Destiny In Space Page #2

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featured spaceship designs

which would allow us to do this.

As the ship spins around,

anyone inside ...

feels an outward, or centrifugal,

force that acts like gravity.

In another design, parts of the

ship spin around a stationary hub.

But the rotation of

a small spacecraft ...

could make the occupants

disoriented or sick.

We could avoid this ...

if we built a spacecraft large

enough and with a slower spin.

But it would have to be about as

long as the Golden Gate Bridge.

How could we build such

a large ship in space?

To get to Mars, for instance ...

we might design a spacecraft

with two modules ...

one attached to each end of

a very long cable, or tether.

Once underway, the tether would be

extended to separate the two modules.

The whole assembly, rotating

about once per minute ...

could provide the

synthetic gravity needed.

But until recently, tethers

were merely an elegant idea.

The concept would have to be tested.

So far we have good

satellite stability.

So an experiment was flown

on the space shuttle.

An Italian satellite was deployed

on a very long tether.

The crew was then to retrieve it.

Let's do it like we simmed it.

You're gonna keep the tether

under control, right? Okay.

At first, the tether behaved

exactly as predicted.

- You don't want to yank on the

satellite. - You've got good tension.

And the Rdot is just oscillating

a little bit, but it's based at zero.

- Slack tether.

- Wait a minute.

But then the reel jammed

and the tether went slack.

Houston, we have slack tether.

Ldot has stopped.

By firing jets on both the

orbiter and the satellite ...

the crew learned that they

could tighten it once again ...

showing that we can

control tethers in space.

Tether's under control.

Unexpected snags

are bound to arise.

But we learn from them

and keep moving forward.

To build more reliable spacecraft,

we need light but tough materials.

To test them, in 1984

we launched a satellite ...

with dozens of materials

attached to its surface ...

exposing them to the

wear and tear of space.

Columbia, Houston.

We have a tally-ho on LDEF.

We left it in orbit for six years,

long enough for an interplanetary trip.

Ready to go get it?

Then the shuttle retrieved it

and took it back to Earth.

We found a wealth of information

embedded in these panels.

Splatters.

As the microscopes reveal ...

the vacuum of space

is anything but empty.

This pattern, I don't

know what this is.

A continuous bombardment

of micrometeorites ...

pitted the surfaces with craters.

But the most serious hazard

in space is radiation.

As the shuttle hangs suspended

above the Earth's horizon ...

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