Author Topic: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues  (Read 85746 times)

Offline Ares67

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #20 on: 06/03/2012 08:46 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #21 on: 06/03/2012 08:49 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #22 on: 06/03/2012 08:52 pm »
January 16: SOVIET EDUCATORS TOUR KSC
Soviet educators joined American colleagues for a tour of Kennedy Space Center which included the launch pads, industrial facilities and the astronaut training facilities. The first Soviet delegation to the United States since the Reagan-Gorbachev summit in December included: Edgar Vladimirovioh Linde, minister for higher education in Latvia; Leonid Ivanovich Kiselovski, president of Byelorussian State University in Minsk; and Vladimir Pavilovich Shevchenko, president of Donetski State University in Gonetz. The visit was sponsored by the American Association of Colleges and Universities. (Florida Today, Jan. 17, 1988)

January 21: “FLORIDA SPACEPORT” PROPOSED
The Florida Governor's Commission on Space recommended that the existing launch complexes at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station should be transformed into a "Florida Spaceport" to be used by private companies for processing and launching commercial payloads. The commission, established by Governor Bob Martinez, met at the Patrick Air Force Base (Florida Today, Jan. 22, 1988)

FLORIDA SPACE CAMP EXPECTED TO OPEN IN APRIL
Rod Collins, who headed the U. S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, has been named to supervise the start-up of Florida Space Camp to be located near Kennedy Space Center, according to Space Camp Foundation Executive Director Edward Buckbee. "There isn't a person better qualified or more experienced in Space Camp operations than Rod Collins." The camp is expected to open April 3. (Florida Today, Jan. 22, 1988)

January 22: SHUTTLE RUNWAY IMPROVEMENTS
Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle landing facility will undergo extensive modifications under a $635,000 contract awarded by EG&G Florida Inc. today to Jansen Construction Co. (Des Moines, Iowa). Work is scheduled to begin Jan. 26 with a mid-March completion date expected. NASA said the modifications will "enhance landing safety by reducing tire wear during landing operations" at the space center. The work is expected to reduce the likelihood of emergencies at the 15,000-foot runway, when a brake failure and tire blowout placed Discovery in danger during an April 1985 landing at KSC. "Cross grooves" at either end of the runway will be smoothed out on two 3,500-foot sections. (Florida Today, Jan. 23, 1988)
« Last Edit: 06/03/2012 08:52 pm by Ares67 »

Offline Ares67

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #23 on: 06/03/2012 08:55 pm »
January 24: DISCOVERY MAIN ENGINES INSTALLED
By late evening, Discovery's third main engine (SSME No. 2028 – Pos. #3 / right) was installed in the Orbiter Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. The second main engine's installation (SSME No. 2022 – Pos. #2 / left) was begun at 8:15 a.m. having been moved by fork lift out of the Vehicle Assembly Building and moved to the OPF, according to space center spokeswoman Lisa Malone. The first of the 1 and 1/2 ton engines was installed on Discovery last week (Jan. 10). The three engines had successfully completed flight readiness tests at the National Space Technology Laboratory at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Engine No. 2019 arrived at KSC on January 6, followed by No. 2022 on January 15 and No. 2028 on January 21. – Nevertheless, Malone asserted, "there will be a 20-second Flight Readiness Firing of the whole main propulsion system, including the main engines, on the launch pad, probably this summer. Discovery's launch, previously announced for June 2, will come no earlier than July 15. (Florida Today, Jan. 25, 1988 – edited)

Offline Ares67

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #24 on: 06/03/2012 08:56 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #25 on: 06/03/2012 08:59 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #26 on: 06/03/2012 09:01 pm »
January 25: THIRD BOOSTER TEST PLANNED PRIOR TO STS-26
NASA has decided to conduct a third test of the Shuttle's Solid Rocket Booster prior to the launch of Discovery now predicted to come in early or mid-August. David L. Winterhalter, director of systems engineering and analysis for the space agency, said that flaws would be intentionally induced in two tests of the SRBs. He said that an earlier design of the rocket nozzle which had successfully passed tests in August 1987 would be used for the first flight and that aft sections of the rocket would be shipped to Kennedy Space Center in early March. (The New York Times, Jan. 26, 1988)

January 26: STRUCTURAL "VARIATIONS" FOUND IN BOOSTER AFT SKIRT ASSEMBLIES
Structural "variations" were found in three of seven aft skirt assemblies by engineers using new ultrasound scanning methods, according to NASA spokesman Ed Medal at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where the discoveries were made. Medal said it was too early to characterize the "variations" as flaws. "What they've got to do is understand what's being seen in ultrasound to determine if there's a problem," he said. Medal also said that only seven of thirty booster aft skirts had been tested to date, but that all would be.

The recently instituted ultrasonic weld inspection had detected a small void in a low-stress area of the left-hand STS-26 SRM aft skirt hardware that anchors the assembled Space Shuttle during roll-out and main engine ignition. Structural analysis validated program officials’ early optimism about the situation and both skirts are in the process of being cleared for flight with no additional schedule impact. “We know what it is, we’ve got time to work on it. I don’t think it’s going to be a major schedule driver, said Richard Kohrs, Deputy Director of the NSTS Program at JSC.  (The New York Times, Jan. 27, 1988, and JSC Space News Roundup, Jan. 29, 1988)

“MIRROR, MIRROR” - ASTRONAUT MEMORIAL DESIGN REVEALED
The unveiling of the final design for the Astronauts Memorial will take place at the National Press Club in Washington, but Brevard County residents can view the entire announcement program via satellite transmission to the Galaxy Center at Spaceport USA. Two of the four artists who created the winning design will be on hand at the Kennedy Space Center attraction to meet the public. (Florida Today, Jan. 27, 1988)

Work has begun at Cape Canaveral on the Astronauts Memorial, a $7.8 million project to honor American astronauts who have died in the quest to explore space. According to plans, the unique “Space Mirror” structure and its computer-driven solar tracking system should be catching sunlight by the end of the year.

The campaign to build some sort of tribute to fallen astronauts began shortly after the Challenger accident in January 1986, when Alan Helman, an architect, founded the Florida-based Astronauts Memorial Foundation (AMF). Helman approached the Florida legislature for assistance, and within months the lawmakers had passed a bill permitting the creation and sale of a commemorative Challenger license plate. The public response was overwhelming. “The Challenger plate raised $11 million,” Helman proudly said. A later modification in the program allocated $5.3 million of the 5.8 million needed to design and build the memorial. Corporate donations brought in half a million more.

NASA, meanwhile, set aside six acres for the memorial at Spaceport USA, on the grounds of the Kennedy Space Center. Though the land will remain NASA property after the memorial is completed, an additional $2 million endowment from the AMF will be used to insure its care and upkeep.

Even though Helman is an architect, he did not design the memorial. The AMF sponsored a national design competition whose 756 entries were assessed by an independent panel of judges in early 1988. The winning “Space Mirror” concept came from the San Francisco-based architecture firm of Holt Hinshaw Pfau Jones.

The completed memorial will be a rectangular plane of highly polished granite slabs, 42.5 feet high by 50 feet wide, with the names of 14 fallen astronauts cut stencil-like through its surface. This structure will be supported by a turning frame that will track the Sun each day, providing a constant reflection of the sky. The astronauts’ names will appear to blaze on this field, as light from a separate system of mirrors is caught and diffused within the glass filling each carved letter. Artificial lighting will illuminate the names on cloudy days and at night.

Helman expects the Space Mirror to be completed and dedicated in December 1990. Listed on the memorial will be Challenger crew members Francis “Dick” WScobee, Michael Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, Apollo 1 crew members “Gus” Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee, who died in the 1967 launch pad fire, and Theodore Freeman, Charles Bassett, Elliot See and Clifton Williams, who were killed in T-38 training accidents. (Joseph Barneth Allen: “Mirror, Mirror” - Final Frontier, 1990)
« Last Edit: 06/03/2012 09:06 pm by Ares67 »

Offline Ares67

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #27 on: 06/03/2012 09:06 pm »

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #28 on: 06/03/2012 09:09 pm »
January 27: AUGUST LAUNCH FOR DISCOVERY
NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Flight, Rear Admiral Richard H. Truly, told a Congressional hearing that the new launch date for Discovery was August 4. NASA now plans to conduct three full-scale test firings of the SRB's before Discovery's launch. Two will be conducted with simulated manufacturing flaws to see whether such flaws would affect safety; two such firings were conducted in 1987. Speaking before a Congressional hearing, Truly said that a recent review of the program "has clearly demonstrated that we have struck the proper balance between our first priority of safety and quality, while still maintaining our commitment to return the Space Shuttle to flight just as quickly as we can reliably do so." (The New York Times, Jan. 28, 1988)

January 28: LET US REMEMBER…
Kennedy Space Center workers and others paused today for 73 seconds to remember the seven Challenger astronauts who died two years ago. Just prior to Space center flags being lowered to half-staff, KSC Director Forrest S. McCartney spoke to fellow employees over closed circuit television and the center's public address system. "As we make preparation to return the Space Shuttles to flight this year, it is appropriate to take time out to remember the men and women of the Challenger crew. Dick Scobee, Mike Smith, Ron McNair, Judy Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Greg Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe lost their lives in the difficult task of learning about and stretching the abilities of humankind to work in Space," McCartney said. "As we go back to our varied tasks," McCartney continued, "let us draw inspiration from the people we honor today. And let us remember that the greatest tribute we can pay them will be the successful launch of STS-26 and the resumption of a regular flight schedule." (The Orlando Sentinel, Jan. 29, 1988)

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #29 on: 06/03/2012 09:11 pm »
THIS IS GOING TO BE AS SAFE A MISSION AS WE CAN FLY
For his book “Shuttle” (1988) author Nigel Macknight, editor and publisher of the British “Spaceflight News” magazine, met with STS-26 Commander Rick Hauck. The following is an edited version of their interview session:

I managed to catch up with the man destined to command mission STS-26, just before he became “otherwise engaged” as far as the press corps was concerned and submerged himself in the very intensive period of training that precedes a spaceflight. Our interview took place at Johnson Space Center on a very significant date: 28 January 1988 – the second anniversary of the Challenger disaster. Later that day, there was the now-traditional one minute silence in memory of the Challenger Seven. Grapphically illustrating the fact that the show – no, that business – must go on, Rick Hauck and his fellow STS-26 crewmembers were hard at work in the Shuttle Motion Base Simulator during that one minute silence.

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #30 on: 06/03/2012 09:12 pm »
Macknight: Rick, two years ago today, seven of your friends and colleagues died aboard the shuttle Challenger. If we’re going to bring this discussion full-circle, so to speak, and go to talk about the STS-26/Discovery mission and about the future, I think our readers would be interested to know where you were at the time of that dreadful accident.

Hauck: I was here at the Johnson Space Center in a group with some members of the crew that I was going to fly with on the next Challenger mission, 61-F, which would have been two flights after 51-L. We were talking about that mission and we paused in the discussions to watch TV of the launch. Of course, when the explosion happened, it was pretty obvious to all of us that that was not going to be survivable. I think there was a stunned silence and we just quietly got up and walked back to our offices.

Macknight: After the tragedy, some astronauts took on duties related to the accident investigation effort. Were you assigned such a task?

Hauck: I was briefly looking into the modifications that had been made to Challenger to enable it to carry the Shuttle/Centaur upper stage. It was one of two orbiters that had been modified to accommodate that stage, the other being Atlantis. Of course, very early on in the accident investigation one of the first questions was “What’s different about Challenger compared with its configuration for the previous flight?” One of those differences was the Shuttle/Centaur compatibility modifications. The 61-F flight that I was to have commanded that May was to have used the Shuttle/Centaur stage to deploy the Ulysses solar-science satellite, so I did have familiarity with the plumbing modifications that had been put in. However it became apparent very quickly that really those modifications didn’t have anything to do with the accident, so after that I went on with other tasks assigned to me.

Macknight: I know you’re pretty much totally geared up to fly the STS-26/Discovery mission at the present time, but could you pull your mind away from that for a moment and cast an eye on the future? Would you like to stay with NASA after making this flight and perhaps make more shuttle missions – maybe even stay long enough to fly some of the early deployment and assembly missions for the U.S./International Space Station?

Hauck: I think that would be fascinating, and I certainly have not made a decision to leave the astronaut corps. I think if an individual is thinking a great deal about what he’s going to do when he leaves, then it’s probably time for him to leave, and I haven’t got to that point yet! I think that if there’s a career assessment to be done, I’ll have to concentrate on that after the mission rather than now.

Macknight: What feelings do you have about the ideas to upgrade the shuttle system in the future to keep pace with advancing technological developments? For example, how do you feel about the suggestion that the shuttle’s Solid Rocket Boosters be replaced with liquid-fueled derivatives?

Hauck: I sure think we need to do that. Any transportation system, whether it was the train, or the car or the airplane, has undergone an evolutionary period, and you build and refine on original designs. Obviously, there are some things that we think can be done to improve the shuttle, and perhaps one of them would be incorporating liquid boosters. They give the advantage of being able to be throttled in flight, or even switched off altogether in the event of an emergency.

In addition to that, I think, we’ve come a long way in avionics since the shuttle was designed 15 or more years ago. If you look at the new Boeing 757 and Boeing 767 cockpits and the display capabilities now that we have with some of our advanced technology, these are things that we’d like to incorporate into the shuttle. And maybe we’d like to look at having electrical-actuated, rather than hydraulic-actuated, flight control systems.

There are a variety of things that, for efficiency, weight-saving and general reliability, we might want to change. We need to develop the capability to carry a greater tonnage of payloads to space and so forth. I think also, in a complementary sense, that it’s appropriate that both NASSA and the Department of Defense are developing heavier-lift-capability unmanned vehicles based partly on existing shuttle hardware.

Macknight: Have you any comments to make about the Soviet shuttle, which currently is rumored to be close to making its first spaceflight?

Hauck: I don’t know anything about it, but I would be fascinated to learn.

Offline Ares67

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #31 on: 06/03/2012 09:13 pm »
Macknight: Let’s get back to the present work-in-hand and discuss the STS-26 mission. After the Challenger accident, provision for some kind of escape system has got to be a major talking-point. Right now it’s not absolutely certain whether it will be the tractor-rocket escape system or the telescopic pole device that will be fitted to Discovery in time for your mission, but could you give me your personal views on those two escape options?

Hauck: One of the going-in ground rules that we set on an escape system was that it should not compromise other aspects of flying the shuttle, so we’ve tried very hard to not let either the pole or the tractor-rocket system get in our way of doing business. Obviously, the rocket system does have some bulk to it and will take up some space down in the middeck, but as of right now I think I’d put my viewpoint like this: If both of them were to prove satisfactory in the testing, we would opt for the pole, because it’s simpler, doesn’t take up as much room, and it doesn’t have explosives associated with it. But if the tractor-rocket system proves feasible and the pole doesn’t, we’ll be happy to have the tractor rocket.

One thing we are very mindful of is that both those systems can only help us when we’re in controlled flight. They would help if, for example, we had lost two engines and would have been ditching in the water, we can fly the vehicle okay, but because it doesn’t have any engines, we can’t go on to a suitable landing site. Either of these systems would allow us to extract ourselves and parachute down into the water in circumstances like that, but neither would help in a Challenger-type accident.

Also, Nigel, let me mention that we will have partial pressure suits that will provide us some short-duration protection against a partial loss of cabin pressurization, a matter of maybe 10, 15 minutes. During re-entry, let’s say, if we were to lose all cabin pressurization, there’s only a very limited capability. But if it’s a partial loss of pressurization, these partial-pressure suits could help us survive a return to earth that otherwise we might not be able to.

Macknight: When Discovery is sitting there on the launch pad about to lift off, it’s going to be a tense time for everybody. You may just find yourself with a few moments to spare between checking the onboard systems and checking off the items on your checklist to reflect on what you’re about to do. How do you expect to feel?

Hauck: As you know, we train exhaustively for the launch portion of the mission, and I know from experience the last two times, as we’re counting down – even during the countdown for the real launch – there’s a certain amount of unreality associated with it, because you’ve simulated it for so long. We’ve even done what we call a Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test a month  or so before the flight, where we actually climb in the cockpit and do a countdown with the Launch Control Center’s full participation.

But to answer your question, you really know that when the pilot – in this case Dick Covey – starts the APU’s: “Here we are. We’re really going to do this,” and the I’m sure there’ll be some excitement. My heartbeat will be elevated, but I really don’t anticipate any fear. I’m convinced that this is going to be as safe a mission as we can fly, because of all the attention and testing we’ve put on the vehicle.

But when the main engines ignite at T minus seven seconds, again – from experience – that’s when you know that you’re really going to do it, and it’s an exhilarating feeling. The solid rockets light off and it’s almost all business. I can’t say it’s all business, because there is a certain exhilaration associated with it when you glance out the window and so on. – Let’s just say it’s going to be a very exciting time.

Macknight: You’re training extensively in the simulators, as you’ve just mentioned. In addition, you’ve been visiting the various NASA centers and the factories of the contractor companies, where the various elements of your STS-26 stack are being put together. When we last spoke, which was in November 1987, you told me that you estimated even at that time that, as a crew you’d met about 20,000 members of the Shuttle workforce across the country, albeit briefly. Can you dwell for a moment on outlining the day-to-day activities of Rick Hauck, the astronaut, in this present progressing-to-launch period?

Hauck: Well, how about just looking at this week’s schedule as being some kind of gu8ide to that… - Last Monday I flew up to Washington to listen to the management council meeting that was chaired by Rear Admiral Truly. Launch dates were discussed, as was the status of the Solid Rocket Booster development. I, or any member of my crew, has been invited to sit-in on any of those meetings, which I think is a reflection of the effort at all levels of management to ensure that we be kept aware of what’s going on and how decisions are being made.

Tuesday we had a simulator session – an ascent skills simulation – over in the Motion Base Simulation system here at Houston. Yesterday, Wednesday, Dick Covey and I went out to White Sands to fly the Gulfstream 2 Shuttle Training Aircraft and came back here yesterday evening. This morning, Thursday, of course, I’m doing the interview with you and we have another simulation starting at nine o’clock and going from nine to one.

Then tomorrow we have a meeting with some folks to talk about how much training we want to do in those partial-pressure suits I was describing to you. Obviously, we don’t want to do all of our training in that because it is very cumbersome, but you want to do enough training that you feel comfortable. That afternoon, Friday afternoon, we have a meeting to talk about the status of our orbiter APUs, our Auxiliary Power Units, with some of the project people.

And that’s pretty typical. The pace will pick up slowly as we get nearer to launch and you will hear more simulations and maybe a little less meetings. Simulations will increase and we’ll get to the point where Dick and I will fly the Shuttle Training Aircraft once a week. That’s at Launch minus three months.

Macknight: Final question, what do you think will be the most taxing, the most trying, the most demanding task to perform on STS-26?

Hauck: One of the ground rules laid down by Admiral Truly as part of the recovery effort was that he didn’t want to do anything that we hadn’t done before on the STS-26 mission. We’ve taken a TDRS tracking satellite up before, we’re all experienced crewmen; it’s going to be a mission that should hold no surprises. To answer your question directly – as always, the ascent/powered flight portion I think is the most demanding, even if let’s say everything goes normally. You just have to be ready for any contingencies. You have to be at your peak. Once the main engines cut off, once we get up into orbit, open the payload bay doors; from then on I anticipate, even though we may have some minor problems – there are always minor problems – that things will go very well.

Macknight: Rick, thanks for taking the time to talk. Best of good fortune with your STS-26 mission; we’ve all been waiting a long time for that.

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #32 on: 06/03/2012 09:16 pm »
January 31: THIRTIETH EXPLORER 1 ANNIVERSARY
Explorer I was launched aboard a Jupiter C rocket from Cape Canaveral thirty years ago today. The 30 1/2 pound satellite, which was launched at 10:48 p.m., followed by 84 days the launching of Sputnik 1, the world's first satellite on Oct. 4, 1957, by the Soviet Union. The man who ordered the launch was Major General J. Bruce Medaris, now 85 years old and a semi-retired priest in the Anglican Church. (Florida Today,  Jan. 31, 1988)

EXPLORER 1 – THE VON BRAUN FACTOR
By the end of the year 1945, more than a hundred German rocket scientists and engineers were in White Sands, N.M., having delivered themselves to American troops, if only to avoid being taken by the Soviets. It would be difficult to overstate the importance of these émigrés to the U.S. space program. American rocketry, under Robert H. Goddard, had been exemplary, as the German “missile man”  Wernher von Braun was the first to admit: “Until 1936, Goddard was ahead of us all.” But post-WWII, the U.S. was thrust into an age of guided missiles, with which it had virtually no hands-on training. Von Braun, who would become chief of the U.S. Army ballistic-weapons program, said of German rocket men, “If we are good, it’s because we’ve had 15 more years of experience.”

During World War II, the combatants engaged in a mortal competition to invent ever more deadly means of attack. With the war in Europe in its final year, the Nazi regime, trapped within tightening concentric rings, desperately pursued new methods to strike from afar. The scientists in Germany had for decades shown an acumen for rocketry – but, fortunately for democracy, there was not enough time for them to produce missiles of distant destruction with the potency and accuracy sufficient to seize victory from defeat. Nevertheless, the rockets developed at Peenemunde rained terror on England and the Netherlands in 1944. When the first V-2 hit London, von Braun – who had always dreamed of flying to the Moon – told a friend that it had worked perfectly, except for landing on the wrong planet.

Their people may not have been living the good life, but the Soviets showed on October 4, 1957, that something was going right behind the Iron Curtain, when Sputnik 1 became the first artificial satellite. Dithery to catch up, the U.S. misfired with the Navy’s Vanguard rocket on December 6, 1957. Earthbound moments after lift-off, surviving the big ball of flame produced by the exploding rocket, its mini-satellite payload – the media later called it “Flopnik” and “Kaputnik” – fell lamely into nearby bushes.

Wernher von Braun, now an American citizen, but still a worshiper at the feet of rockets, was distraught that the Soviets had zoomed ahead while the rival branches of the U.S. military were still competing with each other. President Eisenhower was trying to let the Navy solve a problem that was clearly within von Braun’s purview. Finally, after the Vanguard  shame, the government allowed von Braun and his Huntsville Army group to launch the first American satellite, Explorer 1, aboard their Jupiter C on January 31, 1958. (LIFE – Man in Space, 2003 – edited / details added)
« Last Edit: 06/03/2012 09:17 pm by Ares67 »

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #33 on: 06/03/2012 09:21 pm »
February 4: SDI TEST DELAYED
An important test for the Strategic Defense Initiative was delayed when a potential problem was discovered in the second stage of its Delta launch vehicle. The test was not immediately rescheduled. (Florida Today, Feb. 5, 1988)

SLF LANDING PRACTICE FOR HAUCK AND COVEY
The Commander and Pilot of Discovery's first post-Challenger mission arrived at Kennedy Space Center to begin Shuttle landing practice in the Shuttle Training Aircraft, a modified Gulfstream II. Shuttle liftoff is now expected no earlier than August 4. (Florida Today, Feb. 5, 1988)

NASA ANNOUNCES SHUTTLE CREW
NASA today announced crew members for Shuttle mission STS-28, currently targeted for late 1988. STS-28 will be a Department of Defense (DOD) mission aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. The crew will be commanded by Col. Brewster II. Shaw, Jr. (USAF). Pilot for the mission will be Cdr. Richard N. Richards (USN). Cdr. David C. Leestma (USN), Lt. Col. James C. Adamson (USA), and Maj. Mark N. Brown (USAF) have been assigned as mission specialists.  (NASA News, JSC, Release 88-001)

February 5: DELTA LAUNCH DELAYED
Bad weather postponed the launch of a Delta rocket with a military payload till early next week, according to NASA officials. Experts also continued to work on a second stage engine problem. Under new rules, the launch cannot occur till the bad weather passes. The new guidelines resulted from the loss of an Atlas Centaur rocket launched by NASA in a thunderstorm last year. (The Orlando Sentinel, Feb. 6, 1988)

February 6: KSC PRESS SITE MAY HAVE TO BE ABANDONED
"It's a possibility,' that the Kennedy Space Center press site and VIP viewing stands may have to be abandoned for safety reasons, according to Charles Hollinshead, KSC's Public Affairs Director. The issue is being debated as a result of safety studies now under way at the Eastern Space and Missile Center, south of KSC. "Right now," said Hollinshead, "the Air Force is showing us their studies and taking into consideration what happened with 51-L." Two concerns are a catastrophic failure - such as an explosion - right after liftoff -  and other critical, hazardous malfunctions - such as the loss of one of two main engines or a Solid Rocket Booster failure - early in the flight.

The current placement of the "impact line" - a boundary surrounding KSC areas where access is limited to essential personnel during shuttle launches - is being debated. ESMC officials are urging NASA to consider moving the safety perimeter - or "impact line" - farther west, well away from the press site. That might cause denial of access to VIPs and media to the current access and, Hollinshead said, "Certainly we hope that won't happen. (Florida Today, Feb. 7, 1988)

February 8: DELTA LAUNCHED SUCCESSFULLY
An unmanned 116-foot Delta rocket was launched from pad 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station today at 5:07 p.m. The rocket carried a three-ton military satellite in a mission designed as a test for the Strategic Defense Initiative program of the Department of Defense. The launch was seen as an important step in rebuilding confidence in the American Space program.

A significant change in the decision process that was first used in Delta 181 was formation of a management team to advise James L. Womack, Launch Director, on whether to launch or hold at any point in the countdown. The advisory group focused on weather, personnel fatigue, external distractions and other factors that might escape the notice of the launch team.

John T. Conway, Director of Payload Management & Operations at Kennedy, was the Advisory Team Leader. Members were Robert B. Sieck, director of Kennedy Shuttle Launch Operations, George F. Page, Lockheed Space Operations Co. Chief Technical Adviser, and Gerald W. Longanecker, Director of Flight Projects at Goddard Space Flight Center. USAF Capt. Thomas H. Strange, an Eastern Space and Missile Center Meteorologist, was the weather adviser. Page formerly was Director of the Shuttle Program at Kennedy Space Center and also was Director of Expendable Vehicle Operations, Womack's Job. The advisory group did not overrule NASA or contractor launch teams at any point during the 135 minute countdown Which included three planned hold.  (The New York Times, Feb. 9, 1988, and Aviation Week & Space Technology, Feb. 15, 1988)

Offline Ares67

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #34 on: 06/03/2012 09:24 pm »
February 10: NASA DEBATES REPLACEMENT OF SRB NOZZLE BOLTS
The August 4 liftoff of the Discovery may be delayed pending the outcome of a debate between NASA and Morton Thiokol Inc. over the necessity to replace 72 bolts inside the nozzle of each Solid Rocket Booster as a safety measure. NASA said the replacement is being considered because the bolts on hand are threaded all the way to the bolt head instead of having a smooth bolt shank. The agency said the smooth shank might be preferred to assure that new, special washers under the bolts seal properly, preventing leaks which might otherwise occur along the path of the bolt threads. (The New York Times, Feb. 11, 1988)

February 11: SUCCESSFUL BOOSTER TEST AT MSFC
A Solid Rocket Booster with intentionally flawed joints was successfully tested today at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. John McCarty, Director o_ the Propulsion Lab at MSFC, described the test as "100 percent successful." The test was the second of ten scheduled firings to check the effects of in-flight stresses on the redesigned booster joints. Project Manager Charles Vibbart said, We are attempting to show that even if there is some malfunction, we do not get leakage." (The New York Times, Feb. 12, 1988)

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #35 on: 06/03/2012 09:26 pm »
A NEW NATIONAL SPACE POLICY
The Reagan Administration announced today a new national space policy which urges NASA "to venture into the solar system by first preparing new technologies for sending people to the Moon and Mars." It also lays out an increased role for commercial Space ventures. NASA Administrator Dr. James Fletcher said, "The policy clearly establishes that, for the first time, the United States has a long-range goal of expanding human presence and activity beyond Earth orbit into the solar system." The Administration has requested $11.3 billion for NASA in the fiscal year beginning Oct. l, 1989. The budget includes $100 million to begin a $1 billion program to study technologies for establishing a scientific base on the Moon. The program, designated “Pathfinder” by the Administration, envisions a Moon base perhaps by the year 2000 and a manned mission to Mars early in the 21st century. (The New York Times, Feb. 12, 1988)

February 22: FOURTH NJES-TEST PLANNED WEDNESDAY
The fourth of six planned firing tests for the Shuttle's Solid Rocket Booster nozzle-to-case joint has been planned for Feb. 24, according to Morton Thiokol Inc. officials. The test will evaluate deliberate flawed insulation adhesive and a damaged O-ring gasket. Rocky Raab, company spokesman said the test "will allow engineers to evaluate the fail-safe performance of the redesigned joint." NASA engineers also confirmed today that a redesigned joint also had been successfully tested during the Transient Pressure Test Article TPTA-2A firing at Marshall Space Flight Center on Feb. 11 . (Florida Today, Feb. 23, 1988 - edited)

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #36 on: 06/03/2012 09:27 pm »
February 23: LOOSE INSULATION FOUND
A piece of loose insulation found in a spare Solid Rocket Booster will not affect Discovery's August 4 launch, according to NASA officials. The loose insulation was found recently at Morton Thiokol Inc.'s Utah plant said Royce Mitchell, a NASA booster official. Though engineers won't make a final determination for several days, the flaw is presently attributed to the processing of that particular booster section and not a more general problem which could affect the safety of Discovery's boosters. (The Orlando Sentinel, Feb. 24, 1988)

February 24:  FOURTH NJES-BOOSTER TEST A SUCCESS
"Indications are that we had a good test, said Royce Mitchell of the fourth redesigned booster Nozzle Joint Environment Simulator test, NJES-3A, which took place in Utah at the Morton Thiokol Inc. facility. Mitchell, who heads NASA's redesign team, also said, "We did not get any gas leakage (from the joint) to the outside world." He said the object of the just completed test was to determine whether the revamped case-to-nozzle joint would work properly even though engineers deliberately damaged it prior to the firing. Final test results are expected in a few days. (Florida Today, Feb. 25, 1988 - edited)

February 29: NASA TO ADD SECOND SHUTTLE CARRIER AIRCRAFT TO FLEET
NASA today announced plans to acquire a Boeing 747-100 jetliner to serve as a second Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) for the Space Transportation System. A letter contract has been signed with Boeing Military Airplane Co., a division of The Boeing Company to reserve the aircraft for NASA use. The additional SCA will provide increased ferrying capability and eliminates a potential single-point failure in the Space Transportation System. The 231-foot long aircraft will be modified to carry Shuttle orbiter vehicles from landing sites to orbiter processing facilities at the Kennedy Space Center. Modifications will be made by Boeing at their manufacturing facilities in Wichita, Kansas. The 747-100 is nearly identical to the original SCA, and was selected in order to minimize costs associated with modifications and operation.

The original SCA has transported orbiters since 1977 when the orbiter Enterprise was first used for unpowered atmospheric flight tests. Since then, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis have all been ferried coast to coast atop the SCA. Total cost of the aircraft and the required modifications is currently under negotiation. That figure is expected to be available this summer. (NASA News, JSC, Release 88-005)

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #37 on: 06/03/2012 09:28 pm »

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #38 on: 06/03/2012 09:30 pm »

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Re: RTF 1988 – The Journey Continues
« Reply #39 on: 06/03/2012 09:33 pm »

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