Space Shuttle - Potential

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12 APRIL 1981 Shortly after Apollo 11 sucessfully landed on the moon on 20th July 1969, President Nixon was faced with the difficult choice of how to proceed with America’s space program. While the moon landing closed the most intense period of the space race, with the USA beating the USSR to the moon, the political landscape was still uneasy, and America couldn’t forfeit the lead they had gained with the moon landing. While initial dreams were extravagant and comprehensive, it soon became apparent that the public’s interest in space exploration had lessened after what they saw as the end goal of the space race, and budget cuts were swiftly made.

After years of deliberation and discussion, the plans for a fleet of space shuttles was finally announced. These shuttles would routinise space travel, in turn driving down cost and making it affordable by flying frequently. The shuttles were developed, to an increasingly stringent budget, and

the shuttle Columbia made the first launch on 12th April 1981. The potential of this fleet of shuttles was promising, allowing the construction of a space station housing a permanant community orbiting the earth, and acting as a base camp for missions further afield. They would also be able to service and maintain satellites, both public and military, easily and cheaply and help to launch unmanned probes which would explore our neighbouring planets.

The shuttle itself was the most complex piece of machinery ever constructed, and a showcase of what could be achieved by human engineering.

It’s launch and a rekindling of the explorer spirit, fuelled by the golden age of science fiction culture that came before the first launch, inspired people all over the world, and the use of parts from around the world, such as the Canadian payload arm and the payload laboratory, showed a global community striving for a common goal.

FIVE FOUR THREE TWO ONE LIFTOFF

THE END OF THE APOLLO ERA AND THE NEXT STEP IN SPACE

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HOPES AND ASPIRATIONS FOR THE SHUTTLE PROGRAMME

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DESIGNING THE MOST COMPLEX MACHINE EVER CONSTRUCTED

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PREPARING THE SHUTTLE AND CREW TO LAUNCH INTO SPACE

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THE FINAL PREPERATIONS FOR THE LAUNCH OF THE SHUTTLE

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BEGINNING OF THE NEXT ERA OF SPACE TRAVEL

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FIVE

THE END OF THE APOLLO ERA AND THE NEXT STEP IN SPACE

The Apollo era marked the golden age in American space travel. Competition sparked by the Cold War urged the US to become the first Nation to put a man on the moon, and as a result NASA enjoyed huge budgets and complete government backing. It was during this era that the hearts and minds of people around the world turned to space exploration, and the next step in

human history. With such strong foundations in the Apollo era, it seemed certain that the Space Shuttle would be glorious success, but why did the Apollo programme end after achieving so much? The years after the Apollo 11 mission shaped the future of space travel, and it was out of this era of enthusiasm and success that the Space Shuttle was born.

‘IT SUDDENLY STRUCK ME THAT THAT TINY PEA, PRETTY AND BLUE, WAS THE EARTH. I PUT UP MY THUMB AND SHUT ONE EYE, AND MY THUMB BLOTTED OUT THE PLANET EARTH. I DIDN’T FEEL LIKE A GIANT. I FELT VERY, VERY SMALL.’ NEIL ARMSTRONG

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New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

FIVE: THE APOLLO LEGACY

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

THE APOLLO LEGACY:

A RACE TO THE MOON In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik, and the space race was on. The Soviets’ triumph jarred the American people and sparked a vigorous response in the federal government to make sure the United States did not fall behind its Communist rival. A new space program, Project Mercury, was initiated two years later, during President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration. Project Mercury’s goals were to orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth, investigate the ability of astronauts to function in space, and recover astronauts and spacecraft safely. Then, in 1961, the nation suffered another shock when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth. The United States, it seemed, was still falling behind.

President Kennedy understood the need to restore America’s confidence and intended not merely to match the Soviets, but surpass them. On May 25, 1961, he stood before Congress to deliver a special message on ‘urgent national needs.’ He asked for an additional $7-9 billion over the next five years for the space program, proclaiming that ‘this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.’

President Kennedy settled upon this dramatic goal as a means of focusing and mobilising the nation’s lagging space efforts.

Skeptics questioned NASA’s ability to meet the president’s timetable. Within a year, however, Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom became the first two Americans to travel into space.

At the time of Kennedy’s proposal, only one American had flown in space, less than a month earlier, and NASA had not yet sent an astronaut into orbit. Even some NASA employees doubted whether Kennedy’s ambitious goal could be met.

Kennedy even came close to agreeing to a joint US-USSR moon mission, to eliminate duplication of effort.

Landing men on the Moon by the end of 1969 required the most sudden burst of technological creativity, and the largest commitment of resources – $24 billion – ever made by any nation in peacetime. At its peak, the Apollo program employed 400,000 people and required the support of over 20,000 industrial firms and universities.

On February 20, 1962, John Glenn Jr. became the first American to orbit Earth. Launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Friendship 7 capsule carrying Glenn reached a maximum altitude of 162 miles and an orbital velocity of 17,500 miles per hour. After more than four hours in space, having circled the earth three times, Glenn piloted the Friendship 7 back into the atmosphere and landed in the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda.

Glenn’s success helped inspire the great army of people working to reach the Moon. Medical researchers, engineers, test pilots, machinists, factory workers, businessmen, and industrialists from across the country worked together to achieve this goal.

By May 1963, astronauts Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra, and Gordon Cooper had also orbited Earth. Each mission lasted longer than the one before and gathered more data.

As space exploration continued through the 1960s, the United States was on its way to the Moon. Project Gemini was the second NASA spaceflight program. Its goals were to perfect the entry and re-entry manoeuvres of a spacecraft and conduct further tests on how individuals are affected by long periods of space travel. The Apollo Program followed Project Gemini. Its goal was to land humans on the moon and assure their safe return to Earth. On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts; Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and ‘Buzz’ Aldrin realised President Kennedy’s dream.

Apart from these twenty-four people who visited the Moon, no human being has gone beyond low Earth orbit. They have, therefore, been farther from the Earth than anyone else. They are also the only people to have directly viewed the far side of the Moon. The twelve who walked on the Moon are the only people ever to have set foot on an astronomical object other than the Earth. Of the twenty four lunar astronauts taking part in the Moon missions, two went on to command a Skylab mission, one commanded Apollo-Soyuz, one flew as commander for shuttle approach and landing tests and two went on to command orbital shuttle missions. A total of twenty-four Apollo-era astronauts (as well as pre-Apollo astronaut John Glenn) flew the space shuttle.

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12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

FIVE: THE APOLLO LEGACY

THE APOLLO LEGACY

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

Apollo became a NASA priority on May 25 1961, when Five more successful lunar landing missions followed. The President John F. Kennedy announced ‘I believe that this Apollo 13 mission of April 1970 attracted the public’s attention nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this when astronauts and ground crews had to improvise to end decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning the mission safely after an oxygen tank burst midway through him safely to Earth.’ A direct response to Soviet successes the journey to the Moon. Although this mission never landed on in space, Kennedy used Apollo as a high-profile effort for the the Moon, it reinforced the notion that NASA had a remarkable U.S. to demonstrate to the world its scientific and technological ability to adapt to the unforeseen technical difficulties inherent superiority over its cold war adversary. in human spaceflight.

In response to the Kennedy decision, NASA was consumed With the Apollo 17 mission of December 1972, NASA with carrying out Project Apollo and spent the next eleven years completed a successful engineering and scientific program. doing so. This effort required significant Fittingly, Harrison Schmitt, a geologist who expenditures, costing $25.4 billion over participated on this mission, was the first the life of the program, to make it a reality. scientist to be selected as an astronaut.

Only the building of the Panama Canal NASA learned a good deal about the origins rivaled the size of the Apollo program of the Moon, as well as how to support as the largest nonmilitary technological humans in outer space. In total, twelve endeavor ever undertaken by the United astronauts walked on the Moon during six States; only the Manhattan Project was Apollo lunar landing missions launched. comparable in a wartime setting. Although In 1975, NASA cooperated with the there were major challenges and some Soviet Union to achieve the first international failures, notably a January 27, 1967 fire in human spaceflight, the Apollo-Soyuz Test an Apollo capsule on the ground that took Project. This project successfully tested joint the lives of astronauts Roger Chaffee, Virgil rendezvous and docking procedures for Grissom, and Edward White, the program spacecraft from the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. moved forward inexorably.

After being launched separately from their Less than two years later, in October respective countries, the Apollo and Soyuz 1968, NASA bounced back with the crews met in space and conducted various successful Apollo 7 mission, which orbited experiments for two days. the Earth and tested the redesigned Apollo Apollo set major milestones in human command module. The Apollo 8 mission, spaceflight. It stands alone in sending manned which orbited the Moon on December missions beyond low Earth orbit; Apollo 8 was 24-25, 1968, when its crew read from the first manned spacecraft to orbit another the book of Genesis, was another crucial NEIL ARMSTRONG celestial body, while Apollo 17 marked the accomplishment on the way to the Moon. last moonwalk and the last manned mission ‘That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.’ beyond low Earth orbit. The program spurred advances in many Neil Armstrong uttered these famous words on July 20, 1969, areas of technology incidental to rocketry and manned spaceflight, when the Apollo 11 mission fulfilled Kennedy’s challenge by including avionics, telecommunications, and computers. Apollo successfully landing Armstrong and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin on the also sparked interest in many fields of engineering and left many Moon. Armstrong dramatically piloted the lunar module to the lunar physical facilities and machines developed for the program as surface with less than 30 seconds worth of fuel remaining. After landmarks. Its command modules and other objects and artifacts taking soil samples, photographs, and doing other tasks on the are displayed throughout the world, notably in the Smithsonian’s Moon, Armstrong and Aldrin rendezvoused with their colleague Air and Space Museums in Washington, DC and at NASA’s Michael Collins in lunar orbit for a safe voyage back to Earth. centers in Florida, Texas and Alabama.

‘ANOTHER HUNDRED YEARS MAY PASS BEFORE WE UNDERSTAND THE TRUE SIGNIFICANCE OF APOLLO. LUNAR EXPLORATION WAS NOT THE EQUIVALENT OF AN AMERICAN PYRAMID, SOME IDLE MONUMENT TO TECHNOLOGY, BUT MORE OF A ROSETTA STONE, A KEY TO UNLOCKING DREAMS AS YET UNDREAMED.’

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New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

FIVE: THE APOLLO LEGACY

LAUNCH ESCAPE SYSTEM COMMAND MODULE Orbited the Moon while astronauts were on the Moon’s surface

SERVICE MODULE LUNAR MODULE Landed on the Moon with astronauts aboard

FUEL TANK

APOLLO AND THE SATURN V

FUEL TANK

J-2 ENGINES (5)

F-1 ENGINES (5)

The Saturn V rocket and Apollo spacecraft were used in all the Apollo missions from 1967 to 1975.

NASA launched 13 Saturn Vs from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida with no loss of crew or payload. It remains the tallest, heaviest and most powerful rocket ever brought to operational status and still holds the record for the heaviest launch vehicle payload. To date, the Saturn V is the only launch vehicle to transport human beings beyond Low Earth Orbit, taking a total of 24 men to the moon in the four years between 1968 and 1972.

It’s huge size and payload capacity dwarfed all other previous rockets which had successfully flown at that time. With the Apollo spacecraft on top it stood 111m tall and without fins it was 10 m in diameter. Fully fueled it had a total mass of 3,000 metric tons and a payload capacity of 120,000 kg to low earth orbit. Comparatively, at 111 m, the Saturn V is about 58 feet taller than the Statue of liberty from the ground to the torch, and is just one foot shorter than St Paul’s Cathedral in London, and only cleared the doors of the Vehicle Assembly Building by 6 feet when rolled out.

FIFTEEN YEARS

TWENTY FOUR MEN

LIFESPAN OF APOLLO PROGRAM

TAKEN TO ORBIT THE MOON

THIRTEEN LAUNCHES

FOURTEEN MEN

TOTAL SATURN LAUNCHES

LANDED ON THE MOON

AVERAGE HUMAN

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12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

FIVE: THE APOLLO LEGACY

POST APOLLO COMPROMISES

During 1969, with Nixon newly elected and the first astronauts setting foot on the Moon, NASA Administrator Thomas Paine led a push for a future in space that promised to be expansive. He aimed at nothing less than a piloted expedition to Mars, propelled by nuclear rocket engines that were already in development. En route to Mars, he expected to build space stations and large space bases. Almost as an afterthought, he expected to build a space shuttle as well, to provide low-cost flight to these orbiting facilities. This was a full space space structure straight out of science fiction, and promised to the beginning of the formation of our very own Star Fleet.

This elaborate dream was, however, based on the huge budgets that NASA had enjoyed during the 1960s, and Paine was soon to find that, having beaten Soviet Russia to the moon, the government politicians found less enthusiasm for space travel, and even the public interest was waining. NASA soon felt the effect of this as their budget was cut by around a billion dollars, crippling Paine’s extensive plans for a space infrastructure. Forced to reconsider their plans, NASA shelved the idea of a manned missions to mars, and concentrated on the construction of a Space Station and a fleet of shuttles to build and maintain it.

This focus of a Space Station and shuttles raised interested the American Air Force, who would be able to use shuttles to launch reconnoissance satellites and military spacecraft. The politicians, however, were much less accepting of the plans for a space station, still seeing it as unnecessary and expensive. Once again, NASA changed their approach, focusing instead on a fleet of shuttles, and their uses in scientific testing and maintenance of satellites. The Air Force maintained their interest, as long as the shuttle was designed with their specifications in mind, and had a payload bay big enough for their needs. NASA accepted, perhaps a sign of their desperation.

President Nixon was a great supporter of the shuttle, and in 1972 he accepted the proposed plans listing a small fleet of reusable shuttles and potential for a space station and development of the shuttle started. Focus would be on routinising space travel, making it possible to drive down the ultimate costs by launching more often. Many politicians were sceptical of the shuttle program, seeing it as a waste of time and money in comparison to missions to mars or unmanned space probes. Senator Walter Mondale called it a ‘senseless extravaganza’, but government were unwilling to give up space travel and give Soviet Russia the edge in manned spaceflight.

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Right: President Nixon and NASA Administrator Thomas Paine discuss the Space Shuttle before its announcement in 1972

FOUR

HOPES AND ASPIRATIONS FOR THE SHUTTLE PROGRAMME After suffering budget cuts and set backs, the Space Shuttle was finally announced and work began. From it’s conception it would declared that the Shuttle would be capable of making up to 55 flights a year, and perhaps even more if needed. It would be the winged workhorse of the Space Age, hauling everything that went into orbit. It would be cheaper to operate, be

capable of making many trips in its lifetime, and would provide access into a realm previously preserved for precious few pioneers. Much of this dictated the design of the Shuttle, and it’s end goal of a permanantly habitable space station in orbit around the earth, from where missions deeper into space would be launched.

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

FOUR: HOPES AND DREAMS

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

IN 1972 PRESIDENT NIXON ANNOUNCED THE SPACE SHUTTLE 14| NEW SCIENTIST SHUTTLE SPECIAL | 26 JUNE 2011

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

FOUR: HOPES AND DREAMS

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

‘I have decided today that the United States should The resulting changes in modes of flight and re-entry will proceed at once with the development of an entirely new type make the ride safer, and less demanding for the passengers, of space transportation system designed to help transform so that men and women with work to do in space can the space frontier of the 1970’s into familiar territory, easily ‘commute’ aloft, without having to spend years in training for accessible for human endeavor in the 1980’s and ‘90’s. the skills and rigors of old-style space flight. As scientists and This system will center on a space vehicle that can shuttle technicians are actually able to accompany their instruments repeatedly from Earth to orbit and back. It will revolutionize into space, limiting boundaries between our manned and transportation into near space, by routinizing it. It will take the unmanned space programmes will disappear. Development astronomical costs out of astronautics. In short, it will go a of new space applications will be able to proceed much faster. long way toward delivering the rich benefits of practical space Repair or servicing of satellites in space will become possible, utilization and the valuable spinoffs from space efforts into the as will delivery of valuable payloads from orbit back to Earth. daily lives of Americans and all people.

The general reliability and versatility which the Shuttle system The new year 1972 is a year of conclusion for America’s offers seems likely to establish it quickly as the workhorse of current series of manned flights to the Moon. Much is expected our whole space effort, taking the place of all present launch from the two remaining Apollo missions – in fact, their scientific vehicles except the very smallest and very largest. NASA and results should exceed the return from all the earlier flights many aerospace companies have carried out extensive design together. Thus they will place a fitting capstone on this vastly studies for the Shuttle. Congress has reviewed and approved successful undertaking. But they also bring this effort. Preparation is now sufficient for us us to an important decision point – a point to commence the actual work of construction VIEWS OF THE EARTH FROM with full confidence of success. In order to of assessing what our space horizons are as Apollo ends, and of determining where minimize technical and economic risks, the SPACE HAVE SHOWN US we go from here. space agency will continue to take a cautious HOW SMALL AND FRAGILE evolutionary approach in the development In the scientific arena, the past decade of experience has taught us that spacecraft this new system. Even so, by moving OUR HOME PLANET TRULY of are an irreplaceable tool for learning about ahead at this time, we can have the Shuttle IS. WE ARE LEARNING THE our near-Earth space environment, the Moon, in manned flight by 1978, and operational a and the planets, besides being an important short time later.

IMPERATIVES OF UNIVERSAL aid to our studies of the Sun and stars. In It is also significant that this major new BROTHERHOOD AND GLOBAL national enterprise will engage the best efforts utilizing space to meet needs on Earth, we have seen the tremendous potential of thousands of highly skilled workers and ECOLOGY LEARNING TO THINK of satellites for international communications hundreds of contractor firms over the next AND ACT AS GUARDIANS OF several years. The amazing ‘technology and world-wide weather forecasting. We are gaining the capability to use satellites as tools that has swept this country in the ONE TINY BLUE AND GREEN explosion’ in global monitoring and management of years since we ventured into space should ISLAND IN THE TRACKLESS remind us that robust activity in the aerospace nature resources, in agricultural applications, and in pollution control. We can foresee their is healthy for everyone – not just in OCEANS OF THE UNIVERSE. industry use in guiding airliners across the oceans jobs and income, but in the extension of our and in bringing TV education to wide areas capabilities in every direction. The continued of the world. However, all these possibilities, and countless pre-eminence of America and American industry in the aerospace others with direct and dramatic bearing on human betterment, field will be an important part of the Shuttle’s ‘payload’. can never be more than fractionally realized so long as every Views of the Earth from space have shown us how small and single trip from Earth to orbit remains a matter of special effort fragile our home planet truly is. We are learning the imperatives and staggering expense. This is why commitment to the Space of universal brotherhood and global ecology learning to think and Shuttle program is the right step for America to take, in moving act as guardians of one tiny blue and green island in the trackless out from our present beach-head in the sky to achieve a real oceans of the Universe. This new program will give more people working presence in space – because the Space Shuttle will more access to the liberating perspectives of space, even as give us routine access to space by sharply reducing costs in it extends our ability to cope with physical challenges of Earth dollars and preparation time. and broadens our opportunities for international cooperation in The new system will differ radically from all existing booster low-cost, multi-purpose space missions. systems, in that most of this new system will be recovered ‘We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against and used again and again – up to 100 times. The resulting it’, said Oliver Wendell Holmes, ‘but we must sail, and not drift, economies may bring operating costs down as low as onenor lie at anchor’. So with man’s epic voyage into space – a tenth of those present launch vehicles. voyage the United States of America has led and still shall lead.’

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12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

FOUR: HOPES AND DREAMS

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

FIRST OBJECTIVE

MAKING SPACE FLIGHT ROUTINE AND EASY The spacecraft Apollo and Saturn V rocket that powered It was hard not to think of it like the beginning of our very her to the moon were costly to run, and required long periods own Star Fleet. The potential was all there, and we even had of preperation and maintainance before they could even leave our very own Enterprise. When the prototype space shuttle the launchpad. This was obviously due to the incredibly complex was announced, NASA initally opted to call it Constitution, and nature of the machnies, and the dangerous task and unveiled on Constitution Day, September IT WAS HARD NOT TO they would be attempting, but also because 17, 1976. A write-in campaign by Trekkies to the majority of the launch stack had to be built President Gerald Ford asked that the orbiter be THINK OF IT LIKE THE from new for every launch, a costly and time named after the Starship Enterprise, featured BEGINNING OF OUR VERY on the television show Star Trek. Although Ford consuming approach.

The new shuttle design will solve these did not mention the campaign, the president, OWN STAR FLEET. THE problems, and allow us easy access to space. who during World War II had served on the By designing the majority of the shuttle stack to POTENTIAL… FOR ALL WE aircraft carrier USS Monterey that served with be reusable over one hundred times, the cost Enterprise said that he was ‘partial to the KNEW, WE COULD SOON BE USS of each launch will be driven down, and the name’ and overrode NASA officials. Originally, turnaround time between each launch should be WITNESSING THE BIRTH OF Enterprise had been intended to be refitted for minimal. The shuttle orbiter has been designed flight, which would have made it the second SHIPS AND ASTRONAUTS orbital to glide down to Earth like an aeroplane and space shuttle to fly after Columbia. However, SIMILAR TO THAT OF land on a runway, meaning it have to crash land during the construction of Columbia, details into the ocean like the Apollo module. The solid of the final design changed. While Enterprise CAPTAIN KIRK AND THE rocket boosters that provide much of the lift for never flew in space, there was still a sense of STARSHIP ENTERPRISE. the shuttle during launch are jettisoned and fall science fiction about the shuttle program, and down into the ocean, where they are retrieved, for all we knew, we could soon be witnessing cleaned, maintained and prepared to use again. The only part the birth of ships and astronauts similar to that of Captain Kirk of the entire assembly that will not be reusable is the external and the Starship Enterprise. fuel tank that holds the fuel for the orbiters engines. This will be jettisoned during the launch, and will burn up as it hurtles back through the atmosphere.

With unrecognised naivety we all believed the Shuttle to LIFESPAN OF SHUTTLE PROGRAM LAUNCHES BETWEEN ‘81 AND ‘90 be capable of making up to sixty flights or more a year, and that this winged space plane would be the workhorse of the Space Age hauling everything that went into orbit. The ability to easily and chaply launch the shuttle will allow us to do it much REUSABILITY OF SHUTTLES SIZE OF SHUTTLE FLEET more often. Whereas the Apollo launched 17 manned flights during 5 years, the shuttle promised to launch an average of 55 times a year, once a week. With the projected timescale of COST OF DEVELOPMENT WORK COST PER LAUNCH the program being ten to fifteen years, it was predicted that the shuttle would be able to launch around 825 times. The cost of this was still predicted to be less than the entire Apollo program, with each launch costing so little that costs would stay low.

SPACE ABOARD THE SHUTTLE CHANCE OF SHUTTLE DISASTER

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10 TO 15 YEARS

725 LAUNCHES

55 FLIGHTS A YEAR

SEVEN ORBITERS

$43 BILLION

$450 MILLION

SEVEN MEN

1 IN 100,000

Right: Shuttle launch from Cape Canaveral

FIFTY FIVE LAUNCHES A YEAR

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

FOUR: HOPES AND DREAMS

BEGINNING OF OUR VERY OWN STAR FLEET?

While perhaps it was a bit premature for the Space Shuttle to be declared to beginning to our own fleet of intergalactic space ships, this was perhaps the ultimate potential to bestow onto the fledgling space shuttle, although it was obviously something it could never achieve.

At the time of the first shuttle launch in 1981, and the years throughout the 1970s that led up to it, Star Trek was a massive cult hit on American television. Star Trek stories usually depict the adventures of humans and aliens who serve in Starfleet, the space-borne humanitarian and peacekeeping armada of the United Federation of Planets. The protagonist Captain Kirk was the captain of the USS Enterprise, which, as part of the Starfleet, roamed the universe on a prolonged humanitarian mission. The opening line, ’to boldly go where no man has gone before,’ was taken almost verbatim from a US White House booklet on space produced after the Sputnik flight in 1957. The central trio of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy was modeled on classical mythological storytelling.

The program was pure science fiction, showing the Enterprise flying through the universe at warp speed to visit distand planets and constellations thousands of lightyears away. While this was obviously not possible with the technology present on the space shuttle, it was this sense of exploration and potential that sparked the imagination of the shows cult following throughout the 1970s, promting them to form a petition to have the first shuttle renamed

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

Enterprise, a campaign that surprisingly worked and ended in the ship being renamed.

The bond between the shuttle and the USS Enterprise doesn’t end there, as the cast of the show famously visited the unveiling of the new ships, and often commented on space travel in general with, perhaps, an assumed knowledge of it themselves. However, as there were no manned space programs between the last Apollo mission and the first launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1981, it was science fiction, often inspired by the Apollo missions of the 60s, that kept the public interested in space travel.

While having our own starfleet is a very appealing prospect, it’s unlikely, even now, that this is at all likely in the foreseeable future. Technology required is far beyond anything we have at our disposal, and the construction of a space station and a low earth orbit infrastructure may be the beginning, but we have a long way to go to explore planets in distant galaxies.

A manned mission to Mars was considered after the Apollo missions, seeming like the obvious choice and the next nearest object we can land on, but budget cuts left those plans in tatters, and we can only imagine that building our own fleet of gigantic spaceships would be slightly more expensive still. While programs such as Star Trek exist though, we can continue to spark to imagination of people around the world.

Crew of Star Trek attend the unveiling of Space Shuttle Enterprise

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12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

FOUR: HOPES AND DREAMS

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

THE USS ENTERPRISE

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) is a fictional starship in the Star Trek media franchise. The original Star Trek series depicts her crew’s mission ‘to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before’ under the command of Captain James T. Kirk. The ship’s basic design ‘formed the basis for one of sci-fi’s most iconic images’.

Kirk’s Enterprise had a crew of 430, 14 science labs, an observation deck, a massive lower deck which included main engineering, and a shuttle bay. The ship’s armaments included forward phaser banks and photon torpedoes. Instead of landing or using transportation shuttles, the crew are beamed down onto planets and aboard other ships from the transporter room. Transporters convert a person or object into an energy pattern, then ‘beam’ it to a target, where it is reconverted into matter.

305 METRES LONG

500 CREW MEMBERS

LENGTH OF SHIP

SIZE OF ENLISTED CREW

24 DECKS

JANUARY 30, 2286

MAKE UP THE SHIP

ENTERPRISE LAUNCH DATE

WARP SPEED 6

392 x SPEED OF LIGHT

CRUISING SPEED

SPEED OF WARP 6

STARSHIP ENTERPRISE

SATURN V ROCKET

SPACE SHUTTLE

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New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

FOUR: HOPES AND DREAMS

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

SECOND OBJECTIVE

ESTABLISHING A PERMANANT PRESENCE IN LOW EARTH ORBIT By designing a shuttle that can be reused again and While this fleet of shuttles will never venture as far as again, and developing technologies to help make space flight the previous Apollo programs, which sucessfully placed 14 more routine, a more permanant human presence can be humans onto the surface of the moon, this infrastructure established in Low Earth Orbit. This essentially means that closer to the surface of our planet is vital to the further for the first time in history space will be easily accessible, exploration of the solar system. Alongside potentially manned doing away with the huge expenses and lengthy preperation missions, the shuttles have the ability to launch probes and periods experienced with previous spaceflight programmes. telescopes into space that will allow us a glimpse of what This ability to quickly launch astronauts lies deeper in the universe, providing us with into orbit allows us to establish a vital presence THE SHUTTLES HAVE knowledge not just about our place in this outside of our atmosphere. While the focus universe, but also about where we came from, THE ABILITY TO at the moment is simply focused on the and how we can give ourselves the best chance shuttle itself, there is huge potential for an LAUNCH PROBES AND to surivive on this tiny blue dot we call home. orbiting Space Station which will be able to Earth based telescopes had been built TELESCOPES INTO house astronauts for months, if not years, at since the end of the second World War, began to a time. This Space Station will not only allow SPACE THAT WILL plan the engineering side of a space telescope scientists and astroanuts to conduct important and determine the scientific goals of ALLOW US A GLIMPSE project, experiments but will also teach us how the the mission. Once these had been established, human body reacts to long periods of time in OF WHAT LIES DEEPER the next hurdle for NASA was to obtain funding space, something which will be vital if we are the instrument, which would be far more IN THE UNIVERSE. for to send manned space missions deeper into costly than any Earth-based telescope. The our solar system. The space station itsels will also be able US Congress questioned many aspects of the proposed to act as a stop for these exploring cpacecraft on their way budget for the telescope and forced cuts in the budget for out to these planets. the planning stages, which at the time consisted of very By the late 1970s the role for the Shuttle had changed detailed studies of potential instruments and hardware for from the space station support vehicle to a launch system the telescope. In 1974, public spending cuts led to Congress for satellites and spacecraft, and for conducting scientific cutting all funding for the telescope project research using equipment in the mid-deck area of the crew In response to this, a nationwide lobbying effort was compartment, or in a laboratory fixed in the cargo bay. The coordinated among astronomers. Many astronomers met emergence of a buoyant commercial satellite industry built congressmen and senators in person, and large scale letteraround communication and TV broadcasting, and the imminent writing campaigns were organized. The National Academy appearance of a new expendable launch vehicle from Europe of Sciences published a report emphasizing the need for a called Ariane, spurred Shuttle managers to attract customers space telescope, and eventually the Senate agreed to half of around the world to launch their satellites by Shuttle. The the budget that had originally been approved by Congress.

Shuttle would also be used to launch Air Force satellites.

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THREE

DESIGNING THE MOST COMPLEX MACHINE EVER CONSTRUCTED

The requirements for the Shuttle to be reusable, cheap to launch and able to carry large payloads into orbit made for a difficult design process. The intial designs were drawn before the moon landing of 1969, but continued well into the 1970s. Severe budget cuts and cost hurdles constantly challenged the design process, and the end result was the most complex piece of machinery to have ever been constructed. The

final design consisted of three main elements; the Orbiter, which would be the only part to orbit the earth and would land like a plane, the External Fuel Tank, which would hold the fuel for the main engines during launch and be jettisoned just above the atmosphere, and the Solid Rocket Boosters, which would provide extra lift for launch and be jettisoned into the ocean, recovered and reused.

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

THREE: DESIGNING THE SHUTTLE

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

THE SPACE SHUTTLE T

he Space Shuttle is the world’s first reusable spacecraft, sturdy, slow-moving crawler-transporter. A spectacular liftoff and the first spacecraft in history that can carry large is the reward for each processing flow, and upon landing, the satellites both to and from orbit. It launches like a rocket, sequence will begin once again. maneuvers in Earth orbit like a spacecraft and lands like an Columbia was the first Space Shuttle orbiter to be delivered airplane. Built to be reusable, it allows the cost of routine space to NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida in March 1979, travel to be reduced to a more affordable rate. It consists of and was the first to launch into orbit. Eventually the fleet will three major components: the Orbiter, which houses the crew, consist of two more shuttles, increasing the turnaround time a large External Tank, that holds fuel for between launches. The first Space Shuttle the main engines, and two Solid Rocket Orbiter, the Enterprise, never flew in space Boosters, which provide most of the Shuttle’s but was used for approach and landing lift during the first two minutes of flight. All tests and several launch pad studies in of the components are reused except for the late 1970s. the external fuel tank, which burns up in At times, the orbiter itself was referred the atmosphere after each launch. The solid to as the Space Shuttle. Technically, this rocket boosters being safely jettisoned into was a slight misnomer, as the actual ‘Space the ocean and recovered around 140 miles Transportation System’ (Space Shuttle) was off the Florida coast, reconditioned and the combination of the orbiter, the external prepared for use again. tank, and the two solid rocket boosters.

Each launch will began with a thundering Combined, these were referred to as the liftoff as the shuttle’s twin solid rocket ‘stack’; the components were assembled boosters ignite, pushing the vehicle with its in the Vehicle Assembly Building, originally crew and cargo beyond the bounds of gravity built to assemble the Apollo Saturn V rocket. and into the hostile environment of space.

When the orbiter’s space mission was Missions will typically last one to two weeks, complete, it fired its OMS thrusters to concluding with an hourlong reentry descent drop out of orbit and re-enter the lower through Earth’s atmosphere and a precision atmosphere. During descent, the orbiter landing. Because a returning shuttle orbiter passed through different layers of the JOHN YOUNG is essentially an unpowered glider, there are atmosphere and decelerates from hypersonic no second chances, every touchdown has to be perfect. speed primarily by aerobraking.

To meet the rigorous demands of spaceflight, each By the late 1970s the role for the Shuttle had changed vehicle element; the orbiter, external fuel tank and boosters, from the space station support vehicle to a launch system for and all subsystems undergo meticulous maintenance and satellites and spacecraft, and for conducting scientific research preparation before each flight. Multiple vehicles could be in using equipment in the mid-deck area of the crew compartment, various stages of processing at any given time. Once a shuttle or in a laboratory fixed in the cargo bay. The emergence of a is returned to its bay in the orbiter processing facility after buoyant commercial satellite industry built around communication landing, teams checked, refurbished or installed hardware and TV broadcasting, and the imminent appearance of a new for the flight ahead. The shuttle is then towed to the nearby expendable launch vehicle from Europe called Ariane, spurred Vehicle Assembly Building, where it was joined to its tank Shuttle managers to attract customers around the world to and boosters. Finally, the completed launch vehicle and its launch their satellites by Shuttle. mobile launcher platform roll out to the launch pad atop a

‘ANYONE WHO SITS ON TOP OF THE LARGEST HYDROGEN-OXYGEN FUELED SYSTEM IN THE WORLD, KNOWING THEY’RE GOING TO LIGHT THE BOTTOM, AND DOESN’T GET A LITTLE WORRIED, DOES NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION.’

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12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

THREE: DESIGNING THE SHUTTLE

EXTERNAL FUEL TANK Holds fuel for the main engines of the orbiter, jettisoned 69 miles up and breaks apart on re-entry.

ORBITER Carries the crew and only piece that goes into orbit.

SOLID ROCKET BOOSTERS Provide extra lift for launch, jettisoned 28 miles up and used again.

MAIN ENGINES Provide main lift to get the Shuttle off the launchpad.

SPACE SHUTTLE DESIGN

Designs for the space shuttle began being comissioned before the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, and were shaped heavily by compromising usability and power for something affordable.

Emerging from this round of design decision making was the Space Shuttle: a three-element system composed of the Orbiter, an expendable external fuel tank carrying liquid propellants for the Orbiter’s engines, and two recoverable Solid Rocket Boosters. It would cost, NASA estimated early in 1972, $6.2 billion to develop and test a five-Orbiter Space Shuttle system, about half what the two-stage ‘fly back’ design would have cost. To achieve that reduction, NASA had to accept somewhat higher system operating costs and sacrifice full reusability.

The compromise design retained recoverability and reuse of two of the three elements and still promised to trim substantially the cost of delivering payloads to orbit.

17,500 MPH

90 MINUTES

SHUTTLE ORBIT SPEED

SINGLE ORBIT CYCLE

120 TO 600 MILES

4.5 MILLION POUNDS

SHUTTLE ORBIT ALTITUDE

WEIGHT OF LAUNCH STACK

37 MILLION

SEVEN PEOPLE

HORSEPOWER GENERATED

CAPACITY OF ORBITER

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12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

THE ORBITER

THREE: DESIGNING THE SHUTTLE

EXTERNAL FUEL TANK

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

The Orbiter is both the brains and heart of the Space The External Tank is the ‘gas tank’ for the Orbiter; it contains Transportation System, and contains the pressurised crew the propellants used by the Space Shuttle Main Engines. It is compartment (which can normally carry up to seven crew also the ‘backbone’ of the Shuttle during the launch, providing members), the huge cargo bay, and the three main engines structural support for attachment with the solid rocket boosters mounted on its aft end. and orbiter, and is the only component of the Space Shuttle that The cockpit, living quarters and experiment operator’s station is not reused. Approximately 8.5 minutes into the flight, with its are located in the forward fuselage of the Orbiter vehicle. Payloads propellant used, the tank is jettisoned. are carried in the mid-fuselage payload bay, and the Orbiter’s At liftoff, the External Tank absorbs the total thrust loads main engines and manoeuvring thrusters are located in the aft of the three main engines and the two solid rocket motors – a fuselage. The 2,325-cubic-foot crew station module is a threecolossal 7.8 Million pounds. When the Solid Rocket Boosters section pressurised working, living and stowage compartment separate at an altitude of approximately 28 miles, the orbiter, in the forward portion of the Orbiter. It consists with the main engines still burning, carries the of the flight deck, the middeck/equipment bay external tank piggyback to near orbital velocity, and an airlock. The galley, toilet, sleep locations, approximately 70 miles above the Earth. The storage lockers, and the side hatch for entering now nearly empty tank separates and falls in and exiting the Orbiter were also located on the a preplanned trajectory with the majority of it mid-deck, as well as the airlock. The airlock disintegrating in the atmosphere and the rest had an additional hatch into the Payload Bay. falling into the ocean.

This airlock allowed two astronauts, wearing The hydrogen tank is 2.5 times larger than their Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) space the oxygen tank but weighs only one-third as suits, to depressurize before a walk in space much when filled to capacity. The reason for (EVA), and also to repressurize and re-enter the the difference in weight is that liquid oxygen Orbiter at the conclusion of the EVA. is 16 times heavier than liquid hydrogen. The The flight deck is designed in this usual skin of the External Tank is covered with a pilot/copilot arrangement, which permits the thermal protection system that is a 1-inch vehicle to be piloted from either seat and thick coating of spray-on polyisocyanurate permits one-man emergency return. Each foam. The purpose of the thermal protection seat has manual flight controls, including system is to maintain the propellants at an ROBERT CRIPPEN rotation and translation hand controllers, acceptable temperature, to protect the skin rudder pedals and speed-brake controllers. The flight deck surface from aerodynamic heat and to minimise ice formation. seats four. The displays and controls on the left are for The External Tank includes a propellant feed system to operating the Orbiter, and those on the right are for operating duct the propellants to the Orbiter engines, a pressurization and and handling the payloads. More than 2,020 separate displays vent system to regulate the tank pressure, an environmental and controls are located on the flight deck. The nominal conditioning system to regulate the temperature and render maximum crew size is seven. the atmosphere in the intertank area inert, and an electrical Some payloads may not be attached directly to the Orbiter system to distribute power and instrumentation signals and but to payload carriers that are attached to the Orbiter. The provide lightning protection. The tank’s propellants are fed to the inertial upper stage, pressurised modules or any specialised Orbiter through a 17-inch diameter connection that branches cradle for holding a payload are typical carriers. The Remote inside the orbiter to feed each main engine.

Manipulator System, is a 50-foot long articulating arm remotely Over the years, NASA has worked to reduce the weight of controlled from the flight deck of the Orbiter. The elbow and wrist the ET to increase overall efficiency. For each pound of weight movements permit payloads to be grappled for deployment out reduction, the cargo-carrying capability of the shuttle spacecraft of the payload bay or retrieved and secured for return to Earth. is increased almost one pound Although the external tanks A television camera and lights near the outer end of the arm were always discarded, it could have been possible to re-use permit the operator to see on television monitors what his hands them in orbit. Plans for re-use ranged from incorporation into are doing. In addition, three floodlights are located along each a space station as extra living or research space, as rocket fuel side of the payload bay. The Space Shuttle Orbiter did not carry tanks for interplanetary missions (e.g. Mars), to raw materials for anti-collision lights, navigational lights, or landing lights, as the orbiting factories. Another concept was use the ET as a cargo Orbiter always landed in areas that had been specially cleared carrier for bulky payloads. One proposal was for the primary by both the Federal Aviation Administration and the Air Force. mirror of 7 meter aperture telescope to be carried with the tank.

‘LIVING INSIDE THE SHUTTLE WAS A LITTLE LIKE CAMPING OUT. WE ENDED UP SLEEPING IN OUR SEATS. YOU HAD TO PAY ATTENTION TO HOUSE KEEPING, NOT GET THINGS TOO DIRTY.’

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New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

THREE: DESIGNING THE SHUTTLE

Solid Rocket Boosters being retieved 140 miles off the Florida coast

MAIN ENGINES

The three Space Shuttle Main Engines, in conjunction with the Solid Rocket Boosters, provide the thrust to lift the Orbiter off the ground for the initial ascent. The main engines continue to operate for 8.5 minutes after launch, the duration of the Shuttle’s powered flight. Each Space Shuttle had three engines, installed in the Orbiter Processing Facility.

After the solid rockets are jettisoned, the main engines provide thrust which accelerates the Shuttle from 3,000 to over 17,000 mph in just six minutes to reach orbit. They create a combined maximum thrust of more than 1.2 million pounds. As the Shuttle accelerates, the main engines burn a half-million gallons of liquid propellant provided by the large, orange external fuel tank. The main engines burn liquid hydrogen – the second coldest liquid on Earth at minus 252.8 degrees Celsius – and liquid oxygen.

The engines’ exhaust is primarily water vapour as the hydrogen and oxygen combine. As they push the Shuttle toward orbit, the engines consume liquid fuel at a rate that would drain an average family swimming pool in under 25 seconds generating over 37 million horsepower. Their turbines spin almost 13 times as fast as an automobile engine spins when it is running at highway speed. Combustion is completed in the main combustion chamber, with temperatures reaching over 3,000 degrees Celsius.

SOLID ROCKET BOOSTERS

The Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) operate in parallel with the main engines for the first two minutes of flight to provide the additional thrust needed for the Orbiter to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth, providing a combined thrust equal to 5,300,000 lbs. At an altitude of approximately 24 miles, the boosters separate from the orbiter and external tank, descend on parachutes, and land in the Atlantic Ocean. They are recovered by ships, returned to land, and refurbished for reuse. The boosters also assist in guiding the entire vehicle during initial ascent. The solid rocket motor is the largest solid propellant motor ever developed for space flight and the first built to be used on a manned craft, each one contains more than 1,000,000 lb of propellant.

T-MINUS 6 SECONDS

T-MINUS 0 SECONDS

MAIN ENGINES THROTTLE UP

SRBS INGNITE AND LIFTOFF

28 MILES HIGH

140 MILES OUT

SRBS SEPERATE FROM SHUTTLE

SRBS RECOVERED OFF COAST

70 MILES HIGH

250 MILES HIGH

EXTERNAL TANK JETTISONED

FINAL ORBIT ALTITUDE

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12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

THREE: DESIGNING THE SHUTTLE

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

1972 SHUTTLE ANNOUNCEMENT

BY NASA ADMINISTRATOR DR FLETCHER 30 | NEW SCIENTIST SHUTTLE SPECIAL | 26 JUNE 2011

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

THREE: DESIGNING THE SHUTTLE

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

Space Shuttle Enterprise on top of the modified Boeing 747

‘As indicated in the President’s statement, the studies by NASA and the aerospace industry of the Space Shuttle have now reached the point where the decision can be made to proceed into actual development of the Space Shuttle vehicle.

The decision to proceed, which the President has now approved, is consistent with the plans presented to and approved by the Congress in NASA’s FY 1972 budget.

The decision by the President is a historic step in the nation’s space program – it will change the nature of what man can do in space. By the end of this decade the nation will have the means of getting men and equipment to and from space routinely, on a moment’s notice if necessary, and at a small fraction of today’s cost. This will be done within the framework of a useful total space program of science, exploration, and applications at approximately the present overall level of the space budget.

The Space Shuttle will consist of an aircraft-like orbiter, about the size of a DC-9. It will be capable of carrying into orbit and back again to Earth useful payloads up to 15 ft. in diameter by 60 ft. long, and weighing up to 65,000 lb. Fuel for the orbiter’s liquid-hydrogen/liquid-oxygen engines will be carried in an external tank that will be jettisoned in orbit. The orbiter will be launched by an unmanned booster.

The orbiter can operate in space for about a week. The men onboard will be able to launch, service, or recover unmanned spacecraft; perform experiments and other useful operations in Earth orbit; and farther in the future resupply with men and equipment space modules which themselves have been brought to space by the Space Shuttle. When each mission has been completed, the Space Shuttle will return to Earth and land on a runway like an airplane.

There are four main reasons why the Space Shuttle is important and is the right step in manned space flight and the US space program. The Shuttle is the only meaningful new manned space program which can be accomplished on a modest budget; it is needed to make space operations less complex and less costly; it is needed to do useful things, and it will encourage greater international participation in space flight.

On the basis of today’s decision, NASA will proceed as follows; this spring we will issue a request for prospective contractors. This summer we will place Space Shuttle under contract and development work will start. Between now and about the end of February, NASA and our contractors will focus their study efforts on technical areas where further detailed information is required before the requests for contractor proposals can be issued. These areas include comparisons of pressure-fed liquid and solid rocket motor options for the booster stage.’

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TWO

PREPARING THE SHUTTLE AND CREW TO LAUNCH INTO SPACE

Once the design for the Shuttle was finalised, focus shifted to the construction of the Shuttle and the training of the astronauts that would fly her into space. The original contract was for four orbiters, two launch sites and a modified Boeing 747 to carry to shuttle across mainland America.

Just the manufacturing of all the parts required

to build such a complicated piece of machinery dictated a nation wide net of suppliers and contractors. Potential astronaut candidates were put through vigorous training, both intellectually and physically, to prepare them for their missions in space and all the effects on the human body associated with long periods of weightlessness.

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

TWO: BUILDING AND TRAINING

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

BUILDING THE SHUTTLES

The Shuttle contract was for four orbiters; one to be used for drop-tests off the back of a Boeing 747 and three for space flight, the first one being refurbished and to join the space-fleet later.

There was a need to move the shuttle around the country driven by the decision to have two launch sites: the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral run by NASA, and the Vandenberg Air Force base in California for the Air Force polar-orbit flights.

The West Coast launch site was necessary because to fly north into polar orbit from florida would cary the ascent over populated areas, which was prohibited. So the Air Force would launch south from Vandenberg over water. Also, Orbiters would have to be moved between sites and from emergency landing strips if they had to come down at one or the other for bad weather avoidance at the preferred landing strip. Also, in an emergency the Orbiter might have to land in a foreign country and the boeing 747 would be needed to fly it back.

The aircraft selected for the role of Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, was an ex-American Airlines 747-100, purchased on 18 July 1974, and modified to carry Orbiters horizontally on struts using the attachment points usually used when it was connected to the external tank. The most noticeable difference was in the small vertical fins attached to the extremities of each horizontal tailplane, with special damper struts located inside the forward fuselage. To prevent excessive drag caused by the blunt aft end of the orbiter, a special tail cone was built by Boeing, 36ft long, 25ft wide and 22ft high, covering the space normally occupied by the three main engines.

Because the shuttle was unique, astronauts would have to learn how to land this 100ton glider. Not only because it had no engines of its own but because of the unusual approach angle during the final stages of decent toward the runway.

Whereas most airliners approach the runway at an angle of 3-5 degrees to horizontal, the orbiter would have to dive down upon the runway at an angle in excess of 20 degrees, only pulling up just a few hundred feet above the ground at the flare point. Simulators could familiarise pilots with the techniques but only by flying an aircraft that could simulate this approach could full confidence be acquired.

NASA bought two Grumman Gulfstream II business jets and modified them to be capable of flying shuttle like profiles, simulating a Shuttle descending through the last 35,000ft of its descent. Known as Shuttle Training Aircraft, they were modified with the ability to command thrust-reversal in the air, usually applied as a braking function after touchdown, and differential deployment of main wheels alone could be deployed for maximum drag and give the aircraft the necessary high-drag descent profile. In the cockpit the left side was a close copy of a Shuttle Orbiter and the usual control yoke was replaced with a central stick-controller, as carried by the orbiter. On the right side, it was a standard Gulfstream II. By the time assembly of the first Orbiter was complete in 1975, at government and academic facilities across the United States engineers had spent 46,000 hours finessing the definitive

Main engine being tested shape and outline of a truly unique flying machine. When the contract had been awarded in 1972 the design configuration was known as Vehicle 1 and within two years the definitive Vehicle 6 had been sealed as the shape of the Shuttle to build. Many factors entered into the subtle shift in Orbiter design, the precise arrangement of External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters and the way the vehicle would fly and operate. Everything fed back into a blend between extrapolated data from limited experience with the hypersonic X-15 and complete unknowns catered for purely through calculation and scale tests.

Two engineering tools were important to evaluating the system: the Main Propulsion Test Article and the Structural Test Article. The main propulsion test article would be used to test the engines fitted to an aft fuselage structure that simulated the back end of an Orbiter. Set vertical in a test rig at the National Space Technology Centre, Alabama, until 1973 known as the Mississippi Test Facility previously used to test rocket engines for the Saturn rockets. In 1989 it would be renamed again, currently known as the Stennis Space Centre. The first tests with a Shuttle main engine took place in July 1975.

Meanwhile, assembly of the structural test article began on 21 November 1975. Late in 1977 a decision was made not to plan on modifying Enterprise for space flight after its air-drop tests but rather to take the Structural Test Article and upgrade it for joining the space fleet, naming it Challenger.

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‘GETTING READY FOR A FLIGHT, YOU’RE PROBABLY IN THE BEST SHAPE OF YOUR LIFE, BUT COMING BACK IS ANOTHER STORY. YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND, EVERY MOMENT YOU’RE IN SPACE YOUR BONE DENSITY AND YOUR MUSCLE MASS IS DEPLETING BECAUSE YOU DON’T NEED IT.’ SUNITA WILLIAMS

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

ASTRONAUT TRAINING

TWO: BUILDING AND TRAINING

Astronaut training describes the complex process of preparing Astronauts for their space missions before, during and after flight, which includes medical tests, physical training, Extravehicular Activity (EVA) training, procedure training, rehabilitation process, as well as training on experiments they will accomplish during their stay in space.

The training is geared to the special conditions and environments astronauts will be confronted with during launch, in space, and during landing. All phases of the flight must be taken into account during training to ensure safety to, and functionality of the astronauts, as well as to ensure a successful completion of the mission.

All astronauts must be familiar with the spacecraft that they are going to fly with. This includes a need to understand the engineering systems (ex. propulsion, thermal, life support, etc.), orbital mechanics, scientific experimentation, or earth observation & astronomy. This is particularly important for when an astronaut will encounter multiple systems during their mission (for example on the International Space Station (ISS)). This is to prepare the astronauts for events that may pose a hazard to their health, the health of the crew, or the successful completion of the mission. These types of events may be failure of a critical life support system, capsule depressurization, fire, etc. In addition to the need to train for hazardous events, astronauts will also need to train to ensure the successful completion of their mission. This could be in the form of training for EVA, scientific experimentation, or spacecraft piloting. All training that astronauts undergo must incorporate a thorough understanding of all spacecraft components that they are interact with during their mission.

External events refers more broadly to the ability to live and work in the extreme environment of space. This includes adaptation to microgravity (or weightlessness), isolation, confinement, and radiation. The difficulty associated with living and working in microgravity include spatial disorientation, motion sickness, or vertigo. More typical for long-duration missions, astronauts will oftentimes face a sense of isolation and confinement. This has been known to limit performance of astronaut crews and hence training must prepare astronauts for such challenges.The long-term effects of radiation on crews is still largely unknown, however it is theorized that astronauts on a trip to mars will likely receive more than 1000x the radiation

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New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

dosage as a typical person on earth. As such, training, not only present but more importantly future, must incorporate a means of protecting the astronauts against radiation.

At NASA, following the selection phase, the so-called ‘AsCans’ (Astronaut candidates) have to undergo up to two years of training/indoctrination period to become fully qualified astronauts. Initially, all AsCans must go through basic training to learn both technical and soft skills. There are 16 different technical courses in: Life support systems, Orbital mechanics, Payload deployment, Earth observations, Space physiology and medicine.

AsCans initially go through Basic Training, where they are trained on Shuttle, Soyuz, and ISS systems, flight safety and operations, as well as land or water survival. Furthermore, because modern space exploration is done by a consortium of different countries and is a very publicly visible area, astronauts received professional and cultural training, as well as language courses (specifically in Russian).

Following the Basic Training is NASA’s Advanced Training.

AsCans are trained on life-sized models to get a feel of what they will be doing in space. This is done both through the use of the Shuttle Training Aircraft and simulation mock-ups. The shuttle training aircraft is exclusively used by the commander and pilot astronauts for landing practices, while advanced simulation system facilities are used by all the candidates to learn how to work and successfully fulfill their tasks in the space environment. Shuttle mission simulator and EVA training facilities help candidates to best prepare their different mission operations. In particular, vacuum chambers, parabolic flights, and neutral buoyancy facilities (NBF) allow candidates to get acclimated to the microgravity environment, particularly for EVA. The final phase is the Intensive Training. It starts at about three months prior to launch and serves to prepare the candidates specifically for the mission they have been assigned to. Flight-specific integrated simulations are designed to provide a dynamic testing ground for mission rules and flight procedures. The final Intensive Training joint crew/ flight controller training is carried out in parallel with mission planning. This phase is where candidates will undergo mission specific operational training, as well as experience with their assigned experiments.

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

TWO: BUILDING AND TRAINING

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

SPACE ADAPTATION SYNDROME

Space adaptation syndrome (SAS) or space sickness is Space suits are generally worn during launch and landing by a condition experienced by around half of space travelers NASA crew members and always for extra-vehicular activities during adaptation to weightlessness.It is related to motion (EVAs). EVAs are consequently not usually scheduled for sickness, as the vestibular system adapts to weightlessness. the first days of a mission to allow the crew to adapt, and ‘When people go up into space, many will immediately get transdermal dimenhydrinate patches are typically used as an space sickness,’ says Dr. Victor Schneider, research medical additional backup measure. officer for NASA’s Biomedical Research and Countermeasures Space motion sickness was effectively unknown during Program. While a few astronauts are apparently immune, most the earliest spaceflights as these were undertaken in very can experience symptoms ranging from mild headaches to cramped conditions; it seems to be aggravated by being vertigo and nausea. In extreme cases prolonged vomiting able to freely move around and so is more common in larger can make an astronaut dehydrated and malnourished. spacecraft. After the Apollo 8 and Apollo 9 flights, where ‘Space sickness relieves itself after about astronauts reported space motion sickness to 3 days, although individual astronauts and Mission Control and then were subsequently cosmonauts may have a relapse at any time removed from the flight list, astronauts (e.g.

JAKE GARN, HE HAS during their mission.’ the Skylab 4 crew) attempted to prevent MADE A MARK IN THE Space motion sickness is caused by Mission Control from learning about their own changes in g-forces, which affect spatial SAS experience, apparently out of concern ASTRONAUT CORPS orientation in humans. According to Science future flight assignment potential.

BECAUSE HE REPRESENTS for their Daily, ‘Gravity plays a major role in our spatial As with sea sickness and car sickness, orientation. Changes in gravitational forces, THE MAXIMUM LEVEL OF space motion sickness symptoms can vary such as the transition to weightlessness from mild nausea and disorientation, to SPACE SICKNESS THAT during a space voyage, influence our spatial vomiting and intense discomfort; headaches orientation and require adaptation by many ANYONE CAN EVER ATTAIN, and nausea are often reported in varying of the physiological processes in which our degrees. About half of sufferers experience AND SO THE MARK OF balance system plays a part. As long as this mild symptoms; only around 10% suffer adaptation is incomplete, this can be coupled BEING TOTALLY SICK AND severely. The most extreme reaction yet to motion sickness (nausea), visual illusions recorded was that felt by Senator Jake Garn in TOTALLY INCOMPETENT 1985. and disorientation.’ One understanding of After his flight NASA astronauts began motion sickness is that nausea is a pro-survival using the informal ‘Garn scale’ to measure IS ONE GARN. evolutionary adaptation, because the sensory reactions to space sickness. In most cases, stimulation of a maladapted high acceleration environment that symptoms last from 2-4 days. In an interview with Carol Butler, the body is not accustomed to is recognized by the brain as when asked about the origins of ‘Garn’ Robert E. Stevenson being similar to the sensory conflict from eating a poisonous was quoted as saying: plant, in which case vomiting is a helpful reaction.

‘Jake Garn was sick, was pretty sick. I don’t know whether Modern motion-sickness medications can counter space we should tell stories like that. But anyway, Jake Garn, he has sickness but are rarely used because it is considered better made a mark in the Astronaut Corps because he represents the to allow space travelers to adapt naturally over the first day maximum level of space sickness that anyone can ever attain, or two than to suffer the drowsiness and other side effects and so the mark of being totally sick and totally incompetent of medication. However, transdermal dimenhydrinate antiis one Garn. Most guys will get maybe to a tenth Garn, if nausea patches are typically used whenever space suits that high. And within the Astronaut Corps, he forever will be are worn because vomiting into a space suit could be fatal. remembered by that.’

26 JUNE 2011 | NEW SCIENTIST SHUTTLE SPECIAL | 39

ONE

THE FINAL PREPARATIONS FOR THE LAUNCH OF THE SHUTTLE The Space Shuttle was the single most complex machine ever designed and constructed by Man. It is no surprise then that to launch it requireed a complex series of detailed preparations, checks and operations. These were conducted before the launch of every shuttle, and the entire launch stack was maticulously checked. If one thing

was to go wrong, such as the bolts that hold the SRBs to the launch pad were to not disattach, there could be catastrophic results. The Shuttle stack itself, after being carefully assembled, was carried five miles atop a crawler vehicle to the launch pad where it would begin the countdown to launch.

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

PRE-LAUNCH PREPARATIONS

ONE: THE FINAL PREPERATIONS

The launch of the space shuttle began in the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF). This was a relatively squat (95 ft high) building next to the huge Vertical Assembly Building (VAB). In the OPF, the shuttle orbiter was inspected, refurbished and tested. The mission payload was installed and tested, and a power up test of the shuttle carried out.

During this time, the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB) and External Tank were being mated in the huge VAB. They were resting on the Mobile Launch Platform, secured by four huge nuts and bolts on each of the SRBs that are severed at liftoff by small explosives. With the shuttle, the entire stack, as it is called, would be carried to Pad 39A or 39B by the Crawler-Transporter. The SRB seals were inspected and integration tests performed during this time.

Once all this was completed, the orbiter was moved from the OPF to the VAB where it was mated to the SRBs and external tank. Integration tests were performed, and the giant crawler-transporter lifted the Mobile Launch Platform off its supports and began the slow, five hour, 3.4 or 4.2 mile journey to the launch pad.

To get to the VAB, Shuttles travel on a giant 18-wheel transporter platform. In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, shuttle Atlantis is lifted by an overhead crane and moved into a high bay where it will be attached to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters which are already on the mobile launcher platform.

Inside the VAB, Atlantis was lifted and attached to its massive external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters.

The next phase in the pre-launch preparations involves moving Atlantis from the VAB to its seaside launch pad. This process is known in NASA parlance as ‘rollout.’

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

To make the 3.4-mile journey to Launch Pad 39A, the newly-assembled shuttle sits atop NASA’s Apollo-era crawler transporter and slowly and carefully inches to the pad. It typically takes about six hours for a shuttle to roll out to the launch pad. When the crawler got the Mobile Launch Platform and Shuttle to the pad, it lowered its cargo onto the pad supports and backed away to return to the crawler bay.

On the pad, further checks were performed and the shuttle and payload were prepared for flight.

The crew travel from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT). This two-day event acts as a practice run-through of the countdown and launch and is also the time when the astronauts receive emergency training at the Florida spaceport.

This launch day practice run is the last major training exercise for the astronauts before their scheduled liftoff. In addition to countdown preparations and emergency training, the crewmembers also participate in a variety of media events during TCDT. The commander and pilot typically also have opportunities to practice landings at the Shuttle Landing Facility. The astronauts fly a modified Gulstream aircraft that simulates the shuttle’s approach and landing.

For their emergency training, the crew reviews procedures for the launch tower escape system, which is a 1,200-foot (366-meter) long ‘slidewire’ that whisks the astronauts away from any danger at the pad. The crewmembers slide down in baskets to an emergency evacuation bunker nearby. During TCDT, the astronauts don their pressurized launch and entry suits and perform a complete run-through of activities on launch day to prepare themselves for the real thing.

Once all these other milestones are met, the STS-135 mission is primed for its Flight Readiness Review (FRR). There are two different FRR meetings – one among shuttle program managers, and then a separate executive-level meeting with top NASA officials. In these meetings, program managers, flight directors, mission managers and other top agency officials will discuss any issues that may have come up with the orbiter or its component parts, and assess the readiness of the vehicle and ground teams for launch.

Once the launch date is set, the next major milestone is when the crew arrives at Kennedy Space Center for their scheduled liftoff. The astronauts typically arrive at KSC four days ahead of their launch. The astronauts fly from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to their Florida launch site in the agency’s T-38 jets. These white, supersonic jets are used by astronauts to maintain their aerial skills between missions. Upon their arrival at KSC, the astronauts begin their final preparations before launch and enter into medical quarantine to ensure that they are healthy for their upcoming mission. After that, the next major milestone that awaits them is their historic liftoff into space.

The shuttle ready on the launch pad

42 | NEW SCIENTIST SHUTTLE SPECIAL | 26 JUNE 2011

Right: The assembled Shuttle Stack moves towards the launch pad atop the crawler-vehicle

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

ONE: THE FINAL PREPERATIONS

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

THE COUNTDOWN

The actual countdown began at about T-43 hours, depending Criteria were met. If they were, the Ground Launch Sequencer on the mission. All launch activities were conducted from the (GLS) was started, and the countdown proceeded under Launch Control Center (LCC) adjacent to and connected to the computer control. The GLS monitored every system on the VAB. With built-in holds, a shuttle launch actually took about shuttle. If it detected an incorrect reading, it automatically 72 hours. At T-43 hours, the LCC was manned and system stopped the countdown. checks performed, including a power up of the orbiter. The At T-9 seconds, the orbiter’s main engines were put through SRB seals were again inspected. a gimble test by the GLS. If that is successful, a pyrotechnic At T-28 hours, the orbiter’s fuel cell systems were loaded. device just beneath the orbiter’s main engines ignited. At that From then to T-11 hours, the orbiter and its propulsive units time the pad sound suppression system was initiated. This were prepared for flight. The payload bay doors were closed, consisted of a spray of 900,000 gallons a minute of water into and all valves set for fuel loading. During this time, the launch the flame deflectors through the holes in the Mobile Launcher. crew made its first pass through some 25,000 measurements Sound suppression is necessary because the shuttle and criteria that had to be met before at liftoff produced one of the loudest the shuttle could be launched.

THE SHUTTLE AT LIFTOFF PRODUCES sounds ever heard on Earth – 215dB. At T-9 hours the external tank was put that in perspective, a sound ONE OF THE LOUDEST SOUNDS EVER To prepared for loading of liquid hydrogen level of 111 dB causes a human so and liquid oxygen. From then until HEARD ON EARTH – 215DB. TO PUT much pain it is unbearable and will loading began, the pad was prepared cause permanent hearing loss. Without THAT IN PERSPECTIVE, A SOUND for launch. The rotating service structure suppression, that level would damage was rolled back. Time critical flight crew LEVEL OF 111 DB CAUSES A HUMAN the launch platform, and the reflected equipment was installed in the cockpit, would damage the shuttle. The SO MUCH PAIN IT IS UNBEARABLE sound and the crew escape pole was installed thousands of gallons of water spraying in the orbiter. into the flame deflectors reduce that AND WILL CAUSE PERMANENT Fuel loading began at T-6 hours. It to 142 dB – still a very high level of HEARING LOSS. WITHOUT took three hours. When completed at sound but not enough to damage the the T-3 hour mark, an automatic two SUPPRESSION, THAT LEVEL WOULD pad or shuttle. hour hold was initiated. At this time only At T-6.6 seconds fuel had begun DAMAGE THE LAUNCH PLATFORM, pumping specialized launch teams were permitted into the main engines and they on the pad. One was the Final Inspection AND THE REFLECTED SOUND WOULD ignited. By T-3 seconds they have built Team, nick-named the ice team. Its task up to 90 percent thrust and were put DAMAGE THE SHUTTLE. was to conduct a walking inspection of into liftoff position. the vehicle and pad to look for any anomalies that might be At T-0 the explosive holddown bolts securing the shuttle of concern. to the launch platform were severed. The SRBs were ignited Another ice team prepares the white room, ensures by a pyrotechnic device inside the rocket motor that fires the orbiter cockpit was properly configured and assist the down the entire length of the propellant grain. As soon as the astronauts’ entry into the orbiter. At T-20 minutes the LCC was SRBs ignite the shuttle lifted off for another trip into space. locked down and the launch crew made its first run through a The white smoke billowing up around the pad was not from set of 2300 Launch Commit Criteria. These included weather, the SRB exhaust. It was from the sound suppression water all tracking stations up, an acceptable level of hydrogen gas pouring into the flame deflectors, it was steam. on the pad, and hundreds more. If the Launch Director got a From this moment the shuttle lifts off the launch pad and GO from everyone, the countdown proceeded to T-9 minutes, into it’s launch phase, accelerating up to 17,500 miles and hour at which time a built-in hold initiated. During this time, the and soaring up to orbit the earth at 250 miles above sea level.

Launch Director polled the team again to ensure the Launch

Left: The crawler-vehicle moves into place on the launch pad

26 JUNE 2011 | NEW SCIENTIST SHUTTLE SPECIAL | 45

LIFTOFF THE BEGINNING OF THE NEXT ERA OF SPACE EXPLORATION

Early on the morning of 12 April 1981, Space Shuttle Columbia roared off it’s launchpad at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. It was the first launch of America’s new manned space flight programme, and marked a historic new direction for NASA after the successful Apollo Programme.

Already, however, there were doubts as to whether

the Shuttle would be able to live up to its potential, especially the ambitious goal of 55 flights a year, with a turnaround time of two weeks between flights. NASA hoped to prove these sceptics wrong with the dramatic first flight, the first of 135 missions that would bring both tragedy and glory over the next 30 years.

ON 12 APRIL 1981, COLUMBIA LAUNCHED AND BEGAN THE SPACE SHUTTLE LEGACY

New Scientist Space Shuttle Special

LIFTOFF: THE LAUNCH

12 April 1981 – Looking Forwards

FIRST LAUNCH OF SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA

Early on the morning of 12 April 1981, exactly twenty years When the shuttle’s booster rockets fired up, lifting the after Yuri Gagarin made the first ever manned space mission, ship off the ground, Crippen said he wasn’t concerned about two astronauts strapped themselves into their seats on the flight surviving the trip. ‘Probably my main thought after liftoff was deck of Columbia, a radically new spacecraft known as the space “Don’t let me screw up,”’ he said. STS-1 was successful, shuttle. America had not launched a human into space in six orbiting the Earth 37 times, lasting 54.5 hours. years, and up until then every manned space flight has followed Crippen went on to fly three more shuttle missions, become the same basic design: put a capsule on top of a rocket, strap the shuttle program director and then head of NASA’s Kennedy in the crew, fire the engines and go. After the mission, only the Space Center before moving on to executive management crew capsule, which will not be reused, will return. positions in the aerospace industry. He retired in 2001 as When astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen strapped president of shuttle booster manufacturer Thiokol Propulsion. themselves inside Space Shuttle Columbia for the Shuttle Young, who also flew aboard the first manned Gemini Program’s debut mission in 1981, it was spacecraft, which preceded the Apollo the first time people had been aboard for program, made one more shuttle flight, OVER THE NEXT 30 YEARS IT WENT a spaceship’s trial run. spent 13 years as the agency’s chief THROUGH GLORY, SUCCESS, TRAGEDY, astronaut and another 17 years as a key ‘NASA did discuss whether we should go modify it so we could fly unmanned. safety oversight manager until his retirement GLOWING PRAISE AND HARSH That was a serious discussion,’ Crippen in December 2004.

CRITICISM. IT FINALLY CAME TO AN said. ‘But both John Young and I lobbied Just seconds after 7 am, Columbia hard that they ought to put us onboard END WHEN THE SHUTTLE ATLANTIS roared off of Launch Pad 39A and into the because we thought the chance for success Florida sky above NASA’s Kennedy Space ROLLED TO A STANDSTILL ON 21 was much better having people on there.’

Center. About eight minutes later, Young and What NASA didn’t know at the time Crippen, were doing laps around the Earth JULY 2011. IT SAW A TOTAL OF 135 was that there was a 1-in-9 chance the at over 17,500 miles an hour. The mission MISSIONS, TRAVELLED OVER 500 astronauts wouldn’t make it back alive. will demonstrate a host of cutting edge Managers put the odds of losing the technologies, from the innovative shuttle MILLION MILES AND CLAIMED THE shuttle and its crew at 1-in-100,000.Safety main engines, to the ceramic tiles designed LIVED OF 14 ASTRONAUTS. upgrades, including those initiated after two to prevent overheating, to the advanced fatal accidents, have made the shuttle 10 digital fly-by-wire control and computer times safer than it was in its early years, but the odds of a system, adapted by many commercial airplanes. catastrophic accident are still high, about 1 in 90.

Perhaps more importantly though, this first launch once again ‘I was more worried about the software,’ Crippen said. ignited the imagination of people the world over, and mankind ‘The vehicle was so complicated; I thought there was a high once again began to explore that final frontier which we knew probably of a scrub. It was actually only when we got inside so little about. The first step of this program was a bold one, of a minute in the countdown that I looked at John and said and the Shuttle program began with high hopes. Over the next “Hey, I think we might do it.”’

30 years it went through glory, success, tragedy, glowing praise Crippen, who led a panel discussion about the shuttle history and harsh criticism. It finally came to an end when the Shuttle at an industry conference in Orlando earlier this year, said his Atlantis rolled to a standstill on the runway on July 21 2011. It heart rate shot up to about 130, while his commander, an Apollo saw a total of 135 missions, travelled over 500 million miles and moon veteran, stayed calm. ‘He says “Crip, when they’re getting claimed the lives of 14 astronauts. So, how did the reality of the ready to light off 7 million pounds of thrust under you, if you Shuttle live up to its potential? aren’t a little bit excited, you don’t understand what’s going on.”’

Left: The Space Shuttle launches

26 JUNE 2011 | NEW SCIENTIST SHUTTLE SPECIAL | 51

‘MANY YEARS AGO THE GREAT BRITISH EXPLORER GEORGE MALLORY, WHO WAS TO DIE ON MOUNT EVEREST, WAS ASKED WHY HE WANTED TO CLIMB IT. HE SAID, “BECAUSE IT IS THERE.” WELL, SPACE IS THERE, AND WE’RE GOING TO CLIMB IT.’ JOHN F. KENNEDY