Historical development

Abstract

The history of the U.S. Microgravity Science and Applications program is summarized, noting significant discoveries in the first decade of the program. The experiments were performed to understand the behavior of liquid propellants (and other fluids), liquid melt zones, and containerless liquid suspension systems in microgravity. Investigations were carried out with a drop tower, on KC-135 and solid rocket flights, and during Apollo, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz missions.