T O P I C R E V I E W |
Paul78zephyr | I'm reading some details about the STS-51F Abort-to-Orbit (ATO) in this old NASA article. I was wondering if anyone knew of a detailed transcript of this event with mission elapsed times (MET) for specific flight controller calls for various key events during the ATO. Id like to find out when the 'limits to enable' and 'limits to inhibit' calls were made and what other data the flight controller (Howard) was looking at to determine when to make these calls. |
Greggy_D | I haven't found a text transcript, but there is a YouTube video out there with the ATO and some elapsed time calls just before the abort. |
Paul78zephyr | Thank you. Yes, I've seen the YouTube video but I was hoping to find some real NASA technical archived data — either a detailed air-ground transcript with MET or similar. |
Headshot | There is a fairly detailed account of Mission 51-F's ATO incident on pages 17-18 of the 5 August 1985 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology. |
astro-nut | From my notes that I found, I believe the Abort-to-Orbit (ATO) point was at 5 minutes and 12 seconds and the Main Engine #1 shutdown was at 5 minutes 45 seconds which resulted in the ATO trajectory. Also, last week I had the chance to meet and listen to Roy Bridges talk about the STS 51-F flight and he did discuss the incident with us all. He said that they would of have had the fastest time going from Cape Canaveral to the transatlantic landing site (TAL). I hope that the information is helpful. Thank you. |
Paul78zephyr | quote: Originally posted by astro-nut: He said that they would of have had the fastest time going from Cape Canaveral to the transatlantic landing site (TAL).
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. And which TAL would they have used? |
Paul78zephyr | quote: Originally posted by Headshot: There is a fairly detailed account of Mission 51-F's ATO incident on pages 17-18 of the 5 August 1985 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology.
Is that available in an online archive or such? |
Headshot | Sorry, but I do not know. The copy I read was in a private collection. |
Tom | quote: Originally posted by Paul78zephyr: And which TAL would they have used?
With a launch azimuth of 50 degrees, I believe the TAL site would have been Rota, Spain. |
Skylon | quote: Originally posted by Paul78zephyr: I'm not sure I understand what you mean.
He means that had the TAL Abort occurred, the 51-F crew would have held a trans-Atlantic flight record from Florida to Spain. Heckuva way to set a record though. |