March 1983:news from KSC

PAYING THE PRICE

The cost of flying Space Shuttle missions will not be
matched by the revenue from paying customers until
1986-7. That opinion was given by Lt. Gen. James
Abrahamson, NASA associate administrator, during a
press conference shortly before the fifth Shuttle mission. Launch costs have been largely kept secret for
the last two years, during which NASA spokesmen
avoided such questions. Columbia launched two commercial communications satellites on its first operational flight (STS-5), for which Satellite Business
Systems paid $8 million and Telesat Canada $9 million.
That adds up to about 7 pec cent of the cost to NASA,
estimated at $250 million for a five-day mission by
Abrahamson.

The Shuttle director noted that SBS entered into the
contract for its launch in 1977 at a time when NASA
charges were being formulated based upon rather
optimistic assumptions, such as there being only two
weeks between flights and the availability of five
Orbiters. Recently, Dr. Stanley Weiss, in charge of
pricing, admitted that the rates were unrealistic. So for
payloads launched between 1 October 1985 and 30
September 1988 NASA expects to recover $71 million
(1982 dollars). The agency has said, "Most non-
Government payloads dpring that period, as is the case
for missions through 1985, will be telecommunications
satellites that require only a portion of Shuttle launch
capability. Such launches are priced according to a
shared flight formula."

A Delta-class payload launched into geosynchronous
orbit will cost about $26 million, while for a heavier
satellite, like those carried by Atlas Centaur, the price
will be about $41 million. And NASA hopes that its
rates will be competitive with the two US expendable
vehicles and the European Ariane.

General Abrahamson made other interesting com¬ments. Discussions are continuing, he said, with the
Space Transportation Co., an investment firm which
offered to raise $ 1,000 million to buy a fifth Orbiter for
NASA's use. In return, the agency would be expected
to turn over to the company the marketing of Shuttle
cargo space for all commercial (i.e., non-Government)
payloads. "In December or so," Abrahamson explained,
"we expect to reach a mutual decision as to what is
in the nation's best interests as well as those of the
company." He also mentioned that NASA has several
proposals from other firms concerning the Delta and
Centaur expendable vehicles.

NASA's revised policy concerning the use of Payload
Specialist astronauts aboard the Shuttle was inter¬
preted by Abrahamson as meaning that "any major
customer" can designate a specialist responsible for
care and deployment of his satellite in orbit. "He or
she," the general explained, "will receive minimum
training in safety procedures and crew relationships.
The purpose is to enhance mission success." Mean¬
while, a NASA Advisory Council will investigate the
requirements for future Shuttle travel by selected volunteers; artists and news people were mentioned.

There may be five Shuttle flights in 1983. Challenger
will fly three while Columbia undergoes modifications
at the Kennedy Space Center before carrying Spacelab
in September. Abrahamson said that schedule will
require 20 or more astronauts (he saw no need to
increase the present corps of 75). The payloads include
three communications satellites, two tracking and data
relay spacecraft (using the large Inertial Upper Stage),
Spacelab and a possible Defense mission in November.
A military payload specialist will accompany every
Defense satellite.

TIMES GONE BY

A story from Moscow concerning the development
of a super booster capable of orbiting a large space
station touched off a flood of memories for the remaining active members of the Apollo Saturn launch team.
They recalled Nova, a 12 million pound thrust booster,
proposed by the von Braun team in 1960. Had it been
built, it could have propelled men directly to the lunar
surface (81,000 kg payload to escape velocity and
6,800 kg Earth return). Its first stage required eight of
the kerosene engines later used in the Saturn V plus
four hydrogen engines in the second stage and one
each in the third and fourth stages. In the early Sixties,
looking ahead to such a monster, the NASA launch
planners laid out a third pyramid-like pad in Mosquito
Lagoon, a 40,000 acre area north of Pads A and B.
The big pad was never built. Retired KSC Director Kurt
H. Debus believed it would be needed at some future
time for the so-called "big dumb booster," a solid
propellant rocket to lift large masses into orbit. The
motors, Debus concluded, would be so massive they
would have to be produced at the Cape.

21 YEARS OF AMERICA IN ORBIT

This February marks the coming of age of American manned
orbital flight. Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom made successful suborbital trips in May and July 1961, respectively, but it was John
Glenn who entered the history books as the first American to reach
orbit. Glenn was originally to have flown another suborbital "hop"
atop a Redstone booster but the previous successes and recent
spectacular Soviet achievements brought orbital flight forward in
NASA's schedule.

Glenn and his backup, Scott Carpenter, plunged into intensive
training for a 16 January 1962 launch but bad weather and difficulties
with the Atlas booster delayed liftoff until 20 February.
Friendship 7 went into a 161 X 262 km orbit and Glenn began
testing his capsule's control systems, only to find that one of the
automatic thrusters refused to work properly He had to spend the
rest of the flight controlling attitude manually.
Back on the ground, an indicator light seemed to show that
Friendship 7s heatshield had separated (as it was supposed to do
shortly before splashdown). Glenn was advised to leave his retro-rocket package attached during reentry in the hope that its straps
would hold the heatshield onto the rest of the spacecraft. At the end
of 4Vi hours and three orbits the three retrorockets fired to bring
Friendship 7 back into the atmosphere; the warning light proved to
be wrong and Glenn was safely recovered by USS Noa.

Glenn never flew in space again; he left NASA in 1964, after
working on the early stages of the Apollo Lunar Module, and turned
to politics. He became the Senator for Ohio and is now working
towards the Democratic Presidential nomination for 1984. In the 21
years following his epic flight there have been a further 33 manned
US space missions (three Mercury, ten Gemini, 15 Apollo and five
Shuttle), six of which landed men on the Moon.

SHUTTLE PROCESSING

Competition is heating up for the prize contract to
process Shuttles for launch at KSC and Vandenberg
Air Force Base in California. Four firms led by Rockwell
have joined the fray: Boeing, Martin Marietta, United
Technologies and United Airlines. NASA are calling for
bids now and hope to award a contract by early 1984.
Lockheed heads a competing group. Agency spokesmen estimate that the winner will hold the job for 10
years and receive up to $500 million.