 This was the year of the reusable Space Shuttle. It was also the year of a picture-taking unmanned Voyager to Saturn. And in aeronautics, it was the year to begin major flight tests of research aircraft. As astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen headed for the launch pad, they represented more than being the pilots of this country's first Space Shuttle flight. They represented years of hard work by thousands of people and businesses, both large and small. Columbia's maiden flight was brief, just 54 and a half hours, 36 orbits, and returned to Earth. But it signaled the beginning of a reusable space transportation system. 30 weeks later, after Columbia had been returned to the Kennedy Space Center, cleaners, refurbished and rolled out to the panel, astronauts Joe Engel and Dick Pruey flew Columbia into space again. While an imaging radar system mapped distant Earth, the crew made a critical test of a Canadian-developed mechanical arm that will be used to place payloads into and out of orbit on future flights. Even though the second mission was shortened from five days to two days because of a fuel cell problem, the crew managed to carry out nearly all major tests. As Columbia landed the second time, the circle was complete. A new generation of space travel had begun. Looking ahead to 1983 and beyond, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center began training Space Lab crews. When placed inside the cargo bay of the shuttle orbiter, Space Lab converts the shuttle into a research center that will be used by scientists from around the world. Planned our experiments in communications and weather forecasting, crop surveys, manufacturing, astronomy and life sciences. A mobile workstation, a concept developed by NASA's Langley Research Center, was tested underwater at Marshall's Neutral Buoyancy Facility. The mobile workstation may be used by future astronauts to construct large platforms or antennas in Earth orbit. It allows a pair of pressure-suited astronauts to move horizontally and vertically and build systems that are too large or complex to fold up and transport aboard the shuttle. As Columbia took its place in the history books, a small unmanned spacecraft, Voyager 2, made its mark a billion miles from Earth. Voyager 2 approached and passed by the planet Saturn and its 17 fascinating moons, taking thousands of pictures and making detailed scientific measurements as it went. Those music-like sounds occurred as tiny particles hit and bounced off Voyager 2's plasma wave detector antenna. Saturn's vast ring system is made up of many small particles that orbit the huge planet in wave-like patterns. One instrument onboard Voyager 2 actually measured the thickness of Saturn's rings and found that the edge of the main ring system is remarkably thin, less than 500 feet thick. Its atmosphere is dominated by a strong equatorial jet stream that blows eastward at 1,200 miles per hour. Those storm systems are something like hurricanes here on Earth and are the means by which the internal heat energy of Saturn may feed the high-speed jet streams themselves. As Voyager swept by, it detected hot gases surrounding Saturn that are 600 million to 1 billion degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest gases ever observed in the solar system. For the Voyager team, years of analysis lie ahead. In the meantime, the small spacecraft will be watched and guided toward its rendezvous with the planet Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989. Preparations continued at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and in the Netherlands to make ready IRIS, the Infrared Astronomy Satellite, now scheduled for launch in 1982. IRIS will make a comprehensive survey of the entire sky, mapping possibly a million infrared sources, many previously unknown. The results are important because most infrared light from the stars and other cosmic sources is blocked out by the Earth's atmosphere. Scientists have been studying the planet Venus for years, and a large number of them recently met in an international conference to compare their new findings. Apparently, there are two major volcanic regions on the thick-crusted Venus that serve as escape valves for the planet's seething internal heat. Venus clouds are upside down and are made up of a smog layer and a layer of sulfuric acid droplets that produce drizzle but seldom hard rain. During its early history, Venus may have been Earth-like with cooler temperatures and an ocean. When the space telescope is launched and begins operating in 1985, it will send electronic data to a newly established Space Telescope Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University. The Space Telescope will provide astronomers with 24-hour views of the sky of unprecedented clarity. This specially-outfitted C-141, the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, is operated by NASA's Ames Research Center in California. The Kuiper Observatory routinely takes astronomers and their instruments to altitudes above most of the Earth's distorting atmosphere. From there, they can examine distant galaxies and study their vast energy. Some of NASA's high-flying picture takers look down rather than up, down at the Earth, that is. The high-altitude U-2 aircraft is a good example. In addition to aerial mapping cameras, these planes carry air sampling devices to study the protective ozone layer in our atmosphere. They are also helping to locate new water sources, assess flood damage, and fight forest fires. Two Landsat satellites continue to orbit the Earth 14 times a day. From their 570-mile-high vantage point, they return images like these taken over rich California farmlands. Telltale red images indicate vigorous vegetation growth. The state of California is using Landsat imagery to inventory and map its irrigated cropland. Not all of NASA's research has application to airplanes or spacecraft. Sometimes that situation is reversed. On a little-used runway, within sight of where the Space Shuttle Columbia already landed twice, engineers are studying how to make tractor trailers and weekend motor homes more fuel-efficient. Using known aerodynamic techniques, the corners and underbody of this van were rounded. Result? 70% lower drag with a 30% fuel savings, just by reducing the air resistance as the van travels along. These encouraging results may help change the shape of many vehicles in the future. This car can be driven thousands of miles without ever moving. Only the wheels spin to simulate driving. It is part of a program that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been involved in for the Department of Energy since the late 1970s. The research is aimed at making electric-powered cars competitive with those we now use for our regular shopping or commuting around town. Much of the activity this past year focused on finding batteries that will last longer and have an operating range of 75 to 100 miles per day. Since May, residents of the Pacific Northwest have been receiving some of their electricity from an old power source, gathered here at Goodknow Hills, Washington by the largest wind turbines in the world. 350 feet tall, with blades the length of a football field, the three computer-controlled turbines represent the first wind farm, a cluster of wind generators working together to act as a single power source. Built as part of the Department of Energy's Federal Wind Energy Program, the trio of wind turbines are managed by the Lewis Research Center and provide seven and a half million watts of electricity to the Bonneville Power Administration, enough to power nearly 2,000 of the area's homes. NASA launched satellites for a variety of users, including a new ComStar communication satellite for the ComSat General Corporation. Also launched was the second in a series of improved weather satellites, GOES-5, for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In Aeronautics, the NASA Army XV-15 Tilt Rotor, an experimental vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, completed proof-of-concept flight tests at the Ames Research Center. A pair of 25-foot propellers mounted on engines at each wing tip enabled the Tilt Rotor to take off and land like a helicopter. Once in the air, the engines are rotated forward, and the XV-15 becomes an airplane capable of flying at speeds up to 350 miles per hour. A Tilt Rotor's speed and comfort would make it an ideal intercity transport. It could also be the most economical way to service oil rigs more than 100 miles from shore, and because of its speed and endurance, the Tilt Rotor could be used to carry out long-range rescue operations, searching for three and a half hours, then flying survivors to a hospital 200 miles away. Another plane, the Quiet Shorthole Research Aircraft, or QSRA, performs exceptionally well in short takeoff and landing operations. By directing its own exhaust over the plane's upper wing, the QSRA is able to improve its short takeoff and landing performance. The QSRA's simple but versatile systems permit a wide variety of flight investigations that are providing important data to the American aerospace industry. Following a hard landing from 12 feet, it was decided not to repair the X-14B vertical takeoff and landing airplane. The X-14B is really a very sophisticated electronic flying simulator and has been used as a research tool at AIMS for the past 20 years. The largest wind tunnel in the world, with a test section of 40 by 80 feet, is being made even larger. Six new 22,500 horsepower drive motors are shown here being installed in the AIMS facility. When complete, the improvements will add an 80 by 120 foot test section capable of handling full-scale aircraft with engines running. It will also increase the airflow in the existing 40 by 80 foot test section by 115 miles per hour. This busy wind tunnel has been operating two shifts a day for the last 30 years. Although this prototype propeller will never help pull an airplane through the air, it may very well be the forerunner of ones that may. A 10 bladed high-speed turboprop was tested in a wind tunnel at the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland. The quiet fuel-efficient propellers were also flight-tested at the Dryden facility in California. From the successful missions of the space shuttle to the fly-by of the planet Saturn, 1981 was a busy and productive year for NASA in both aeronautics and space. This special report brought to you by NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.