Apr 23 1981
From The Space Library
President Reagan announced the nomination of business executive James Montgomery Beggs as administrator and Dr. Hans Mark as deputy administrator of NASA. If confirmed, Beggs (who was executive vice president and a director of General Dynamics Corporation, which he had joined in January 1974), would be the sixth person to head the civilian space agency, succeeding Dr. Robert A. Frosch.
Beggs had been associate administrator in the Office of Advanced Research and Technology (OART) at NASA in 1968-69, leaving to become undersecretary at the Department of Transportation (DOT). Mark, who became secretary of the Air Force in July 1979 the being undersecretary since 1977, was formerly director of NASAs ARC. (NASA Release 81-51; MSFC Release 81-50; NY Times, Apr 24/81, A-12; W Post, Apr 25/81 A-4)
John W. Young and Robert Crippen, the crew of Columbia's maiden flight, told of their experience at 75-minute JSC press conference carried on closed circuit television to NASA Headquarters and other centers. They said that the orbiter was an incomparable flying machine, surprisingly easy to control, and that the mission was "what NASA calls nominal, although I think you're going to have to call it phenomenal," Young reported. Neither crewman expressed concern over the loss of tiles from the aft end of the vehicle, detected shortly after launch. Young said that he was impressed by the fact that the metal under the tiles did not heat up during reentry as much as expected: he said "a lot" of the thermal tiles on the topside could probably be eliminated in future missions, lowering spacecraft weight and increasing the limit on payload weight, now set at 65,000 pounds.
Young said that he went immediately upon landing to look at the underside of the orbiter, which had encountered the most heat. "People had been telling us it was impossible that some of these tiles wouldn't fall off. Well, none of them fell off, and those tiles went through some of the roughest ascent and reentry you can imagine." "Nothing failed. Statistically, I didn't think that was possible," Crippen added. "We've been working 3 years to learn how to handle catastrophes, and all we did the whole time was sit back and enjoy it." The cruise was not perfect, the astronauts agreed: the craft was cold to the point of discomfort some of the time, and the toilet shut down near the end of the flight. The crew kept getting tangled in communications lines, and Columbia "landed long" instead of at its prescribed touchdown spot. Young said the chill could be avoided by putting interior temperature sensors nearer to the crew than to heat-emitting electronic gear. Cordless microphones would solve the problem of tangled cords, and engineers were already working on the toilet program. Young said that he had landed Columbia farther down the 7-mile long runway than he was asked in order to test the Shuttle's wings and tail for lift; he said that the lift he got at landing was "remarkable." "We hardly used our brakes. I tell you that was quite a performance, taking 99 tons out of orbit and getting it back down all in one piece." A reporter asked Crippen if his pulse rate of 130 at liftoff, compared to Young's 90, meant that he was more excited. "You betchum I was excited," he replied. "What you don't understand is, I was excited too," Young added. "I just can't make it go any faster." (Young is 50, seven years older than Crippen.)
The mission was so successful that Columbia might fly again as early as September 23, with a third test in December and a final test in April 1982. With that schedule, NASA might begin operational flights carrying cargo into space as early as September 1982. Young said they had been given 135 flight objectives and had completed all 135. "You really should be proud of this vehicle," he told the JSC audience. (NASA Text, postflight brfg, Apr 23/81; NY Times, Apr 24/81, A-12; W Post. Apr 24/81, A-6; W Star, Apr 24/81, A-12; B Sun, Apr 24/81. A-6)
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