to the GAS team at the

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

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, the designated lead center for the project. The GAS team screened the proposals for safety and provided advice and consultation on payload design. It certified that proposed payloads would be safe and would not harm or interfere with the operations of the space shuttle, its crew, or other experiments on the flight. The costs of any physical testing required to answer safety questions before launch were borne by the GAS customer.

Requirements

There were no stringent requirements to qualify for participation in the GAS program. However, each

payload Payload is the object or the entity which is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of ...

was required to meet specific safety criteria, have been screened for its propriety, as well as being evaluated for its educational, scientific or technological objectives. These guidelines preclude commemorative items, such as medallions, that are intended for sale as objects that have flown in space.

Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...

had specific standards and conditions relating to GAS payloads. Payloads were required to have fit into NASA standard containers and weigh no more than . Two or more experiments could have been included in a single container if they fit while not exceeding weight limitations. The payload must have been self-powered, as experiments could not draw on the Shuttle orbiter's electricity. In addition, the crew's involvement with GAS payloads was limited to six simple activities (such as turning on and off up to three payload switches), due to the fact that crew activity schedules do not provide opportunities to either monitor or service GAS payloads in flight. The cost of this unique service depended on the size and weight of the experiment. Getaway specials of and cost $10,000; and , $5,000; and and , $3,000. The weight of the GAS container, experiment mounting plate and its attachment screws, and all hardware regularly supplied by NASA was not charged to the experimenter's weight allowance. The GAS container provided internal

pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and e ...

, which could be varied from near

vacuum A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective ''vacuus'' for "vacant" or "void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often dis ...

to about one

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...

. The bottom and sides of the container were always thermally insulated, and the top may have been insulated or not, depending on the specific experiment. A lid that could be opened, or one with a window, may be required, and were offered as options at additional cost. The GAS containers were made of

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

, and the circular end plates are ⁵⁄₈ inch (16 mm) thick aluminum. The bottom of the container were reserved for NASA interface equipment, such as

command decoder Command may refer to: Computing * Command (computing), a statement in a computer language * COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS * Command key, a modifier key on Apple Macintosh computer keyboards * ...

s and pressure regulating systems. The container was a pressure vessel that could be evacuated before or during launch, or on orbit, and could be re-pressurized during re-entry, or on orbit, as required by the experimenter. The getaway bridge, which was capable of holding 12 canisters, made its maiden flight on STS-61-C. The aluminum bridge fit across the payload bay of the orbiter and offered a convenient and economic way of flying several GAS canisters.

Example of GAS experiments

* STS-7 - Pugas * STS-40 -

G-616 G-616, formally known as GAS canister #G-616: The Effect of Cosmic Radiation on Static Computer Media & Plant Seeds Exposure to Microgravity was an experiment flown on the Space Shuttle as a self-contained experiment, as part of STS-40. Des ...

Cosmic Radiation Effects on Floppy Disks * STS-47 -

Project POSTAR Project POSTAR was the first space experiment created entirely by members of the Boy Scouts of America. On September 12, 1992, Space Shuttle Endeavour, Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' mission STS-47 carried 10 Get Away Special (GAS) canisters. Amongst ...

* STS-61-C - 1986: Vertical Horizons (G-481) **Ellery Kurtz, artist, and Howard Wishnow, Project Coordinator. An art conservation experiment on board the Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. Included in the canister as part of the experiment were four original oil paintings by Kurtz, and other artistic materials, in order to evaluate the effects of spaceflight on fine art materials. * STS-91 - June 2, 1998 (G-743)Terrestrial and Atmospheric Multispectral Explorer (TAMSE) - An Interdisciplinary Payload to Perform Space Based Remote Sensing and to Measure Microgravity and Radiation Effects.

History

Allocation

Requirements

Example of GAS experiments

Full list of experiments

See also

References

Further reading