History
The program was conceived by NASA's Shuttle program manager John Yardley, and announced in the fall of 1976. It was canceled after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003. The last Getaway Special, which was carried aboard STS-107, 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.
| # | Shuttle Flight | Experiment | Organization |
|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | STS-3 | Flight Verification Payload | NASA |
| G001 | STS-4 | The First Flight | NASA |
| G026 | STS-5 | German Materials Processing | |
| G005 | STS-6 | Japanese Snowflakes | |
| G049 | STS-6 | Air Force Cadets | |
| G381 | STS-6 | Exposing Seeds to Space | |
| G002 | STS-7 | German Students | |
| G009 | STS-7 | Purdue University Students | |
| G012 | STS-7 | New Jersey Students | |
| G033 | STS-7 | Cal Tech Students | |
| G093R | STS-88 | Vortex Ring Transit Experiment | University of Michigan |
| G093 | STS-89 | Vortex Ring Transit Experiment | University of Michigan |
Read more about this topic: Getaway Special
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Those who weep for the happy periods which they encounter in history acknowledge what they want; not the alleviation but the silencing of misery.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more”
—John Adams (1735–1826)