Guest Alan Thirkettle was one of the first ESA engineers to work on Spacelab. He went on to become the first International Space Station programme manager for ESA and talks about the unexpected challenges and memorable moments of building a science laboratory for space.
ESA’s development of this unique modular lab paved the way for the first non-American to fly on a NASA spacecraft, ESA astronaut Ulf Merbold, in 1983.
The success of that first Spacelab flight set the stage for many more. In fact, over the course of 30 years, Spacelab modules flew on the Space Shuttle 22 times and totalled 244 days in orbit.
Spacelab also fed into development of the International Space Station and ESA’s Columbus science laboratory that has supported a huge number of European and international experiments in microgravity to date. However, it wasn’t all smooth engineering…
🎧 How do you build a lab that fits inside @NASA's Space Shuttle & paves the way for the first non-American astronaut on a US spacecraft? It wasn't always easy, but it certainly was worth it. Tune in to the latest episode of @esa #podcast #ESAExplores. https://t.co/AVtXodSOEh pic.twitter.com/3dyb33jH6g
— Human Spaceflight (@esaspaceflight) October 21, 2020
Hear more about Spacelab and the human side of human spaceflight history in Europe in the ESA Explores Time and Space podcast. It’s available via all major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud and Podbean, with new episodes released monthly.