Honey, was that the USC Logo on the Space Shuttle?

 
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Honey, was that the USC Logo on the Space Shuttle?
Tens of thousands of Trojans probably wondered if their eyes were playing tricks on them as they watched the evening news early last November.
But it was no illusion. While astronaut/ senator John Glenn may have been the center of attention inside the space shuttle Discovery, back in the baggage compartment, USC ruled.
The spectacular view from the opened cargo bay doors, with Earth shimmering in the background, is often seen in televised images from shuttle flights. This time, though, the onboard camera also captured a great big USC logo emblazoned across a large white cylinder.
The eye-catching cylinder contained the Solar Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker-3 instrument package, designed and assembled at USC’s Space Sciences Center to measure the sun’s extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation. The goal was to learn more about the photochemistry produced by the sunlight absorbed in the atmospheres of planets, comets and other celestial bodies, according to project manager Donald R. McMullin.
The shuttle also carried a complementary package from the University of Arizona to measure the EUV light reflected by the planet Jupiter. Together, the Arizona and USC instruments measured what goes into the giant planet’s atmosphere and what comes out.

 

• Bob Calverley

 

 

 
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