Bay Area Citizen - News
A look back at the shuttle’s start
 |
| On April 12, 1981, space flight entered a new era with the first launch of Space Shuttle Columbia. NASA's space shuttles land like a normal airplane, carry a heavy cargo, carry a large crew, make use of cheap solid fuel, and are reusable. Previous to this flight, no manned orbiting space ship had ever landed on a runway. Space shuttles now are the flagships and the workhorses of NASA's space going rockets. |
By DANA BURKE
The space shuttle has been around for so long, the latest generation of homeowners and business professionals does not remember a time before it existed.
Even those who recall the day Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon may have forgotten the struggle NASA faced to garner support for the space shuttle from both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government.
The fight for shuttle funding began in the 1960s, believe it or not, and the obstacles then were not unlike those the space agency faces today in regard to the Constellation program.
It’s all catalogued by T.A. Heppenheimer, in his NASA report, “The Space Shuttle Decision: NASA’s Search for a Reusable Space Vehicle,” a 1999 publication of the NASA History Office.
Thomas Paine, who was the NASA administrator in 1969, had big plans for the space program, Heppenheimer said. His goals included missions to Mars, space stations and space bases, along with a low-cost means of transporting astronauts back and forth.
“Soon after Neil Armstrong made his one small step in the lunar Sea of Tranquillity, Paine received a cold bath in the Sea of Reality,” Heppenheimer said.
“(Then-President Richard) Nixon's budget director, Robert Mayo, chopped $1 billion from Paine's request. This brought an end to NASA's hopes for a space base and for flight to Mars. It appeared possible, however, to proceed with the space station and the shuttle, as a joint project.”
One of the first big supporters of the space shuttle was not Congress or the president, but the Air Force, which hoped to save money on launching military satellites, Heppenheimer said.
Air Force had already made two failed attempts to start programs that would launch its own astronauts into space, but now, “the Air Force would receive the Shuttle on a silver platter, for NASA alone would fund its development and construction.”
“It is a measure of NASA's desperation that it accepted the shuttle project on those terms,” Heppenheimer said.
In 1970, Congress had nearly killed the shuttle/space station proposal, and as a result forced NASA to hold off on space station plans in order to get the shuttle funded, but with the Air Force’s political support, the space agency was able to win over legislators.
Next on the list, NASA had to convince the Office of Management and Budget, a part of the executive branch that has the power to cut budgets, to go lighter on the cutting process for the shuttle budget, Heppenheimer said. The OMB, after reviewing cost-benefit studies commissioned by NASA, demanded a new shuttle design at half the price, he said.
And, as sometimes happens, once the space agency demonstrated that it could achieve that goal, the OMB asked for even more budget cuts.
“By shrinking the shuttle, however, NASA won support where it counted,” Heppenheimer said. “Caspar Weinberger, the OMB's deputy director, gave his endorsement late in 1971. Nixon also decided that the nation should have a shuttle.
“On the eve of decision, the key player proved to be OMB Director George Shultz. He decided that since the shuttle was to serve the entire nation, it should have the full capability for which NASA hoped and the Air Force demanded.”
All of this work paid off on April 12, 1981, when the Space Shuttle Columbia launched at 7 a.m. on a mission that lasted two days, six hours and 20 minutes.
Commanded by John W. Young and piloted by Robert L. Crippen, STS-1 had a simple goal: to demonstrate the safety of the space shuttle and verify that the orbiter, solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank would perform perfectly together.
Now, 27 years later, there are only 10 shuttle missions left, with the latest scheduled mission recently postponed until next year. That mission will be the last time the shuttle travels to the Hubble Space Telescope, but it was delayed this week when NASA discovered technical problems with Hubble. The remaining nine missions will head to the International Space Station, with the goal of completing its assembly before the shuttle is scheduled to retire in 2010.
Many in Congress, including District 22 Rep. Nick Lampson, continue to push for additional shuttle missions to guarantee that the United States will have transportation to the space station between 2010 and 2015, when the new Constellation program is expected to launch.
Even those who recall the day Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon may have forgotten the struggle NASA faced to garner support for the space shuttle from both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government.
The fight for shuttle funding began in the 1960s, believe it or not, and the obstacles then were not unlike those the space agency faces today in regard to the Constellation program.
It’s all catalogued by T.A. Heppenheimer, in his NASA report, “The Space Shuttle Decision: NASA’s Search for a Reusable Space Vehicle,” a 1999 publication of the NASA History Office.
Thomas Paine, who was the NASA administrator in 1969, had big plans for the space program, Heppenheimer said. His goals included missions to Mars, space stations and space bases, along with a low-cost means of transporting astronauts back and forth.
“Soon after Neil Armstrong made his one small step in the lunar Sea of Tranquillity, Paine received a cold bath in the Sea of Reality,” Heppenheimer said.
“(Then-President Richard) Nixon's budget director, Robert Mayo, chopped $1 billion from Paine's request. This brought an end to NASA's hopes for a space base and for flight to Mars. It appeared possible, however, to proceed with the space station and the shuttle, as a joint project.”
One of the first big supporters of the space shuttle was not Congress or the president, but the Air Force, which hoped to save money on launching military satellites, Heppenheimer said.
Air Force had already made two failed attempts to start programs that would launch its own astronauts into space, but now, “the Air Force would receive the Shuttle on a silver platter, for NASA alone would fund its development and construction.”
“It is a measure of NASA's desperation that it accepted the shuttle project on those terms,” Heppenheimer said.
In 1970, Congress had nearly killed the shuttle/space station proposal, and as a result forced NASA to hold off on space station plans in order to get the shuttle funded, but with the Air Force’s political support, the space agency was able to win over legislators.
Next on the list, NASA had to convince the Office of Management and Budget, a part of the executive branch that has the power to cut budgets, to go lighter on the cutting process for the shuttle budget, Heppenheimer said. The OMB, after reviewing cost-benefit studies commissioned by NASA, demanded a new shuttle design at half the price, he said.
And, as sometimes happens, once the space agency demonstrated that it could achieve that goal, the OMB asked for even more budget cuts.
“By shrinking the shuttle, however, NASA won support where it counted,” Heppenheimer said. “Caspar Weinberger, the OMB's deputy director, gave his endorsement late in 1971. Nixon also decided that the nation should have a shuttle.
“On the eve of decision, the key player proved to be OMB Director George Shultz. He decided that since the shuttle was to serve the entire nation, it should have the full capability for which NASA hoped and the Air Force demanded.”
All of this work paid off on April 12, 1981, when the Space Shuttle Columbia launched at 7 a.m. on a mission that lasted two days, six hours and 20 minutes.
Commanded by John W. Young and piloted by Robert L. Crippen, STS-1 had a simple goal: to demonstrate the safety of the space shuttle and verify that the orbiter, solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank would perform perfectly together.
Now, 27 years later, there are only 10 shuttle missions left, with the latest scheduled mission recently postponed until next year. That mission will be the last time the shuttle travels to the Hubble Space Telescope, but it was delayed this week when NASA discovered technical problems with Hubble. The remaining nine missions will head to the International Space Station, with the goal of completing its assembly before the shuttle is scheduled to retire in 2010.
Many in Congress, including District 22 Rep. Nick Lampson, continue to push for additional shuttle missions to guarantee that the United States will have transportation to the space station between 2010 and 2015, when the new Constellation program is expected to launch.
Copyright © 2009 - Houston Community Newspapers Online