July-August 1982:news from KSC

STS-4 PREPARATIONS

Reducing turnaround time for Columbia's fourth flight by 34 working days was held out as a definite possibility by Donald Phillips, chief, integrated tests, in a press briefing on 19 March. The decision to land STS-3 at White Sands in New Mexico because of rain-soaked runways at Edwards Air Force Base in California, was expected to delay the ship’s return to Florida by at least four days.

Phillips displayed graphs indicating the number of working days expended on Columbia for all three test flights: 668 days for STS-1, much of which really belonged to manufacturing time performed at the launch base; 187 days for STS-2,97 days for STS-3 and a planned total, of 64 days for STS-4, working towards a possible launch on 27 June. His figures disclosed that Columbia occupied the Orbiter Processing Facility 531 days prior to STS-1. The ship was missing some 20,000 of 33,000 tiles when it reached the Cape. Most of that long delay was taken up in applying and reapplying tiles of the thermal protection system. By contrast, Columbia was in the OPF only 99 days before its second launch, 55 days for STS-3 and a planned 25 days for STS-4. While the assembly process in the Vehicle Assembly Building required 33 days for the first mission, the interval dropped to 18 days for the second and 12 days for STS-3. Only 10 days are planned for STS-4.

NASA told newsmen costs reach $1 million per day when the fully assembled vehicle occupies the launch pad. Keeping that in mind, Phillips reported 104 days for STS-1, 70 for the second mission, 30 for STS-3 and said that might be further reduced to 29 for the June flight.

Before the launch of STS-3 on 22 March, Launch Director George Page also said that turnaround could be further reduced for Columbia’s fourth-and last development flight, instead of a mid-July launch, Page suggested the ship could be ready by 27 June. Eliminating some tests and shortening stay time in the assembly building could advance STS-6, the first operational flight, and the initial launch of Challenger, the second orbiter, to early January 1983. Challenger should reach KSC in late June.

Pilots and mission specialists for STS-4, 5 and 6 have been selected. Thomas F. Mattingly, commander, and Henry W. Hartsfield, pilot, will fly the last test mission for seven days and land at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Columbia's first operational mission in mid-November will be flown by Vance D. Brand, commander, and Robert F. Overmyer, pilot. They will bring the ship down at Kennedy Space Center, another first, after five days in space. This will also be the first flight of mission specialists: Dr. Joseph P. Allen and Dr. William B. Lenoir. A former experimental test pilot, Brand flew in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in July 1975. Overmyer is a former Marine Corps and Air Force pilot who performed engineering development duties in the Shuttle programme. A research physicist. Dr. Allen is a senior scientist astronaut. Dr. Lenoir was an assistant professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, researching remote sensing of planetary atmospheres and surfaces.

The sixth Shuttle flight, in January 1983, will be flown by Challenger. A two-day mission, it will deploy NASA’s tracking and data relay satellite, part of a two-spacecraft system that will provide more comprehensive voice and data coverage for orbiting Shuttles. Paul J. Weitz will command STS-6 with Karol J. Bobko as pilot, and Donald H. Peterson and Dr. Story Musgrave as mission specialists. Weitz was pilot for the first manned Skylab flight 25 May-22 June 1973. Bobko was a member of the Skylab medical experiments altitude test, a 56-day simulation, and chase pilot for Shuttle approach and landing tests. A former research pilot, Peterson has been serving in the Shuttle orbital flight test missions group. Dr. Musgrave is a scientist astronaut who contributed to the design and development of Shuttle extra vehicular equipment.