Hitchhiker Carrier System
The Hitchhiker carrier system was modular and expandable in accordance with payload requirements. This flexibility allowed maximum efficiency in utilizing orbiter resources and increased the potential for early manifesting on the shuttle.
There were two types of carrier systems--the Hitchhiker Side-Mount Carrier System and the Hitchhiker Cross-Bay Bridge Carrier System. Either system could accept the Hitchhiker canister and the mounting plates.
The Hitchhiker Side-Mount Carrier System used a GAS Adapter Beam for all equipment. The beam attached to the orbiter frame. The side-mount carrier was usually installed in the forward starboard side of the payload bay, although other configurations and locations were possible. This carrier could hold up to three experiments and the Hitchhiker avionics box, which connected the power, data and signal from the shuttle to the experiments.
The Hitchhiker Cross-Bay Carrier could be located anywhere in the payload bay. The carrier could accommodate 11 Hitchhiker canisters or 11 of the smaller mounting plates. There was also room for the necessary avionic units.
Four additional mounting slots were located on the top of the carrier and could accept 33 inch (83.8 centimeter) by 27 inch (68.6 centimeter) pallets or 33 inch (83.8 centimeter) by 55 inch (139.7 centimeter) pallets in any combination with up to 500 pounds (226.8 kilograms) of equipment. Any customer experiments and hardware that could be mounted on the side-mount carrier could also be flown on the cross-bay carrier.
Read more about this topic: Hitchhiker Program
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