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  Citizen's letter about STS-1 launch date

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Author Topic:   Citizen's letter about STS-1 launch date
Cozmosis22
Member

Posts: 968
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 08-15-2019 01:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Cozmosis22     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Here we have a draft of a letter written to the "Public Relations Department, NASA J.F.K. Space Center" by someone on February 9, 1981. Find it interesting that this person encouraged NASA to schedule the flight of STS-1 on the anniversary of Alan Shepard's mission in May. Instead Columbia's maiden launch came on Yuri Gagarin's anniversary in April.
  1. Was the preliminary launch date of April 10th for STS-1 already determined in early February of that year?

  2. Is there any way to find out if an actual version of this letter was received and catalogued somewhere at KSC?

Cozmosis22
Member

Posts: 968
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 08-25-2019 02:59 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Cozmosis22     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Found the answer to the first question on NASA's history website. Columbia's main engines Flight Readiness Firing (FRF) came about a week after this correspondence so a launch date had not yet been determined at that time.
After more than a year of delays, Columbia, stacked next to its external tank and solid rocket boosters, was rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building on December 29, 1980, and sent to Launch Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center. Though the fully assembled Space Shuttle sat on the pad, ready for launch, it would not happen for another four months. After the external tank was filled with hydrogen fuel and oxidizer, NASA discovered that 32 panels of insulation on the tank had peeled off. The insulation was designed to keep ice from forming on the outside of the massive fuel storage unit, because the frozen moisture could break off and damage heat-shield tiles during launch. Though Columbia's engines were successfully test fired on February 16, 1981, NASA delayed the mission until the week of April 5. That target date would also be scrubbed.
Does anyone have any idea regarding the second question? Could a FOIA request bring results or not be worth the trouble?

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