Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-24-2010 08:32 AM
Flight: STS-51I
Orbiter: Discovery
Crew: CDR Joe Engle, PLT Dick Covey, MS1 Ox Van Hoften, MS2 Mike Lounge, MS3 Bill Fisher
Launch Date: August 27th 1985
Mission: Deploy of AUSSAT-l, SYNCOM IV and ASC-l. Capture and repair of SYNCOM IV-3
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-25-2010 12:59 AM
Flight: STS-51J
Orbiter: Atlantis
Crew: CDR Bo Bobko, PLT Ron Grabe, MS1 Dave Hilmers, MS2 Bob Stewart and PS1 Bill Pailes
Launch Date: October 7th 1985
Mission: 2nd Dedicated DOD flight
issman1 Member
Posts: 1042 From: UK Registered: Apr 2005
posted 06-25-2010 04:10 AM
Watching the launch footage of STS-51I, one notices raindrops on the TV camera.
After 30 seconds, Discovery was completely lost from ground view. I've always felt NASA's weather rules are overly-conservative for the shuttle, but they appear to have been relaxed for 51I.
Jay Chladek Member
Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
posted 06-25-2010 05:17 AM
Not necessarily. Given how humid it can be in Florida on a given day, if rain drops fell some time ago, they may not evaporate off the camera lens in time. The dew point at dawn can also play havoc with drops on lenses.
The main cloud density issues are for visibility (on the pad and at the SLF) and the chances for lightning. Stable clouds can produce precipitation, but they don't have the same lightning dangers as full blown thunderstorms. There were a couple other launches after 51I that had some rain in the area prior to scheduled launch time. But, the weather held off just enough above the minimums to get the bird off the pad.
NavySpaceFan Member
Posts: 655 From: Norfolk, VA Registered: May 2007
posted 06-25-2010 07:01 AM
COL Covey's oral history contains a great account of 51-I's launch. The crew wore yellow rain slickers to the pad, and two of them unstrapped themselves thinking they would not launch in that weather. They were rather surprised when they came out of the T-9 hold.
Playalinda Member
Posts: 152 From: Peoria, AZ, USA Registered: Oct 2009
posted 06-25-2010 01:47 PM
STS-51I launch reminds me of the Apollo 12 launch. Rather amazing that NASA gave green light for launch. The weather looks so bad with low ceiling clouds that lightning could have been an issue. What about RTLS with low clouds and possibly rain?
Whoever was launch director for this flight was playing with the crew's life in my humble opinion.
With today's launch rules STS-51I would not have given a GO.
Jay Chladek Member
Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
posted 06-26-2010 12:33 PM
You look at the launch footage though with the camera near the press site and VAB, you will see the sky overhead looked clear. The shuttle landing facility is about 5 miles away from the pad and there have been times where the pad has clouds overhead, but none over the SLF. At the same time, there have been launches scrubbed due to poor visibility issues at the SLF (or forecasted to be bad if an RTLS occurred) while the launch pad area looked clear.
issman1 Member
Posts: 1042 From: UK Registered: Apr 2005
posted 06-27-2010 02:40 AM
Perhaps not just a violation of RTLS conditions, but how about range safety?
Isn't there a requirement that the RSO be able to observe an ascending shuttle? Because NASA Television loses track of STS-51I after less than a minute and focus on the smouldering launchpad. There must be other visual cues of Discovery's ascent.
I read the start of this mission was delayed twice. Hints of "go fever" may be?
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-27-2010 04:16 AM
Flight: STS-61A
Orbiter: Challenger
Crew: CDR Hank Hartsfield, PLT Steve Nagel, MS1 Bonnie Dunbar, MS2 Jim Buchli, MS3 Guy Bluford, PS1 Reinhard Furrer, PS2 Ernst Messerschmid, PS3 Wubbo Ockels
Launch Date: October 30th 1985
Mission: Spacelab D-1 (first flight to be financed by Germany and two get away specials.
Only flight by any vehicle to launch eight persons into space simultaneously. Final landing of Challenger.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-27-2010 04:34 AM
Flight: STS-61B
Orbiter: Atlantis
Crew: CDR Brewster Shaw, PLT Bryan O'Connor, MS1 Mark Cleave, MS2 Jerry Ross, MS3 Woody Spring, PS1 Rodolfo Neri, PS2 Charlie Walker
Launch Date: November 26th 1985
Mission: Deployed AUSSAT-2, Morelos-B and SATCOM Ku-2. ACCESS (an experiment to build structures in space)
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-27-2010 05:53 AM
Flight: STS=61C
Orbiter: Columbia
Crew: CDR Hoot Gibson, PLT Charlie Bolden, MS1 Franklin Chang-Diaz, MS2 Steve Hawley, MS3 Pinky Nelson, PS1 Bob Cenker, PS2 Bill Nelson
Launch Date: Jauary 12th 1986
Mission: Ku-1 and several payload bay experiments. The Comet Halley Active Monitoring Program (which in turn failed due to issues with the cameras) and several other smaller experiments.
Scrub on December 19th at T-minus 14 seconds due to an SRB turbine reading issue. The crew was sent home and the next launch attempt occurred January 6th. The first of two attempts this day was aborted due to a liquid oxygen system. The count was reset from T-minus 31 seconds to T-minus 20 minutes. They got down all the way to T-minus 9 then the count was scrubbed for the day due to the launch window being expired. The January 7th launch attempt was scrubbed due to a TAL landing site weather issue and the January 9 launch date was delayed due to a main engine problem. The January 10th try was scrubbed due to unacceptable weather at KSC. Luck prevailed on the next try on January 12th. The landing was scrubbed two days straight.
Hoot Gibson called this flight "The End of Innocence." There is a great story on the last orbit of the flight in the book "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years."
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-27-2010 08:01 AM
Flight: STS-51L
Orbiter: Challenger
Crew: CDR Dick Scobee, PLT Mike Smith, MS1 Ellison Onizuka, MS2 Judy Resnik, MS3 Ron McNair, PS1 Christa McAuliffe, PS2 Greg Jarvis
Launch Date: January 28th 1986
Planned Mission: TDRS=B deploy, SPARTAN 2 deploy and retrieval to monitor Halley's comet. Fluid Dynamic experiment. Comet Halley active monitoring project (previously planned for STS-61C, however re-flown due to cameras not working), several student experiments and two live lessons from space by Christa Mcauliffe.
Was scheduled as a six day, 34 minute flight. First launch for Pad 39B since the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.
(The above is all I am going to include information-wise for STS-51L. It's all been said before. I hope that you all can understand why i posted this flight instead of skipping to STS-26 after STS-61C. It is still very painful for me to watch but I felt it was one that had to be shown. To not post it would ignore the crews sacrifice. May no one else ever have to die in the exploration of space. A rough road leads to the stars.)
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-27-2010 08:27 AM
Flight: STS-26
Orbiter: Discovery
Crew: CDR Rick Hauck, PLT Dick Covey, MS1 Mike Lounge, MS2 Pinky Nelson, MS3 Dave Hilmers
Mission: First Return to Flight, TDRS-C
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-27-2010 12:41 PM
Flight: STS-27
Orbiter: Atlantis
Crew: CDR Hoot Gibson, PLT Guy Gardener, MS1 Mike Mullane, MS2 Jerry Ross, MS3 Bill Shepard
Launch Date: December 2nd 1988
Mission: Third dedicated DOD mission. Major damage to thermal protection system, worst to that date.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-27-2010 12:53 PM
Flight: STS-29
Orbiter: Discovery
Crew: CDR Mike Coats, PLT John Blaha, MS1 Jim Bagian, MS2 Jim Buchli, MS3 Bob Springer
Launch Date: March 19th 1989 Mission: TDRS-D deploy
On flight day 1 one of the hydrogen tanks malfunctioned which resulted in the order being given to conserve electricity. Flight brought back one day early due to weather issues.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-27-2010 01:07 PM
Flight: STS-30
Orbiter: Atlantis
Crew: CDR Dave Walker, PLT Ron Grabe, MS1 Norn Thagard, MS2 Mary Cleave, MS3 Mark Lee Launch Date: May 4th 1989
Mission: Magellan Deploy
Mission delayed April 28th at T-minus 31 seconds due to a hydrogen pump issue on SSME 1. Was delayed until last five minutes of launch window on launch day due to bad weather. Several small glitches during flight including camera problems and the water dispenser malfunctioning. One GPC failed and was replaced during the flight as well.
I forgot how short some of the flights could be. This one was four days for example.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-27-2010 01:17 PM
Flight: STS-28
Orbiter: Columbia
Crew: CDR Brewster Shaw, PLT Dick Richards, MS1 Jim Adamson, MS2 Dave Leestma, MS3 Mark Brown
Launch Date: August 8th 1989
Mission: Fourth DOD Flight
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-27-2010 01:26 PM
Flight: STS-34
Orbiter: Atlantis
Crew: CDR Don Williams, PLT Mike McCulley, MS1 Franklin Chang-Diaz, MS2 Shannon Lucid, MS3 Ellen Baker.
Launch Date: October 18th 1989
Mission: Galileo Deploy
Jay Chladek Member
Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
posted 06-27-2010 10:16 PM
quote:Originally posted by issman1: Perhaps not just a violation of RTLS conditions, but how about range safety?
There is no requirement that it has to be observed with video to my knowledge. If anything, the RSO is likely going to be looking at the guidance trajectory and telemetry to make sure the vehicle is ascending straight down the line intended for it and the data is all good. If it strays from that path and doesn't correct, then the RSO can act. It has been said that looking at the data gives a clearer picture then looking at the imagery. There are other cameras that the Canaveral Air Force station can utilize though (some probably infrared, hence visible clouds don't obscure in the same manner) to see the ascent. Footage from one of the RSO cameras as I recall was recently aired in "When We Left Earth" in regards to the Challenger disaster and it was from a totally different angle then any of the NASA feeds.
Thanks again for posting these ASCAN1984. Lots of cool things to see in these videos. By the way, one thing I noticed on the 41D launch is once the SRBs punched off, the nose of the shuttle nods downward a little (it does it for other flights too when you can see it). I am not sure if this is due to the change in center of mass of the stack without the solids or if it is due to the guidance track converging after the solids punch off and the shuttle has to flatten out its trajectory. It is pretty wild to watch though and tough to spot as typically the feed cuts to another camera before coming back to the shuttle and ET continuing on the mains.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-28-2010 03:38 AM
Flight: STS-33
Orbiter: Discovery
Crew: CDR Fred Gregory, PLT John Blaha, MS1 Story Musgrave, MS2 Sonny Carter, MS3 Kathy Thornton
Launch Date: November 23rd 1989
Mission: Fifth DOD flight
Dave Griggs was originally the pilot but was replaced by John Blaha after his death five months before launch.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-29-2010 01:24 AM
Flight: STS-32
Orbiter: Columbia
Crew: CDR Dan Brandenstein, PLT Jim Wetherbee, MS1 Bonnie Dunbar, MS2 David Low, MS3 Marsha Ivins.
Launch Date: January 9th 1990 (first of new decade)
Mission: Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) retrieval and Syncom 1V - F5 deploy.
LDEF was originally scheduled for retrieval in 1986, however due to Challenger was delayed until now. Several weeks before launch everyone went out of the Outpost Tavern one evening to see LDEF fly over. Mike Mullane said he was going to miss these moments as he was standing beside the person that would retrieve LDEF a few weeks later - from "Riding Rockets." Documentary about the mission and behind the scenes is called "Star Journey Liftoff."
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-30-2010 09:55 AM
Flight: STS-36
Orbiter: Atlantis
Crew: CDR J.O. Creigton, PLT John Casper, MS1 Pierre J. Thuot, MS2 Dave Hilmers, MS3 Mike Mullane
Launch Date February 28th 1990
Mission: Dedicated DOD mission.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 07-01-2010 04:26 AM
Flight: STS-31
Orbiter: Discovery
Crew: CDR Loren Shriver, PLT Charlie Bolden, MS1 Steve Hawley, MS2 Bruce McCandless, MS3 Kathy Sullivan
Launch Date: April 24th 1990
Mission: Hubble deploy (delayed from 1986 when it was to be originally deployed by John Young's crew) IMAX camera.
Deploy was delayed somewhat due to an issue with one of the solar arrays. This can be shown in the DVD set "When we Left Earth."
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 07-02-2010 01:00 AM
Flight: STS-41
Orbiter: Discovery
Crew: CDR Dick Richards, PLT Bob Cabana, MS1 Bill Shepard, MS2 Bruce Melnick, MS3 Tom Akers.
Launch Date: October 6th 1990
Mission. Ulysses Deploy and many science experiments.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 07-07-2010 04:58 AM
Flight: STS-38
Orbiter: Atlantis
Crew: CDR: Dick covey, PLT Frank Culbertson, MS1 Bob Springer, MS2 Carl Meade, MS3 Charles Gemar.
Launch Date: November 15th 1990
Mission: Dedicated DOD mission.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 07-08-2010 03:02 AM
Flight: STS-35
Orbiter: Columbia
Crew: CDR Vance Brand, PLT Guy Gardner, MS1 Jeff Hoffman, MS2 Mike Lounge, MS3 Bob Parker, PS1 Sam Durrance, PS2 Ronald Parise
Launch Date: December 2nd 1990
Mission: Astro 1
Jon McBride was originally the CDR but retired before the flight. Does anyone know why this was?
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 07-09-2010 01:01 AM
Flight: STS-37
Orbiter: Atlantis
Crew: CDR Steve Nagel, PLT Ken Cameron, MS1 Jerry Ross, MS2 Jay Apt, MS3 Linda Godwin.
Launch Date: April 5th 1991
Mission: Deploy of Gamma Ray Observatory
Contingency EVA required to deploy a stuck antenna. First such EVA since STS-51D and first scheduled EVA since STS-61B, which EV1 Jerry Ross performed as well. Landed 623 feet from the runway due to an erroneous wind call.
OV-105 Member
Posts: 816 From: Ridgecrest, CA Registered: Sep 2000
posted 07-09-2010 01:48 AM
quote:Originally posted by ASCAN1984: Jon McBride was originally the CDR but retired before the flight.
I would bet it was the delay from Challenger. The flight was going to be March 3, 1986.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 07-12-2010 05:59 AM
Flight: STS-39
Orbiter: Discovery
Crew: CDR Mike Coats, PLT Blaine Hammond, MS1 Guy Bluford, MS2 Greg Harbaugh, MS3 Richard Hieb, MS4 Donald McMonagle, MS5 Charles Lacy Veach
Launch Date: April 28th 1991
Mission: First unclassified DOD flight. SPAS-II
jasonelam Member
Posts: 691 From: Monticello, KY USA Registered: Mar 2007
posted 07-12-2010 10:11 AM
quote:Originally posted by ASCAN1984: Landed 623 feet from the runway due to an erroneous wind call
Being that the landing was on the lake bed, it seemed to not be an issue. What would have happened if the same thing occurred at the Cape?
Jay Chladek Member
Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
posted 07-12-2010 10:40 AM
Would that be 623 feet past the normal touchdown point? Shuttle runways are very long by aircraft standards. A shuttle can land long and still have more then enough room to stop if they are at nominal landing weight. The main reason for the addition of the drag chute to the design was to aid in braking to add a little extra margin of safety. It would have been needed on heavy weight shuttle flights, especially if one had to do an RTLS to KSC with a heavy payload. Replacement of the original design beryllium brake pads with more conventional materials also helped with shuttle braking.
I'll have to check my records, but except for maybe one or two flights, pretty much all the landings after 51L were at Edwards until Endeavour began to fly the drag chute and the other orbiters got retrofitted with it. John Glenn's return to space flight of course landed at KSC without drag chute deploy due to the cover coming off at launch. It stopped with plenty of distance to spare.
jasonelam Member
Posts: 691 From: Monticello, KY USA Registered: Mar 2007
posted 07-12-2010 10:54 AM
quote:Originally posted by Jay Chladek: Would that be 623 feet past the normal touchdown point?
I believe that it was 623 feet short of the runway due to an incorrect update on upper level winds.
Jay Chladek Member
Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
posted 07-13-2010 02:42 PM
quote:Originally posted by jasonelam: I believe that it was 623 feet short of the runway due to an incorrect update on upper level winds.
Well, looking at the footage, they seemed to have kept the speed brake closed for a lot of the final approach. So it looks like they were REALLY trying to stretch the glide a bit.
I don't know if that error would have happened at KSC, considering the USAF's weather unit based there. But if it had, it likely would have touched down on the underrun bit of the runway. Any shorter and some alligators would have been a bit mad.
jasonelam Member
Posts: 691 From: Monticello, KY USA Registered: Mar 2007
posted 07-13-2010 02:49 PM
Found this which makes a little better sense of the issue.
Jay Chladek Member
Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
posted 07-14-2010 02:55 AM
quote:Originally posted by jasonelam: Found this which makes a little better sense of the issue.
DANG!!!!
And yes, I can see how a right turn would cause a visibility problem. Most every pilot is taught to do left turns onto final since the left seat gets the best visibility turning on to final. With light planes or single seaters, it isn't a problem. But with larger aircraft, it can be.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 07-14-2010 04:06 PM
Apologies for the sporadic posting of videos in the past week. Having technical difficulties. Will be back to posting one per day from tomorrow as problem fixed.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
Mission: Spacelab Life Sciences 1. First with three women onboard.
Launch scrubbed at T-40 hrs due to leaking hydrogen transducer on May 20th. Also scrubbed due to one of the general purpose computers failing and hydraulics for the OMS. Rescheduled for June 1st but postponed after IMU 2 failed. Crew included jellyfish in memory serves.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 07-16-2010 01:33 AM
Flight: STS-43
Orbiter: Atlantis
Crew: CDR John Blaha, PLY Mike Baker, MS1 Shannon Lucid, MS2 James Adamson, MS3 David Low
Launch Date: August 11th 1991
Mission: TDRS E
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 07-17-2010 02:33 AM
Flight: STS 48
Orbiter: Discovery
Crew: CDR J.O Creigton, PLT Ken Reightler, MS1 Jim Buchli, MS2 Charles Gemar, MS3 Mark Brown
Launch Date: September 12, 1991 23:11 EST
Mission: UARS (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite)
Launch delayed by issue with comm loop. Really standing out in this period how the majority of flights are out of sequence compared to today's schedules. Have hardly seen any flights follow in order e.g. STS-41 and 42.
ASCAN1984 Member
Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
posted 07-18-2010 02:58 PM
Flight: STS-44
Orbiter: Atlantis
Crew: CDR Fred Gregory, PLT Ton Henricks, MS1 Story Musgrave, MS2 Mario Runco, MS3 Jim Voss, MS4 Tom Hennen
Launch Date: November 24th 1991 18.44 EST
Mission: Unclasified DOD flight with defense satellite deployed from IUS.
During the TCDT for this flight all crew members except Story Musgrave (as he is bald already) wore bald caps. Another walk out they wore baseball caps with fake ponytails on the back.
posted 06-24-2010 08:32 AM
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