March 1983:news from KSC

PAYING THE PRICE

The cost of flying Space Shuttle missions will not be matched by the revenue from paying customers until 1986-7. That opinion was given by Lt. Gen. James Abrahamson, NASA associate administrator, during a press conference shortly before the fifth Shuttle mission. Launch costs have been largely kept secret for the last two years, during which NASA spokesmen avoided such questions. Columbia launched two commercial communications satellites on its first operational flight (STS-5), for which Satellite Business Systems paid $8 million and Telesat Canada $9 million. That adds up to about 7 pec cent of the cost to NASA, estimated at $250 million for a five-day mission by Abrahamson.

The Shuttle director noted that SBS entered into the contract for its launch in 1977 at a time when NASA charges were being formulated based upon rather optimistic assumptions, such as there being only two weeks between flights and the availability of five Orbiters. Recently, Dr. Stanley Weiss, in charge of pricing, admitted that the rates were unrealistic. So for payloads launched between 1 October 1985 and 30 September 1988 NASA expects to recover $71 million (1982 dollars). The agency has said, "Most non- Government payloads dpring that period, as is the case for missions through 1985, will be telecommunications satellites that require only a portion of Shuttle launch capability. Such launches are priced according to a shared flight formula."

A Delta-class payload launched into geosynchronous orbit will cost about $26 million, while for a heavier satellite, like those carried by Atlas Centaur, the price will be about $41 million. And NASA hopes that its rates will be competitive with the two US expendable vehicles and the European Ariane.

General Abrahamson made other interesting com¬ments. Discussions are continuing, he said, with the Space Transportation Co., an investment firm which offered to raise $ 1,000 million to buy a fifth Orbiter for NASA's use. In return, the agency would be expected to turn over to the company the marketing of Shuttle cargo space for all commercial (i.e., non-Government) payloads. "In December or so," Abrahamson explained, "we expect to reach a mutual decision as to what is in the nation's best interests as well as those of the company." He also mentioned that NASA has several proposals from other firms concerning the Delta and Centaur expendable vehicles.

NASA's revised policy concerning the use of Payload Specialist astronauts aboard the Shuttle was inter¬ preted by Abrahamson as meaning that "any major customer" can designate a specialist responsible for care and deployment of his satellite in orbit. "He or she," the general explained, "will receive minimum training in safety procedures and crew relationships. The purpose is to enhance mission success." Mean¬ while, a NASA Advisory Council will investigate the requirements for future Shuttle travel by selected volunteers; artists and news people were mentioned.

There may be five Shuttle flights in 1983. Challenger will fly three while Columbia undergoes modifications at the Kennedy Space Center before carrying Spacelab in September. Abrahamson said that schedule will require 20 or more astronauts (he saw no need to increase the present corps of 75). The payloads include three communications satellites, two tracking and data relay spacecraft (using the large Inertial Upper Stage), Spacelab and a possible Defense mission in November. A military payload specialist will accompany every Defense satellite.

TIMES GONE BY

A story from Moscow concerning the development of a super booster capable of orbiting a large space station touched off a flood of memories for the remaining active members of the Apollo Saturn launch team. They recalled Nova, a 12 million pound thrust booster, proposed by the von Braun team in 1960. Had it been built, it could have propelled men directly to the lunar surface (81,000 kg payload to escape velocity and 6,800 kg Earth return). Its first stage required eight of the kerosene engines later used in the Saturn V plus four hydrogen engines in the second stage and one each in the third and fourth stages. In the early Sixties, looking ahead to such a monster, the NASA launch planners laid out a third pyramid-like pad in Mosquito Lagoon, a 40,000 acre area north of Pads A and B. The big pad was never built. Retired KSC Director Kurt H. Debus believed it would be needed at some future time for the so-called "big dumb booster," a solid propellant rocket to lift large masses into orbit. The motors, Debus concluded, would be so massive they would have to be produced at the Cape.

21 YEARS OF AMERICA IN ORBIT

This February marks the coming of age of American manned orbital flight. Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom made successful suborbital trips in May and July 1961, respectively, but it was John Glenn who entered the history books as the first American to reach orbit. Glenn was originally to have flown another suborbital "hop" atop a Redstone booster but the previous successes and recent spectacular Soviet achievements brought orbital flight forward in NASA's schedule.

Glenn and his backup, Scott Carpenter, plunged into intensive training for a 16 January 1962 launch but bad weather and difficulties with the Atlas booster delayed liftoff until 20 February. Friendship 7 went into a 161 X 262 km orbit and Glenn began testing his capsule's control systems, only to find that one of the automatic thrusters refused to work properly He had to spend the rest of the flight controlling attitude manually. Back on the ground, an indicator light seemed to show that Friendship 7s heatshield had separated (as it was supposed to do shortly before splashdown). Glenn was advised to leave his retro-rocket package attached during reentry in the hope that its straps would hold the heatshield onto the rest of the spacecraft. At the end of 4Vi hours and three orbits the three retrorockets fired to bring Friendship 7 back into the atmosphere; the warning light proved to be wrong and Glenn was safely recovered by USS Noa.

Glenn never flew in space again; he left NASA in 1964, after working on the early stages of the Apollo Lunar Module, and turned to politics. He became the Senator for Ohio and is now working towards the Democratic Presidential nomination for 1984. In the 21 years following his epic flight there have been a further 33 manned US space missions (three Mercury, ten Gemini, 15 Apollo and five Shuttle), six of which landed men on the Moon.

SHUTTLE PROCESSING

Competition is heating up for the prize contract to process Shuttles for launch at KSC and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Four firms led by Rockwell have joined the fray: Boeing, Martin Marietta, United Technologies and United Airlines. NASA are calling for bids now and hope to award a contract by early 1984. Lockheed heads a competing group. Agency spokesmen estimate that the winner will hold the job for 10 years and receive up to $500 million.