ratcat
Today is the 20th anniversary of the 1st successful mission of the US Space Shuttle.
Columbia (OV-102) was launched from Pad A in the Launch Complex 39 area at Kennedy Space Center on April 12, 1981 at 7:00:03 a.m. EST. The launch followed various delays following a number of software timing issues with the 5 onboard computers, who just couldn't seem to agree on something!
John W. Young was the Commander for that mission and Robert L. Crippen pilotted the orbiter. The mission lasted just 2 days, but did prove successful, paaving the way for a further 23 successful flights.
However on 28th January 1986 mission STS 51L catastrophically broke that success record. Just 73 seconds into the flight, Shuttle OV-99, named Challenger, exploded and fell in a million burning piece into the Atlantic ocean. To this day pieces of that orbiter are still washed up, though most of the debris has now been collected by Nasa and analysed to death. 7 were lost, including 1 civilian.
Surprisingly, whilst the successes are enormous, NASA are playing down this event, though when you look behind the scenes it isn't surprising. Budgetry issues and escalating costs of maintaining the shuttle fleet are hounding NASA and a cheaper system is being sort.
Shuttle missions will probaly still be around in 10 years time, and beyond. But as for the future beyond that? Well, many new, abnd cheaper designs have been propsed. Some have even started construction. But even the most promising design, known as VentureStar, still lies in pieces in a factory whilst Lockheed and NASA argue about who is going to pay for the work required to solve various fuel leakage problems with the new design.
At Midday today (BST) I will be remembering watching that first launch on TV. I will also be remembering the 7 crew members of Challenger and the experience of watch them blink out of existance in just a few short seconds.
Francis R. Scobee, Commander
Michael J. Smith, Pilot
Judith A. Resnik, Mission Specialist
Ellison S. Onizuka, Mission Specialist
Ronald E. McNair, Mission Specialist
Gregory B. Jarvis, Payload Specialist
Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/shuttle/missions/51-l/51l.jpg
Columbia (OV-102) was launched from Pad A in the Launch Complex 39 area at Kennedy Space Center on April 12, 1981 at 7:00:03 a.m. EST. The launch followed various delays following a number of software timing issues with the 5 onboard computers, who just couldn't seem to agree on something!
John W. Young was the Commander for that mission and Robert L. Crippen pilotted the orbiter. The mission lasted just 2 days, but did prove successful, paaving the way for a further 23 successful flights.
However on 28th January 1986 mission STS 51L catastrophically broke that success record. Just 73 seconds into the flight, Shuttle OV-99, named Challenger, exploded and fell in a million burning piece into the Atlantic ocean. To this day pieces of that orbiter are still washed up, though most of the debris has now been collected by Nasa and analysed to death. 7 were lost, including 1 civilian.
Surprisingly, whilst the successes are enormous, NASA are playing down this event, though when you look behind the scenes it isn't surprising. Budgetry issues and escalating costs of maintaining the shuttle fleet are hounding NASA and a cheaper system is being sort.
Shuttle missions will probaly still be around in 10 years time, and beyond. But as for the future beyond that? Well, many new, abnd cheaper designs have been propsed. Some have even started construction. But even the most promising design, known as VentureStar, still lies in pieces in a factory whilst Lockheed and NASA argue about who is going to pay for the work required to solve various fuel leakage problems with the new design.
At Midday today (BST) I will be remembering watching that first launch on TV. I will also be remembering the 7 crew members of Challenger and the experience of watch them blink out of existance in just a few short seconds.
Francis R. Scobee, Commander
Michael J. Smith, Pilot
Judith A. Resnik, Mission Specialist
Ellison S. Onizuka, Mission Specialist
Ronald E. McNair, Mission Specialist
Gregory B. Jarvis, Payload Specialist
Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/shuttle/missions/51-l/51l.jpg
