Conference 7.286::space

89.0. "Shuttle ATLANTIS DoD Mission" by PYRITE::WEAVER () Fri Oct 04 1985 14:30

Associated Press Fri 04-OCT-1985 01:15                          Space Silence

       More Heard About Soviet Space Mission Than American
                     By HARRY F. ROSENTHAL
                    Associated Press Writer
   CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Somewhere in the heavens, eight men
are circling the Earth in two spacecraft, busy with their tasks,
marveling at the view. Five are American, three are Soviet.
   We hear more about the Soviets than the Americans.
   At the Kennedy Space Center, a news blackout descended with the
liftoff of the new shuttle Atlantis. An announcement was made that
``the mission is proceeding as planned'' and that was it.
   Space-to-ground radios fell silent. Television screens went
blank. Briefers did not brief.
   Atlantis began its flying career with a mission for the
Pentagon. How high, how far, how long, were official secrets.
   The Soviets, meanwhile, announced Wednesday that an unmanned
supply ship had arrived at the Salyut-7 space station with
``equipment apparatuses of miscellaneous weight to insure further
functioning of the manned complex.''
   They mentioned that the cosmonauts were working on methods of
controlling ``sophisticated orbital complexes of large size and
weight.''
   Not great reading, but what did NASA say about Col. Karol Bobko
and the four other military men flying with him on Atlantis?
   ``The crew is doing well and all systems on board the orbiter
are performing satisfactorily.'' Period.
   On a normal space shuttle mission excitement builds at the
launch site as the clock ticks down the hours, minutes and seconds
to liftoff.
   Closed circuit television follows the astronauts from breakfast
table to shuttle entry, there is running commentary, the NASA line
carries conversations between launch control and the astronauts.
   On this flight, none of that.
   There was a nine-minute warning that the shuttle was about to go
and then it went. Big deal. They had to do that. It would be about
as easy to hide a shuttle blastoff as it would be to camouflage the
Pentagon.
   Usually, the launch director meets with reporters to explain how
well it all went, flight directors come off their shifts to recount
the day, and a display screen shows the shuttle's exact location.
Not this time.
   No charming TV shots of astronauts reveling in weighlessness,
somersaulting, whirling, flipping globs of liquid from spoon to
mouth. No spectacular views of Earth. No words of awe, wonder or
camaraderie.
   The Joint Industry Press Center, a launch-site trailer where the
space industry dispenses coffee, memorabilia and information, was
deserted. No one was around from General Electric to explain the
two Defense Satellite Communications System satellites to be
deployed from the shuttle.
   Whoops. That was the secret. But everybody knew it.
   The next flight may be just as tough.
   On Oct. 30, the shuttle Challenger will go up on a week-long
Spacelab scientific mission. The crew of eight will work around the
clock in two shifts.
   And they'll be talking all the time to the payload control
center in Germany, often in German.
   From drought to flood. That's the space business.