Development and Flight of the NASA-Ames Research Center Payload on Spacelab-J

Spacelab-J was an international Spacelab mission with numerous innovative Japanese and American materials and life science experiments. Two of the Spacelab-J experiments were designed over a period of more than a decade by a team from NASA-Ames Research Center. The Frog Embryology Experiment investigated and is helping to resolve a century-long quandary on the effects of gravity on amphibian development. The Autogenic Feedback Training Experiment, flown on Spacelab-J as part of a multi-mission investigation, studied the effects of Autogenic Feedback Therapy on limiting the effects of Space Motion Sickness on astronauts. Both experiments employed the use of a wide variety of specially designed hardware to achieve the experiment objectives. This paper reviews the development of both experiments, from the initial announcement of opportunity in 1978, through selection on Spacelab-J and subsequent hardware and science procedures development, culminating in the highly successful Spacelab-J flight in September 1992.