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ing any sizable ítem safely back
to earth.
Hence the concept of a space
shuttle: a reusable launch vehicle
that takes off like a rocket, stays
in orbit long enough to accom–
plish its mission, then returns toa
landing strip on earth. There it is
refurbished and readied in about
two weeks for another voyage. l t
can be used again and again. Both
going and coming it can haul tons
of equipment. supplies and space
gear. And it can rendezvous with
cxisting satellites.
No one is sayi ng the U.S. space
shuttle is inexpensive!
lt
has cost
the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA)
$9,600 million so far, and another
$4,400 million will be required to
build America's planned fleet of
four. However, once in operation,
real economic advantages are
cxpected over conventional, ex–
pendable rocket boosters.
From the beginning, the shut–
tle project has had less funds than
thought necessary to do the job.
This forced NASA to resort to
certain shortcuts in production
and testing-with sorne unfortu–
nate results. Much of the fact
that the shuttle is years
behind schedule is
blamed directly or in–
directly on the budget–
ary restraints.
"Just plain stupid,"
is the way one NASA
scientist was quotcd in
regard to attempting
something of the mag-
nitude of the shuttle project with
limited funding . Sorne have open–
ly expressed fear of disaster,
claimi ng certain vital testing pro–
cedures were climinated because
of the expense involved. In partic–
ular lhere was concern aboul lhe
Columbia
melting upon reenler–
ing the earth's atmosphere.
Critica! to the sh uttle's exis–
tence are the more than 30,000
insulating tiles that are glued lo
the underside. Designed to shed
lhe heat thal normally consumes
objects plunging lhrough the
almosphere, the tiles have proved
to be a sizable headache for
NASA scientists. Each small,
fragile-as-an-eggshell tile has to
be individually computer de–
signed. No two are alike. They
are painstakingly glued to the
body of the craft.
It
takes one worker as
much as one day lo
attach one tile.
There is a remole
chance that a tile
could be ripped off
in flight and then , in
a zipper-like effect,
a string of t iles–
dooming the mission
toa mere incandescent flash
in the sky. On future shuttle
flights therc will be a tile
repair kit on board in case
any t iles are losl previous lo
reentry, although no such
repair kit was included in
THE SPACE SHUTTLE
is the most ver·
satile spacecraft yet built. Photos and
artists' renderings, from right to left,
show: shuttle riding on back of 747 air·
plane during testing procedures; launch
of shuttle attached to giant fue/ tank
plus two booster rockets; jettisoning of
now empty fue/ tank eight minutes into
ffight (booster rockets have already
been discarded); a spacelab being car·
ried in cargo ares; construction of orbit·
ing structure trom parts brought by
shuttle.
plans for t he maiden
flight.
" l t is a highly risky
venture," said a scientist
connected with the proj–
ect. But risky or not,
Amcrica's space program
now depends on the shut–
tlc. "We planto begin the
transition of our opera–
-
tional spacecraft to shut-
tle launch by 1983. Our
dependence on the s huttlc
will become critica!," said former
U.S. Defense Secretary Harold
Brown.
Others in the Race
While the United States is put–
ting its space eggs in the shuttle
3