Feb 15 1980
From The Space Library
NASA launched at 10:57 a.m. February 14 the SMM observatory from Cape Canaveral on a Delta vehicle into a circular orbit 360 miles above the equator. The 5,200-pound spacecraft carried instruments to study solar flares [see February 81 over a period of 2 years; the 1-year cycle of solar activity was entering its most turbulent phase, with flares erupting on the Sun once or twice a day and superflares causing atmospheric disturbances on Earth once a month. The SMM launch cost the United States $99 million, including $20 million for the Delta. (W Post, Feb 15/80, A-7; NASA Release 80-16)
NASA reported that a final test firing of the Shuttle solid-fuel booster motor February 13 in the Utah desert was successful, and the motor would be ready for flight as soon as test-data results were available. Tests of this motor had begun in July 1977 with static firing of the first of four prototypes; three more development tests followed, the last February 17, 1979.
A series of test firings of flight-type motors began June 13, 1979, to qualify them for manned flight; the test just concluded was the third and final firing of that series. Robert E. Lindstrom, manager of the Shuttle projects office of MSFC, said completion of the tests meant that the solid-fuel booster motors would perform successfully in flight. After propellant burnout, the boosters would separate and plunge into the ocean for retrieval and reuse.
Two of the solid-fuel boosters were already on the launcher at KSC awaiting integration with other components (external tank and the orbiter itself) in preparation for the first Shuttle flight later this year. The assembled motor, major component of the booster, was more than 35 meters (115 feet) long and 3.5 meters (12 feet) in diameter, largest rocket motor of its type developed for space flight and the first built for manned spacecraft; it would generate 3 million pounds of thrust. (MSFC Release 80-18; NASA Release 80-25)
NASA reported a major milestone for a Shuttle main engine February 8, with completion of a second series of flight certification tests at the National Space Technology Laboratories (NSTL) near Bay St. Louis, Miss. In the two series of tests (mostly run for 520 seconds at 100% of rated power level), the engine accumulated more than 10,000 seconds of firing time, equivalent to that required for 19 Shuttle flights; in one test, the engine ran at 102% of rated power, and in another it ran for 823 seconds to simulate an aborted mission. The first series of tests last year began March 27 and ended June 27. (MSFC Release 80-19; NASA Release 80-26)
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