Author Topic: Space Shuttle Orbiter Enterprise:Space worthy after STS-1  (Read 3908 times)

Offline Caleb Cattuzzo

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What would it have taken to get enterprise up to snuff and updated to be orbit capable?I know a lot of changes were made between enterprise's rollout and STS-1 but I would like to know the specifics like cost,time,usefulness,safety,etc.

Also as a star trek fan a enterprise in space always fascinates me 
« Last Edit: 03/05/2018 04:34 pm by Caleb Cattuzzo »
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Offline Eric Hedman

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Offline Jim

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Re: Space Shuttle Orbiter Enterprise:Space worthy after STS-1
« Reply #2 on: 03/05/2018 05:40 pm »
It was just easier to the STA for Challenger and structural spares for Endeavour because it only involved construction.  Use of Enterprise would require a lot of tear down and gutting before it could be rebuilt.

Online DaveS

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Re: Space Shuttle Orbiter Enterprise:Space worthy after STS-1
« Reply #3 on: 03/05/2018 05:56 pm »
It was just easier to the STA for Challenger and structural spares for Endeavour because it only involved construction.  Use of Enterprise would require a lot of tear down and gutting before it could be rebuilt.
Yes and Enterprise would have ended up heavier than Columbia so with that added to the additional cost of the tear down of Enterprise they decided the best option was to use the STA once it is was done with its tests at Lockheed's facility. They still had to disassemble the STA forward fuselage as it had been built with a simulated crew module to remove that and refit it with an actual flight CM.
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Offline JAFO

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Re: Space Shuttle Orbiter Enterprise:Space worthy after STS-1
« Reply #4 on: 03/05/2018 07:45 pm »
I thought I remembered reading that Enterprise was something like 0.5 deg out of alignment, too?
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Offline woods170

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Re: Space Shuttle Orbiter Enterprise:Space worthy after STS-1
« Reply #5 on: 03/07/2018 08:25 am »
I thought I remembered reading that Enterprise was something like 0.5 deg out of alignment, too?
Given that most of Enterprise would have to be torn down for the rebuild the alignment issue could have been corrected.

In the end it was just easier (as well as less costly) to convert the STA into the second space-rated orbiter.

Offline Caleb Cattuzzo

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Re: Space Shuttle Orbiter Enterprise:Space worthy after STS-1
« Reply #6 on: 03/15/2018 07:50 pm »
While on the subject would it have been cheaper to refit enterprise or build endeavor after the challenger incident?Or was the refit issues just too costly and unsafe for enterprise to ever be a spacecraft?

(Yes I know enterprise was property of the smithsonian at the time so ignore the politics)
« Last Edit: 03/15/2018 07:52 pm by Caleb Cattuzzo »
There is no strife,no prejudice,no national conflict in space as yet.Its hazards are hostile to us all.

Offline IanThePineapple

While on the subject would it have been cheaper to refit enterprise or build endeavor after the challenger incident?Or was the refit issues just too costly and unsafe for enterprise to ever be a spacecraft?

(Yes I know enterprise was property of the smithsonian at the time so ignore the politics)

Endeavour, because that just required assembly and some minor part manufacturing to fill the gaps where there weren't spare parts available.

It also gave NASA a chance to implement some slight design changes to make Endeavour lighter, meaning it could carry more payload to orbit, or theoretically get to a higher orbit (although that would almost certainly never have happened), than other, earlier orbiters.

Also, a neat little fact, NASA made the spare parts that later became Endeavour because they really wanted to have another orbiter later on, and did everything except the assembly for that new orbiter. They just told Congress they wanted them as spare parts to get it funded, while still having the option for an extra orbiter on the table. It would just require Congress to give them the go-ahead and a little bit of funding to assemble the "spare parts" into a full orbiter.
« Last Edit: 03/15/2018 08:10 pm by IanThePineapple »

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