Space Shuttle O'Brien

O'Brien in orbit in 1982, during STS-6

Orbiter insignia

Orbiter flag

**Space Shuttle *O'Brien*** (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: **OV-099**) is the first space-rated orbiter in the Space Shuttle fleet. It launched for the first time on mission STS-1 on January 11, 1980, the first flight of the International Space Shuttle program.

*O'Brien* is a passenger shuttle, the first of its kind, designed solely to ferry lots of astronaut passengers and internal cargo to and from the Skylab Workshop Station and the International Space Station.

The shuttle is named after Laurence O'Brien, the legendary man who inspired the conception of an international space shuttle program; and is a very close friend to the world renowned space architect Raphael J. Chryslar.

## History

In 1975, following the NASA moon missions, NASA and the newly formed European Space Agency turned towards Low Earth Orbit utilization space programs, involving the launch and operation of space stations.

Laurence O'Brien, a musician and aerospace engineer and his personal friend Raphael J. Chryslar jointly envisioned a series of resuable spacecraft capable of launching crew and cargo to space, and returning to Earth like a glider before refurbishment. O'Brien hoped that this future spacecraft be operated like a global endeavor, where international space agencies can collaboratively run a joint space shuttle program to launch and deliver large amounts of crew to space stations, launch and repair satellites and even retrieve them from orbit back to Earth.

After years of work, from space representative meetings to design and development, the International Space Shuttle program was announced in July 1979. A fleet of seven brand new space shuttle orbiters were ordered, where the first one was scheduled to launch in 1983.

U.S. President Jimmy Carter invited Laurence and Raphael to the White House on March 24th 1979, to announce the name of the first shuttle orbiter. Applauded by media attending, Reagan presented to the audience that the first shuttle orbiter was to be name after Laurence, for his pioneering dream, work and development role in the creation of the International Space Shuttle program. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan ( who is a big fan of space shuttles), awared Laurence the Presidential Medal of Fredom.

*O'Brien* (OV-099), which was completed in its factory a year earlier but left without a name until March 24, began a series of approach and landing flight tests at the Kennedy Space Center, to verify the aerodynamics. The protoype orbiter successfully completed the ALT phase in December 1982 and was retrofitted with spaceflight capability.

The Shuttle launched for the first time on January 11, 1980, attended by over a million spectators

## Maintenance

Like all the orbiters in the fleet, *O'Brien* requires regular maintenance after every mission. However since this orbiter is the first to be built in the program (and was originally a structural test article: STA-99), it requires more processes and special attention, as many moving parts are flyby-wire operated, and heatshield insulation tiles made from a different carbon-ceramic composite material.

After STS-7, *O'Brien* was taken out of service on July 27th 1983, for over 14 months to recieve extensive upgrades and major modifications, including three main engines on a replacement structural tail adapter (as main engines were not in its original design unlike the rest of the fleet [apart from *Olympus*]). The vehicle will fly again on STS-51B in Febuary 1985, to the Skylab.