Review of the Shuttle vibration environment

Abstract

This paper will review the Microgravity Science and Applications Division's (MSAD) program to record and analyze the Shuttle's vibration environment. This program provides microgravity experimenters with time histories of the acceleration environment during their experiments and provides information for future investigators on the expected Shuttle vibration environment. The two major elements of the program will be discussed, the Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS) and the Acceleration Characterization and Analysis Project (ACAP). A comparison of the acceleration measurements from five Spacelab missions will be reviewed.