| Path: decwrl!amd!dual!zehntel!ihnp4!mgnetp!burl!ulysses!allegra!alice!alb
Subject: Jilted Crew Reassigned
Posted: Wed Aug 1 05:15:46 1984
The five crewmembers who were bumped from their flight due
to the combined mission have been reassigned to a shuttle
mission scheduled to blast off on 12 February, 1985. With
the crew, commanded by astronaut Karol Bobko, will be a
sixth crew member, a French mission specialist.
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| Path: decwrl!decvax!linus!utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!alice!alb
Subject: Shuttle Liftoff Scheduled
Posted: Wed Aug 8 20:14:23 1984
NASA today scheduled the liftoff of the combined shuttle flight,
setting launch for 0835 EDT on 29 August, and landing at EAFB
on 4 September.
Path: decwrl!amd!dual!zehntel!ihnp4!mgnetp!burl!ulysses!allegra!alice!alb
Subject: Discovery on Pad
Posted: Fri Aug 10 06:35:42 1984
The Discovery was rolled back to the launch pad yesterday
and bolted in place for its 29 August launch.
Path: decwrl!decvax!tektronix!uw-beaver!cornell!vax135!houxz!houxm!mhuxl!ulysses!allegra!alice!alb
Subject: Discovery Misaligned on Pad
Posted: Sun Aug 12 21:05:47 1984
NASA today discovered that the mobile launch platform on
which the Discovery sits was placed about three inces
off center on the launch pad yesterday. The misalignment
left the mobile platform well within its tolerance limits,
but the huge tractor tansporter was rolled back to the pad
today, and the mobile platform and shuttle along with it
were realigned.
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| Path: decwrl!decvax!genrad!grkermit!masscomp!bonnie!clyde!burl!mgnetp!ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe
Subject: Discovery flight postponed again
Posted: Wed Aug 29 22:58:27 1984
NASA announced late Tuesday evening that the first flight of the space
shuttle Discovery had been postponed for the third time in two months.
Launch has been rescheduled for 8:36 a.m. EDT Thursday, August 30.
Tuesday afternoon, technicians discovered problems with an onboard electronic
device called the master events controller (MEC). The MEC commands the
separation of boosters and fuel tanks and begins the firing of the boosters
and the detonation of the explosive bolts that hold the shuttle to the
launch pad.
Twice before, the crew of six had entered the shuttle, only to have the
launch scrubbed. A computer failure stopped the countdown at T-9 minutes
June 25 and the next day a faulty valve in one of the main engines caused an
abort just seconds before the solid rockets were to have been ignited.
This time, the crew was asleep when NASA officials made the decision less
than 12 hours before the scheduled liftoff. Loading the shuttle's huge
external tank with supercold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen had not
yet begun.
The weather for Thursday morning looked good for a launch, forecasters said.
--
Roger Noe uucp: ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe
Path: decwrl!decvax!genrad!grkermit!masscomp!bonnie!clyde!burl!mgnetp!ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe
Subject: Discovery lifts off
Posted: Thu Aug 30 07:20:26 1984
Space shuttle Discovery lifted off from Kennedy Space Center today at
08:41:50 EDT. The planned 10-minute hold at T-9 minutes was extended
by almost 7 minutes to allow two aircraft to exit the intended solid
rocket booster impact area. Discovery, although the lightest of the
three orbiter vehicles, will be carrying a more massive payload into
orbit than any shuttle mission to date. The first satellite deployment
for Discovery is scheduled for later this afternoon.
--
Roger Noe ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe
Path: decwrl!amd!fortune!hpda!hplabs!hao!seismo!ut-sally!ut-ngp!pyle
Subject: Discovery's 1st stage performance low?
Posted: Thu Aug 30 20:16:56 1984
Just after SRB separation on Discovery's launch, Capcom informed the
shuttle crew: "First stage - nominal." Shortly thereafter, Capcom came
back with a revised evaluation that first stage performance was "low."
Interestingly, the CNN people didn't pick up on this and nothing else
was exchanged between the crew and ground (at least nothing that CNN
aired) on the subject.
What is considered in this evaluation? Was the SSME and/or SRB thrust
too low? For that matter, how much is "low?"
Keith Pyle
UUCP: . . .{ihnp4,seismo,ctvax,kpno,gatech}!ut-sally!ut-ngp!pyle
ARPA: pyle@ut-ngp
Path: decwrl!amd!fortune!hpda!hplabs!hao!seismo!brl-tgr!jcp
Subject: Re: Discovery's 1st stage performance low?
Posted: Fri Aug 31 23:23:59 1984
The 'SRB Performance Low' call you heard has occurred on almost every
shuttle mission, and represents the Solids not achieving nominal
thrust parameters. Due to the way solid rocket engines work, their
performance is much more variable than equivalent liquids. The Discovery
automatically compensates for low SRB performance by boosting thrust
on the Space Shuttle Main Engines, or moving the throttle-back point
slightly, (the region of maximum dynamic pressure). Typical 'low' values
are 3 to 7 percent below nominal, I believe. Sufficient reserve fuel
is always carried to compensate for low solid performance, as the
shuttle must reach a fairly precise 'window in space' at the time
of Main Engine shutdown in order to the OMS system, (which is much smaller
than the SSMEs) to execute the orbit circularization burn successfully.
None of the shuttle flights have had their orbital parameters significantly
affected by low 1st stage performance.
Most of this I learned from articles on the subject in Aviation Week
-JCP-
Path: decwrl!decvax!tektronix!uw-beaver!cornell!vax135!houxm!ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe
Subject: Discovery lands
Posted: Wed Sep 5 10:02:57 1984
Space shuttle mission 41-D ended successfully as the orbiter Discovery touched
down on dry lake runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base, California at 6:38 a.m.
PDT after a mission elapsed time of 6 days, 56 minutes. All three
communications satellites deployed on this mission (SBS-D, Syncom IV-1, and
Telstar 3-C) have reached geosynchronous orbital altitude without any
problems at all. Also, the OAST-1 folding structure worked at least as
well as expected and the continuous flow electrophoresis (CFES) experiment
monitored by McDonnell Douglas Astronautics engineer Charles Walker produced
valuable pharmaceutical samples despite some problems with the equipment.
Apparently the crew experienced no space adaptation syndrome problems and
the waste collection system functioned properly until another system clogged
its discharge port with ice.
The next mission, 41-G, is scheduled to begin October 1 with the launch of
the orbiter Challenger. This ten-day mission will be commanded by Robert
Crippen and piloted by Jon McBride. Mission specialists David Leetsma,
Sally Ride, and Kathryn Sullivan and payload specialists Marc Garneau and
Paul Scully-Power will round out the crew to seven, the largest yet for a
space shuttle mission. Cargo will include the large format camera Earth
resources mapping system and the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS).
Crew members will conduct a fluid transfer experiment.
--
Roger Noe ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe
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| I was part of a 4-man crew which covered (for an obscure service) the
landing of 41-D at edwards. I would just like to echo a previous note
in saying that a landing is NOT boring.
Besides the impressive nose-down angle after clearing the heading
alignment cylinder, it was interesting to note that the shuttle
apparently has control over the contrail it leaves. In fact, this
time, several people noted that the contrail was actually morse code.
Has anyone else noted this at previous landings?
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