A payload change-out room developed to provide a controlled environment and the structural platform for a payload ground handling mechanism (PGHM), which performs the actual installation or removal of the payload is described. Design efforts to develop a PGHM compatible with the free-standing launch vehicle and the payload change-out room housing are discussed. Requirements of the PGHM considered include compensation for structural deflections resulting from wind forces and the transfer of the payload weight and protection for the payload, the orbiter, and the PGHM itself against damaging impacts that could occur during such deflections.
Space Shuttle payload handling on the launch pad
1979-04-01
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Space Shuttle planetary payload launch site operations
NTRS | 1990
|Space Shuttle planetary payload launch site operations
AIAA | 1990
|Payload handling for the Space Shuttle
AIAA | 1971
|