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Author
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Topic: Carter, Brezhnev, SALT and the space shuttle
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Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 07-14-2016 08:56 AM
I recently finished reading Into the Black about the lead up to and first flight of the space shuttle, and as part of that, author Rowland White briefly discusses a key turning point in the shuttle's continued development as winning President Jimmy Carter's support in 1979 for additional, critically-needed funding. Coincidentally, Eric Berger with Ars Technica recently investigated the reason for Carter's support, spurred on by a meeting with Chris Kraft and with input from the former president himself. Both White and Berger reach the same basic conclusion, but Berger's reporting is much more detailed as to the factors at play. ...Jimmy Carter saved the space shuttle, Kraft believes. Without supplementals for fiscal year 1979 and 1980, the shuttle would never have flown, at least not as the iconic vehicle that would eventually fly 135 missions and 355 individual fliers into space. It took some flights as high as 400 miles above the planet before retiring five years ago this week. "That was the first supplemental NASA had ever asked for," Kraft said. "And we got that money from Jimmy Carter."As I walked out of Kraft's house that afternoon in late spring, I recall wondering whether this could really be true. Could Jimmy Carter, of all people, be the savior of the shuttle? All because he had been bragging about the shuttle's capabilities to the Soviets and, therefore, didn't want to show weakness? This Cold War mystery was now nearly 40 years in the past, but most of the protagonists still lived. So I began to ask questions. |
Fra Mauro Member Posts: 1587 From: Bethpage, N.Y. Registered: Jul 2002
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posted 07-14-2016 10:27 AM
That's ironic, since Carter's Vice President, Walter Mondale, was a political enemy of manned spaceflight and the shuttle. |
Glint Member Posts: 1040 From: New Windsor, Maryland USA Registered: Jan 2004
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posted 07-14-2016 01:24 PM
Carter either saved the space shuttle, or he just didn't kill it outright by withholding funds. It's a glass half empty/full argument. |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 07-14-2016 01:28 PM
Had Carter not backed further funding of the shuttle, then NASA's plan was treat it as an experimental vehicle, much like the X-15. The orbiter would have likely still flown, but wouldn't have been used to deploy and service satellites (let alone astronomical observatories, planetary probes or ultimately, the space station). |
Headshot Member Posts: 864 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 07-17-2016 06:21 PM
I wonder what was Mondale's reaction to this? He probably wasn't a happy camper. | |
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Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47a
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