Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington, DC             May 31, 1995
(Phone:  202/358-1979)

Lori Rachul
Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, OH 
(Phone:  216/433-8806)	


RELEASE:  95-79

NASA ROLLS OUT NEWEST AIRBORNE RESEARCH FACILITY

     NASA today held a ceremonial roll out of a DC-9 
aircraft that will serve as an airborne research facility 
for microgravity science.

     The DC-9 aircraft, operated by NASA's Lewis Research 
Center, Cleveland, OH, makes a state of near 
weightlessness or microgravity available to scientists and 
engineers for brief periods.

     The aircraft will be dedicated to performing NASA's 
microgravity research in the areas of biotechnology, 
combustion science, fluid physics and materials science.  
The aircraft will provide investigators with a series of 
18-22 second periods of microgravity by flying parabolic 
maneuvers.  This provides a significant period of 
microgravity allowing investigators to conduct experiments 
and develop equipment for use on the international Space 
Station and other orbital platforms.

     The microgravity environment allows scientists to 
temporarily minimize the effects of gravity which in turn 
provides a better understanding of the role that gravity 
plays in chemical, physical and biological processes and 
phenomena.  The microgravity environment aboard the DC-9 
also allows scientists to study phenomena that are 
obscured by the effects of gravity.

     The DC-9 arrived at Lewis in October, 1994 as a fully 
equipped passenger aircraft.  Modifications included 
removal of the passenger interior and installation of a 
new interior with a new electrical power distribution 
system for research equipment. 

     The retrofit also included a low gravity guidance 
system, which helps pilots fly highly accurate parabolic 
trajectories and a research data distribution system that 
provides flight data to researchers at five different 
locations in the aircraft. 

			-end-

NASA press releases and other information are available 
automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail 
message to domo@hq.nasa.gov.  In the body of the message 
(not the subject line) users should type the words 
"subscribe press-release" (no quotes).  The system will 
reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription.  
A second automatic message will include additional 
information on the service.  Questions should be directed 
to (202) 358-4043.