Spacelab Payloads: Prepping Experiments and Hardware for Flight

Spacelab was a reusable laboratory facility that was flown on the Space Shuttle from 1983 to 1998. Completing 22 major missions and contributing to many other NASA goals, Spacelab stands as one of the Shuttle program’s most resounding successes.

The system comprised multiple components, including a pressurized laboratory module, unpressurized carrier pallets and other related hardware, all housed in the Shuttle’s Payload Bay and crew compartment. But how did all those varied components actu...