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Today in 1981, on the 20th anniversary of Gagarin's launch, was the first Space Shuttle flight, STS-1. The commander, John Young, on his fifth of six flights, was at the time the oldest human in space. It wasn't his first "first". He was also the pilot of the first manned Gemini flight, and the first man to solo orbit the Moon. He learned of the shuttle's congressional approval on the lunar surface while commanding Apollo 16. In the right seat was his fellow Naval Aviator, Bob Crippen, who was first selected to be an astronaut for the USAF's cancelled Manned orbital Laboratory.
First Shuttle Launch
Posted from nasa.gov
NASA
Space
Aviation
American History
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
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Thanks for the memories, 1SG(P) (Join to see). The last class I ever skipped was to watch Columbia bring John Young and Bob Crippen home. Question to RP: The Shuttle fuel tank (between the two solid rocket boosters) in this image is white. Most of the imagery from Shuttle missions will show a brown fuel tank. Anyone know why this is (there are two reasons)?
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1SG(P) (Join to see)
White paint was originally intended to reflect UV rays on the pad. But that turned out to not be an issue. So the paint was abandoned which had a weight and cost savings.
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Maj William W. 'Bill' Price
You're on track 1SG(P) (Join to see). The white fuel tank weighed an additional 600 lbs (due to the paint). The now exposed insulating foam turned brown when exposed to UV light. Hence the "sun tan".
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The scrimped on safety design and it came back to bite them in the butt big time. Amazing it did not happen sooner than it did. Inferior seals on auxiliary rockets leaked resulting in the loss of 7 souls. Families got to watch their loved ones killed in front of them and the rest of us got to watch it on live TV during our lunch hour. My recollection of space flight.
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PO3 Donald Murphy
I too remember the Challenger. We were loading missiles at Canaveral Weapon Station and watched it live.
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Maj William W. 'Bill' Price
It was unseasonably cold on January 28, 1986. A number of the lead engineers recommended against flight because of the weather. I was watching it from Alabama, PO3 Donald Murphy. I know that had to be a hard day.
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PO3 Donald Murphy
Maj William W. 'Bill' Price - The Army was launching something that day too. And of course being military with top secret clearances, we didn't know a damn thing! We didn't know who was going up first or second. So we heard the rumble, saw the plume and then it blew up. We just assumed it was the Army rocket that blew up. Then the captain came over the announcement system and said it was Challenger. We were gutted.
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