anik - 10/12/2005 9:48 AMP.S.: Between Challenger (61-F) and Atlantis (61-G) launches were 5 days!
Spacely - 11/12/2005 7:27 PMIf that inevitable shuttle disaster didn't end up happening until, say, 1996, instead of 1986, there's a decent chance that 10+ years of 15 shuttle flights a year may have had us a couple new military-only shuttles and a pretty cool Space Station Freedom. Of course, in that scenario, I have a feeling solar system exploration budgets would have been sliced and diced and we would not have anywhere close to the current Mars program, Cassini, or the robust "Discovery" class missions. It's all so hard to predict!
Ben E - 12/12/2005 1:05 AM but what difference would it have made if they'd headed for the poles down the east (KSC) or west (Vandenberg) seaboards?
psloss - 12/12/2005 3:25 PMPerhaps someone here knows of a better reproduction than this, but it's still useful:http://stsliftoff.com/Documents/newsref/bigimages/launch_sites_8.jpg(I believe that STS-36 went to 62 degrees inclination from KSC with a dogleg maneuver, I'm assuming after the trajectory cleared populated areas during second stage...)
Launch Fan - 12/12/2005 6:59 PMAnd Discovery was going to have a new home in California? Reading the story about the Centuar launch, it seems to intimate this?
psloss - 12/12/2005 4:25 PMPerhaps someone here knows of a better reproduction than this, but it's still useful:http://stsliftoff.com/Documents/newsref/bigimages/launch_sites_8.jpg(I believe that STS-36 went to 62 degrees inclination from KSC with a dogleg maneuver, I'm assuming after the trajectory cleared populated areas during second stage...)
ADC9 - 12/12/2005 8:09 PMYes, very nice image. I wasn't actually aware they could launch Westerly?