Author Topic: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity  (Read 74277 times)

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #60 on: 04/16/2017 06:35 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #61 on: 04/16/2017 06:39 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #62 on: 04/16/2017 06:45 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #63 on: 04/16/2017 06:47 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #64 on: 04/16/2017 06:52 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #65 on: 04/16/2017 06:55 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #66 on: 04/16/2017 06:58 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #67 on: 04/16/2017 07:03 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #68 on: 04/16/2017 07:07 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #69 on: 04/16/2017 07:11 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #70 on: 04/16/2017 07:15 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #71 on: 04/16/2017 07:21 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #72 on: 04/16/2017 07:23 pm »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #73 on: 04/16/2017 07:26 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #74 on: 04/16/2017 07:30 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #75 on: 04/16/2017 07:32 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #76 on: 04/16/2017 07:33 pm »
STS-35 Flight Preparations – Milestones and Roadblocks

“Grounded like a misbehavin’ teenager Columbia remained on Pad 39A…”

- Image caption, page 8, Countdown, July 1990


HITTING THE LONG ROAD TOWARDS LAUNCH

On January 26, 1990, Columbia returned to Kennedy Space Center after the STS-32 mission and was towed to OPF-1. Over the next few days the LDEF, which had been retrieved from space, was removed from the payload bay and processing started for STS-35, now scheduled for launch on May 9. Stacking of the Solid Rocket Boosters began January 30, as the aft skirt of the left-hand booster was placed on Mobile Launcher Platform MLP-3 in The Vehicle Assembly Building. Build-up of the left-hand SRB was completed on February 27; stacking of the right-hand booster began the following day and was completed on March 12. Twelve days later the External Tank was mated to both boosters.

In the OPF, the pallets carrying the Astro-1 payload were loaded into Columbia’s cargo bay on March 20. It was the first time since the Challenger disaster that a horizontal payload was loaded before the shuttle was rolled out to the launch pad. On April 16 Columbia was rolled over from the OPF to the VAB and was mated to the ET/SRB stack the next day. The rollover was delayed because a small leak was discovered in the hydraulics of the orbiter’s nose landing gear.

(Spaceflight, Vol. 47, December 2005 – edited)

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #77 on: 04/16/2017 07:35 pm »
On a Wing and a Prayer?

(By Dixon P. Otto)


IF ASTRO

During the preflight press conference for the first Moon landing, the crew of Apollo 11 was asked if they should not be speaking in terms of “if” rather than “when” they landed on the Moon. They replied that they were confident in the when of their endeavor. For Astro-1 (STS-35), coming hard on the heels of the Hubble deployment mission, we reverse the confidence of the old NASA of 1969. We say if, not when…

I worry tremendously about the Astro shuttle flight coming in the shadow of the Hubble deployment mission. Less than two years after the resumption of flights, why must we force two flights within three weeks of each other?

The appearance of Columbia and Discovery on the pad at the same time in late April 1990 echoed memories of Challenger. The only previous time two shuttles were side-by-side on the pad occurred in January 1986.

Can NASA handle the strain of preparing two pads/shuttles at the same time? For example, the major practice countdown for Columbia STS-35 on Pad 39A was scheduled just two days after the launch of Discovery STS-31 from Pad 39B. Some members of the launch team must participate in both activities.

Can the engineering data from the Discovery launch be analyzed in time to be applied to Columbia? In not waiting for detailed data reduction, is NASA saying that shuttle launches have returned to routine “operational” regularity?


MILES TO GO

I do not like the way NASA is shifting launch dates – forwards, backwards and sideways. Yes, perhaps on paper they can achieve such chess-like moves, but the movement of schedules poses an intrinsic harm – like shifting your sleep schedule every night.

Why must Astro fly so soon after Hubble? Just because it can be done on paper? NASA is like a marathon runner who decides that since he has picked up his pace without harm, he can do it again and again – forgetting he has miles to go.

The aim of the shuttle program should be to increase the flight rate to where we can launch weeks apart not now, but five years from now when we are building the Space Station. Is Astro worth the risk to the shuttle fleet?


PRESERVE THE FLEET

NASA Administrator Richard Truly has done a tremendous job rebuilding NASA. I would hate to see anything happen on his watch. I am fearful something will – and sooner, not later. I’d normally jump at the chance to fly on the shuttle, but you could not pay me a million dollars – with a million dollars life insurance policy on top – to be aboard Columbia in mid-May.

Admiral Truly, I beg you, preserve the fleet. Postpone Astro – even cancel it while it rests on the pad, if you have to!

(Dixon P. Otto, Countdown, May 1990 – edited)


“DON’T HAVE A COW, MAN!”

Dear Editor:
As Bart Simpson would say: “Don’t have a cow, man!” Your attitude was a downright disgrace in last month’s issue. You not only showed a complete disregard and disrespect for the new NASA system, but worst of all you gave a slap in the face of every man and woman who gave his or her “blood, sweat and tears” to rebuilding the Space Shuttle program. (…) If NASA can work both pads at once, I say “Go for it!” I’d do just about anything to be able to fly aboard a shuttle mission, anytime, any orbiter. When – WHEN, not if – Columbia STS-35 makes orbit, it will undoubtedly be one of the most spectacular missions of the STS program.


- Brad Haines, Rensselaer, New York

My only concern is… never, Never, NEVER begin presenting a point of view by quoting clichés from “The Simpsons.”

- Dixon P. Otto

(“Air To Ground,” Countdown, July 1990 – edited)

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #78 on: 04/16/2017 07:38 pm »
April 16: NO CLEAR TARGET FOR COLUMBIA YET
Columbia’s launch has been impacted by the delay in launching Discovery’s Hubble Space Telescope mission. NASA officials said today that Columbia won’t fly until mid-May. “We’re not going to be able to make the ninth, but we still don’t have a clear target yet,” said Kennedy Space Center spokeswoman Lisa Malone. She went on to say that shuttle program managers wanted at least three weeks to study Discovery’s launch data and hardware before launching Columbia. Meanwhile work continued on launch preparations for Discovery. (Halvorson, Florida Today, April 17, 1990 – edited)

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Re: Columbia STS-35 – Triumph over Adversity
« Reply #79 on: 04/16/2017 07:39 pm »
April 18: COLUMBIA ON THE HEELS OF HUBBLE LAUNCH
Discovery will be ready for a second launch attempt April 24, a day ahead of the previously announced schedule. “Everyone believes we’re now ready to fly, and all of us will be looking forward to the data the Hubble Space Telescope will produce as it begins its exploration of the Universe,” said Robert Crippen, Shuttle Program Director. Technicians this week will test electrical and mechanical connections between Columbia and her Solid Rocket Boosters, External Tank and Mobile Launch Platform in the Vehicle Assembly Building. This two-day test must be completed before Columbia can be rolled out to Launch Pad 39A. (Glisch, The Orlando Sentinel, Apr. 19/21, 1990; Halvorson, Florida Today, Apr. 19, 1990 – edited)


April 20: “NO CONCERN,” SAYS BRAND
NASA's Columbia astronauts said today they are eager to quickly follow Discovery into orbit and are confident their May mission will not be overshadowed by next week's launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. After a 14-day delay, the space telescope is scheduled to blast off early Tuesday on a five-day mission aboard the shuttle Discovery.

If NASA meets that date, the shuttle Columbia will lift off May 16 for a ten-day flight Columbia will be moved to its Florida launch pad Sunday, marking the first occasion that NASA has had two space shuttles on neighboring launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center since January 1986. At that time, Columbia and Challenger occupied the launch pads. Columbia flew a successful six-day mission. Challenger exploded seconds after lifting off. Later, the space agency was criticized for attempting to fly missions too quickly, sacrificing safety. This year, NASA is attempting to fly nine shuttle missions, matching the previous annual record of nine in 1985.

After the first attempt to launch the five-day Hubble mission failed four minutes before lift-off on April 10, NASA decided to postpone the May 9 launch date of Astro by one to two weeks. When that decision was made, Brand said he felt assured there was no undue pressure on the agency to launch Columbia. If some people are singing the old WWII song, “Comin’ In On A Wing And A Prayer,” the Columbia crew refuses to form a chorus.

“If we were still trying to launch on May 9, it would look to me like we were cramming too much work into the bag, so to speak. But I believe that since we’re probably sure to be three weeks behind the Hubble mission and processing has been going along so well, I just don’t have any concern,” Brand says. “I feel good about it.”

Columbia pilot Guy Gardner agrees. “I’ve been impressed with NASA management at all levels to ensure that everything is done in the proper manner and that nobody is rushing to get out launch off,” says Guy Gardner, STS-35 pilot. “They’re all making sure not only that the hardware is ready, but that the people will be ready, with adequate time to recuperate from one launch to the next.” Ron Parise, one of two non-NASA scientists on the Columbia flight, adds, "I think we have a real good chance of pulling it off." (The Houston Chronicle, Apr. 21, 1990; Countdown, May 1990 – edited)


April 22: COLUMBIA LOOKS VERY GOOD OUT THERE
For only the second time since January 1986, Space Shuttles occupy both Kennedy Space Center pads as Columbia joined Discovery at Launch Complex 39 today. Columbia with three Astro-1 ultraviolet astronomy telescopes and the Broad-Band X-Ray Telescope in her payload bay, made the 3.5 mile trip from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Pad 39A in preparation for the STS-35 mission targeted for launch May 16. Meanwhile, NASA Test Director Mike Leinbach is hopeful they’ll get Discovery off the pad on Tuesday (April 24), hauling the long-anticipated Hubble Space Telescope into Earth orbit. Discovery’s crew arrived at KSC this afternoon in their T-38 jets. “Columbia looks very good out there,” said STS-31 Commander Loren Shriver. As Columbia rode out to the pad, her crawler transporter – CT-2 – passed its 1,000 mile and a brief ceremony was held to mark the milestone. (Kyle Herring, Space News Roundup, Apr. 27, 1990; Brown, Florida Today, Apr. 23, 1990 – edited)

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