Twenty Years and No Signs of Running Out of GAS

On June 27, 1982, Get Away Special No. 1 rocketed into space aboard Space Shuttle "Columbia" on STS-4.

To commemorate the inaugural flight of a Get Away Special, or GAS can, the Shuttle Small Payloads Project Office at Goddard, sponsored an Open House at the Goddard Visitor Center on Thursday, June 27.

Among the activities, was a presentation from Gil Moore, a retired Thiokol executive who purchased the first GAS canister on October 12, 1976, as well as presentations by other experimenters who have taken part in the program over the past two decades.

As a pioneer of the GAS program, Moore believes that GAS presents "a unique avenue to space experimentation." At a comparatively modest cost, GAS gives individuals and organizations, both private and public, opportunities to send scientific research and developmental experiments into space aboard the Space Shuttle.

Since its first flight in June of 1982, NASA has successfully flown 167 GAS payloads on the Space Shuttle to support Earth and space science research, new technology development and promote student involvement in science and engineering. Experiments have been flown for schools, the US government, foreign governments and private companies.

For the complete article on the Get Away Special, go to: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/news-release/releases/2002/02-100.htm