![]() The switch from OFT to operational configuration would entail removal of Development Flight Instrumentation (sensors for monitoring Orbiter systems and performance) replacement of Commander and Pilot ejection seats on the crew compartment upper deck (the flight deck) with fixed seats power system upgrades and installation of an airlock on the crew compartment lower deck (the mid-deck).įlight 10 (14-16 November 1980) would be a near-copy of Flight 8. The JSC planners explained that conversion would be deferred until after Flight 9 to ensure an on-time first operational flight and to save time by combining it with Orbiter preparation for the first Spacelab mission on Flight 11. The planners did not include the OFT schedule in their document, but the launch date for their first operational Shuttle mission suggests that they based their flight schedule on the March 1979 first OFT mission date.įollowing Flight 9, OV-102 would be withdrawn from service for 12 weeks to permit conversion from OFT to operational configuration. The OFT flights would see two-man crews (Commander and Pilot) put Orbiter Vehicle (OV)-102 through its paces in low-Earth orbit. The JSC planners assumed that six Orbital Flight Test (OFT) missions would precede the first operational Shuttle flight. The STS Utilization and Operations Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston had prepared the document, which was meant to be revised quarterly as new customers chose the Space Shuttle as their cheap and reliable ride to space. The document was in keeping with NASA's stated philosophy that reusable Shuttle Orbiters would fly on-time and often, like a fleet of cargo airplanes. In October 1977, Chester Lee, director of Space Transportation System (STS) Operations at NASA Headquarters, distributed the first edition of the* STS Flight Assignment Baseline*, a launch schedule and payload manifest for the first 16 operational Shuttle missions. The schedule slip was actually worse than NASA let on: as early as 31 January 1975, an internal NASA document gave a "90% probability date" for the first Shuttle launch of December 1979. Funding shortfalls were to blame, as were the daunting technical challenges of developing the world's first reusable orbital spaceship with 1970s technology. By early 1975, the date had slipped to March 1979. ![]() Soon after President Richard Nixon gave his blessing to the Space Shuttle Program on 5 January 1972, NASA targeted its first orbital flight for 1977, then for March 1978.
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