Word: payloads
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Besides putting the orbiter itself through a rigorous series of maneuvers, Engle and Truly conducted several successful tests of a 50-foot mechanical arm, which on future missions will be used to retrieve satellites for in-flight servicing or later repairs on earth, and to deploy payloads from the shuttle's cargo hold. On this mission, the 15-foot by 60-foot cargo bay held its first scientific payload, with experiments designed to study a variety of geologic, atmospheric, and oceanic features...
Designated OSTA 1, for NASA's office of space terrestrial applications, the payload contained several instruments to help scientists refine their techniques for observing the earth from space, and for identifying untapped mineral, gas and oil deposits...
...test that was eliminated from the mission was a rehearsal for an emergency space walk, which would have been performed if automatic devices to close the four payload-bay doors failed to work, or if the robot arm had malfunctioned...
...curtailed mision, White said, will "probably not affect" planning for the third orbital test flight, scheduled to be launched next March on a seven-day mission. A more extensive test of the manipulator arm is planned for the third flight, which will carry a payload of astronomical sensors. After a fourth flight in June, the shuttle will begin operational flights in which the primary mission objective will be to carry payloads, rather than to test the capablities of the vehicle...
...exchange for this crucial backing, the space agency was compelled to change the shuttle's design, vastly complicating the job of building it. The Air Force insisted that the payload capacity be expanded to 65,000 lbs. (the better to carry big spy satellites). NASA also had to extend the orbiter's "cross range" so that it could glide a full 1,200 miles either to the right or left of its original orbital trajectory after re-entering the atmosphere. That would enable a Florida-launched shuttle, which travels about 1,000 miles south of Vandenberg...