The Experimental Assembly of Structures in EVA and the Assembly Concept for Construction of Erectable Space Structures, or EASE/ACCESS, were a pair of space shuttle flight experiments that were performed on STS-61-B, on November 29 and December 1, 1985. The purpose of the experiments was to study how quickly astronauts would become proficient at assembling space structures during extravehicular activity, and how quickly they would become fatigued, and to explore various construction and maintenance techniques. In particular, researchers studied the applied moments of inertia arising in the manual assembly of a large space structure.[1][2]
EASE was a project of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the Space Systems Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (later at the University of Maryland), while ACCESS was developed by NASA's Langley Research Center.[3]
- ^ Cousins, D.; Akin, D.L. (December 1989). "Moments applied in the manual assembly of space structures: EASE biomechanics results from STS-61B". Acta Astronautica. 19 (12): 973–9. Bibcode:1989AcAau..19..973C. doi:10.1016/0094-5765(89)90092-1. PMID 11541162.
- ^ Neal, Valerie; McMahan, Tracy; Dooling, Dave. "Chapter 9 - Testing New Technology". NP-119 Science in Orbit: The Shuttle & Spacelab Experience, 1981-1986. Retrieved 2006-12-26.
- ^ von Ofenheim, Bill (2003-03-10). "Space Shuttle Atlantis ACCESS EVA". NASA Langley Research Center - Multimedia Repository. NASA. Archived from the original on 2006-09-28. Retrieved 2006-12-26.