Jan 22 1998
From The Space Library
Space Shuttle Endeavour Mission STS-89 successfully launched from KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, despite forecasted thunderstorms. The crew of STS-89 included Commander Terrence W. Wilcutt, Pilot Joe F. Edwards Jr., Payload Commander Bonnie J. Dunbar, and Mission Specialists Michael P. Anderson, James F. Reilly, Salizhan S. Sharipov, and Andrew S. W. Thomas, who would replace David A. Wolf on Mir. This was the eighth Shuttle-Mir docking, but the first for an orbiter other than Atlantis and the first overseen by Launch Director David A. King. NASA had appointed two new rotational launch directors, David A. King and Ralph R. Roe Jr., following the retirement of veteran Launch Director James F. Harrington III.
NASA Launch Integration Manager Donald R. McMonagle announced that Space Shuttle Columbia's tune-up would take place at the Boeing Company's facility in Palmdale, California, rather than at KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA Launch Integration and Shuttle operator USA advised Boeing officials "to get ready to map out a plan for Columbia's work in California." The announcement, following the recent notification about significant job cuts, was more bad news for KSC officials. NASA officials had proposed in 1996 that KSC handle much of the Shuttle's maintenance and modification but had decided that the facility was "too busy with launches to handle shuttle renovation." Alan Buis, a Boeing representative, suggested that, because Columbia would be getting "a complicated internal glass cockpit, Palmdale is `a logical choice'."
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