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Author
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Topic: Photo of the week 802 (March 7, 2020)
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heng44
Member Posts: 3406
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 03-07-2020 04:02 AM
   
 The crew module for Space Shuttle Challenger arrives at the Rockwell plant in Palmdale in July 1981. Enterprise is at left. |
Tom
Member Posts: 1605
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 03-07-2020 08:21 AM
Wow... in less than 2 years Challenger would have two flights completed! |
randy
Member Posts: 2204
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 03-07-2020 09:34 AM
Cool pic! |
OV-105
Member Posts: 818
From: Ridgecrest, CA
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 03-07-2020 01:14 PM
I wonder why Enterprise was back at AF Plant 42 at that time. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43366
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-07-2020 04:29 PM
According to NASA, after being used for fit checks on Kennedy Space Center's Pad 39A, Enterprise was ferried to Dryden Flight Research Facility on Aug. 16, 1979... ...and then returned overland to Rockwell's Palmdale final assembly facility on Oct. 30, 1979. Certain components were refurbished for use on flight vehicles being assembled at Palmdale. The Enterprise was then returned overland to the Dryden Flight Research Facility on Sept. 6, 1981. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5976
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 03-08-2020 05:33 AM
Enterprise was never destined to be turned in a 100% operational orbiter... right? |
Mike Dixon
Member Posts: 1416
From: Kew, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2003
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posted 03-08-2020 05:46 AM
NASASpaceflight: Space Shuttle Enterprise intended to fly into space The plan for Enterprise was that it would begin life as a glide-worthy test vehicle, used to verify and refine the orbiter concept's ability to make guided runway landings. Once those tests had informed the design of Columbia, OV-102, NASA planned to refit Enterprise to join the formal shuttle fleet as an active spacecraft. Unfortunately, Enterprise did its job too well, pointing out so many necessary design changes for the orbiter space frame that refitting the craft would prove too expensive.Instead, another test vehicle, Structural Test Article STA-099, was easier to flesh out into a full-blown shuttle, taking into account the Enterprise-inspired design upgrades. So, NASA redesignated STA-099 as OV-099 and named it Challenger — and it was this orbiter that took Enterprise's intended place in the shuttle fleet. |
Fra Mauro
Member Posts: 1599
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted 03-08-2020 02:41 PM
Anyone know what structural changes were made to the orbiters as a result of the drop tests? |
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