July-August 1982:news from KSC

STS-4 PREPARATIONS

Reducing turnaround time for Columbia's fourth flight by
34 working days was held out as a definite possibility by Donald
Phillips, chief, integrated tests, in a press briefing on 19 March.
The decision to land STS-3 at White Sands in New Mexico
because of rain-soaked runways at Edwards Air Force Base in
California, was expected to delay the ship’s return to Florida
by at least four days.

Phillips displayed graphs indicating the number of working
days expended on Columbia for all three test flights: 668 days
for STS-1, much of which really belonged to manufacturing
time performed at the launch base; 187 days for STS-2,97 days
for STS-3 and a planned total, of 64 days for STS-4, working
towards a possible launch on 27 June.
His figures disclosed that Columbia occupied the Orbiter
Processing Facility 531 days prior to STS-1. The ship was
missing some 20,000 of 33,000 tiles when it reached the Cape.
Most of that long delay was taken up in applying and reapplying
tiles of the thermal protection system. By contrast, Columbia
was in the OPF only 99 days before its second launch, 55 days
for STS-3 and a planned 25 days for STS-4. While the assembly
process in the Vehicle Assembly Building required 33 days for
the first mission, the interval dropped to 18 days for the second
and 12 days for STS-3. Only 10 days are planned for STS-4.

NASA told newsmen costs reach $1 million per day when
the fully assembled vehicle occupies the launch pad. Keeping
that in mind, Phillips reported 104 days for STS-1, 70 for the
second mission, 30 for STS-3 and said that might be further
reduced to 29 for the June flight.

Before the launch of STS-3 on 22 March, Launch Director
George Page also said that turnaround could be further reduced
for Columbia’s fourth-and last development flight, instead of
a mid-July launch, Page suggested the ship could be ready by
27 June. Eliminating some tests and shortening stay time in
the assembly building could advance STS-6, the first operational flight, and the initial launch of Challenger, the second
orbiter, to early January 1983. Challenger should reach KSC in
late June.

Pilots and mission specialists for STS-4, 5 and 6 have been
selected. Thomas F. Mattingly, commander, and Henry W.
Hartsfield, pilot, will fly the last test mission for seven days
and land at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Columbia's first operational mission in mid-November will
be flown by Vance D. Brand, commander, and Robert F.
Overmyer, pilot. They will bring the ship down at Kennedy
Space Center, another first, after five days in space. This will
also be the first flight of mission specialists: Dr. Joseph P. Allen
and Dr. William B. Lenoir. A former experimental test pilot,
Brand flew in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in July 1975.
Overmyer is a former Marine Corps and Air Force pilot who
performed engineering development duties in the Shuttle programme. A research physicist. Dr. Allen is a senior scientist
astronaut. Dr. Lenoir was an assistant professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, researching remote sensing of
planetary atmospheres and surfaces.

The sixth Shuttle flight, in January 1983, will be flown by
Challenger. A two-day mission, it will deploy NASA’s tracking
and data relay satellite, part of a two-spacecraft system that
will provide more comprehensive voice and data coverage for
orbiting Shuttles.
Paul J. Weitz will command STS-6 with Karol J. Bobko as
pilot, and Donald H. Peterson and Dr. Story Musgrave as
mission specialists. Weitz was pilot for the first manned Skylab
flight 25 May-22 June 1973. Bobko was a member of the Skylab
medical experiments altitude test, a 56-day simulation, and
chase pilot for Shuttle approach and landing tests. A former
research pilot, Peterson has been serving in the Shuttle orbital
flight test missions group. Dr. Musgrave is a scientist astronaut
who contributed to the design and development of Shuttle
extra vehicular equipment.