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Author
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Topic: Original Planned Shuttle Missions
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trajan
Member Posts: 109
From: Chester, Cheshire, UK
Registered: May 2004
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posted 07-03-2004 02:29 PM
   
I was interested to read on the Apollo page a few weeks ago, on a thread concerning Fred Haise, about the plan to re-boost Skylab with the original 3rd shuttle mission.Can anyone shed any light on the crew line-ups and mission goals of the original shuttle missions which were scheduled for the late '70's? Thanks, Jason |
KenDavis
Member Posts: 187
From: W.Sussex United Kingdom
Registered: May 2003
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posted 07-03-2004 03:41 PM
The first four OFT missions were going to be crewed as follows:Young & Crippen
Engle & Truly
Haise & Lousma
Brand & Fullerton There were initial plans to fly 6 test flights with the first two crews fly again.
When Haise left NASA he was replaced by Fullerton and Robert Overmyer was teamed with Brand. OFT 3 & 4 became: Lousma & Fullerton
Brand & Overmyer Brand and Overmyer were later bumped to the fifth fight in favour of Mattingly and Hartsfield who had served as back-ups for the earlier missions. The reason for this was the fourth flight was now carrying and experimental package for the defence department and they wanted a crew with service rank. Brand was a civilian and Overmyer had resigned from the Marines some years earlier, but Mattingly and Hartsfield still held commissions in the NAvy and Air Force. The operational flights consisted of TDRS flights, commercial flights and 4-5 Spacelab flights, but the schedules seemed to change quite freqently. |
trajan
Member Posts: 109
From: Chester, Cheshire, UK
Registered: May 2004
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posted 07-03-2004 05:37 PM
Thanks for that, Ken,Interesting that Brand should have initially been preferred to Mattingly as, when you think about it, in addition to having had a Moon trip, Mattingly ought to have been one of the first two Group 6 astros to fly, (German Measles notwithstanding!) Jason |
KenDavis
Member Posts: 187
From: W.Sussex United Kingdom
Registered: May 2003
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posted 07-05-2004 01:58 PM
With the flight rates that were projected for the Shuttle in the mid-70s any group 5 astronaut would have expected to make multiple flights, so I don't think there was any really decision to fly Mattingly ahead of Brand based on their previous experience.A more interesting question to put to any of the OFT astronauts would be; "at what point did you realise the flight rate would be much lower than orginally anticipated, and what was your reaction?" |
KenDavis
Member Posts: 187
From: W.Sussex United Kingdom
Registered: May 2003
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posted 07-05-2004 02:00 PM
deleted - message entered twice in error[This message has been edited by KenDavis (edited July 05, 2004).] |
RichieB16
Member Posts: 552
From: Oregon
Registered: Feb 2003
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posted 07-05-2004 03:07 PM
I read online that Haise and Lousma were planned to be the second shuttle crew. Is this incorrect?
http://www.astronautix.com/flights/sts2a.htm |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 07-05-2004 03:15 PM
Haise's recollection of it was that it was STS-3, with him and Lousma. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 07-05-2004 04:22 PM
quote:
Originally posted by KenDavis:
A more interesting question to put to any of the OFT astronauts would be; "at what point did you realise the flight rate would be much lower than orginally anticipated, and what was your reaction?"
I talked recently with Terry Hart, one of the first shuttle astronauts, who recalled that when he was chosen in 1978, "shuttle flights were only a year away." Then when he completed training, "shuttle flights were still only a year away." He went back to AT&T because (essentially) he was on a leave of absence - it took him six years to make a flight, when he thought he'd be flying two or even three times in that time period. It was a choice between staying in (even though he got asked to be on another flight) or going back to his career, and he chose his career. Interestingly, that hasn't changed. It still takes about six years to make a flight, even though the shuttle is "operational." |
Voskhod
Member Posts: 72
From: Oxfordshire, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 07-07-2004 04:20 AM
I talked to Jack Lousma when he visited the UK last year and he said that there was talk of bringing his flight forward to the second shuttle launch to get to Skylab quicker.Skylab obviously couldn't wait and a great flight was lost. |
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