Word: launching
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...years ahead. Since the Challenger tragedy, America's lead over the Soviets has slipped, ambitious plans for scientific experiments in space have stalled, and commercial and military payloads have for the most part been grounded. Declared J.R. Thompson, director of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama: "One good launch doesn't make a space program, but it's a damn good start...
...morning countdown, however, the shuttle shuffle appeared destined for a scrub. All week NASA technicians had isolated small glitches, from a tiny gas leak on a main engine to a slight scratch on a thruster rocket. Finally they seemed confident that only bad weather might postpone the shuttle's launch. Although launch day dawned bright and sunny, meteorologists warned that the high-altitude winds in the shuttle's flight path, normally unruly in the Cape Canaveral region during late September, had uncharacteristically died down. The problem: Discovery's computers had been programmed to maneuver the craft through strong, buffeting winds...
That in effect is what NASA feared might happen to the shuttle unless its computers were reprogrammed, a task they figured would delay the launch by at least a day. Taking no chances, NASA pushed back the launch time, while meteorologists continuously monitored the winds with weather balloons. Before long, the winds did shift and pick up a little, but they were still outside NASA's criteria for a launch. After a detailed analysis, the mission- management team agreed that the shuttle was not endangered. Astronaut Robert Crippen, charged with making the final go or no-go decision...
...Still, gnawing doubts remained. Despite exhaustive ground testing of the new and modified shuttle parts, none had been tried in the harsh environment of a launch, or in orbit or re-entry. Moreover, some of them are among the more than 1,500 "criticality 1" parts -- that is, items without backup whose failure could end the mission, perhaps catastrophically...
NASA took steps to improve the astronauts' chances of survival should such a mishap occur. For the first time since the summer of 1982, the crew left the launch pad ensconced in bulky space suits, each partly pressurized and equipped with an oxygen tank, a parachute and an inflatable raft. In addition, a new emergency escape system was designed to give the astronauts a chance to leave the orbiter quickly in the event of a "benign disaster" after the boosters had fallen away. In such a crisis, the crew would jettison the huge external fuel tank and stabilize the winged...