Sep 9 1985
From The Space Library
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) announced that its Wallops Flight Facility conducted today a coordinated series of rocketborne experiments to study effects of lightning in the earth's troposphere. Three rocket payloads at different altitudes simultaneously collected lightning measurement data, and a series of ground-based instruments designed to detect the location and characteristics of lightning also made coordinated measurements.
Wallops researchers launched at 8:01 EDT a single-stage Orion sounding rocket, 70 seconds later a two-stage Taurus-Orion, and then 57 seconds later a Nike-Orion; all three were solid-propellant sounding rockets.
The Taurus-Orion lofted its 297-lb. payload to a peak altitude of 120 statute miles, and the Nike-Orion carried its 303-lb. payload to a peak altitude of 71.5 statute miles. The Taurus-Orion experiment package contained a water recovery system using an eight-foot parachute with flotation bag, flashing strobe light, and recovery beacon.
Wallops personnel, following the three rocket series, launched a meteorological data sonde on a small rocket to determine the meteorological characteristics in the upper atmosphere near the time of the other measurements.
The Wallops P-3 search aircraft located the Taurus-Orion payload package at 9:45 p.m. that same day about 40 miles offshore, and the next day the Coast Guard cutter “Point Brown” recovered and returned it to the Wallops Flight Facility for refurbishment and future spaceflights. (GSFC Release 8526)
A mountain climbing team reached the wreckage of an Eastern Airlines Boeing 747 that crashed January 1, 1985, at 19,600 feet into Mt. Illimani in the Bolivian Andes and photographed the site for use in an investigation, Aviation Week reported. Judith Kelly, wife of William Kelly, a U.S. Peace Corps official who died in the crash, financed and led the three-person expedition because she was concerned that the accident investigation was lagging.
Photographs of the site showed parts of the tail structure and the fuselage. Kelly also collected cable and honeycomb structures identified by part numbers and turned them over with the photos to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Remains of the 29 persons on board were not located.
The Kelly team's ascent was the fourth visit to the site since the crash and prompted questions over the status of the accident investigation. Although Bolivia had primary responsibility to report the accident, government officials said it was unlikely Bolivia would finance an expedition to the site due to lack of funds, but added it would not stand in the way of an investigation by the U.S., which was the country of aircraft registry and manufacture.
Early in January Bolivian Bernardo Guarachi, who was Kelly's guide, reached the crash site and spent several hours there, bringing back pieces of wreckage and luggage tags identifying the flight.
A second Bolivian team in March reached the site and took motion pictures. The film showed the aircraft wreckage, including a tail section that was torn off the plane, and scattered cargo and baggage. The team also found an engine cowling, a piece of the fuselage with the Eastern name on it, and other parts of the tail structure. A team sponsored by the Bolivian Red Cross spent three days in August at the site, but was hindered by new-fallen snow and lack of guidance on where to look for technical evidence.
John W. Young, the NTSB investigator in charge, said he was discussing with officials in the safety board's accident investigation division whether the safety board should attempt to carry on the investigation and what approach to take. Recovery of the flightdata recorder and cockpit voice recorder could aid indetermining navigation procedures the crew were taking.
Because of the questions surrounding the crash of the aircraft, which was several miles off course when it struck the mountain 26 miles southeast of La Paz International Airport, the U.S. Air Line Pilots Association was discussing financing an expedition to recover the recorders. (Av Wk, Sept 9/85, 40)
Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, scheduled October 3 for its maiden voyage, would deploy two defense satellite communications system (DSCS-III) satellites to support all three military services and to carry a single channel transponder used to transmit emergency messages from the president to nuclear forces, the Washington Post reported the Federation of American Scientists said on September 9.
The group said the classified mission could be determined by anyone including the Soviets, who carefully scrutinized public documents, and that it was revealing the payload because keeping the mission secret “inhibits public awareness and discussion of U.S. military activities in space.” The group indicated it found reference to the satellites in various military publications, the most recent of which was a December 28, 1984, issue of Defense Daily that said two DCSCs would “be launched together next year on a single Space Shuttle mission, apparently on the Atlantis mission . . .” (W Post, Sept 10/85, A5)
Christa McAuliffe, first teacher as well as private citizen to fly onboard the Space Shuttle, and backup Barbara Morgan arrived September 9 at Johnson Space Center (JSC) to begin their training program, the JSC Roundup reported. Reporters, photographers, and TV crews accompanied the two as they arrived at building 100 to receive their identification badges.
Mission commander Francis “Dick” Scobee that afternoon welcomed McAuliffe and Morgan at a meeting with the crew of mission 51-L, scheduled for launch in January 1986. Other 51-L crew members were pilot Michael Smith and mission specialists Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, and Judith Resnik.
JSC personnel the next day measured them for flight suits, helmets, and G-suits. McAuliffe said she would be allowed to select either a jumpsuit or a standard flight suit to take home with her following her flight.
After a food tasting and rating session, in which food lab manager Dr. Charles Bourland asked McAuliffe and Morgan to taste about 40 food and drink items and rate them on a scale of 1 to 9, both teachers commented on their surprise in finding space food so flavorful. They would have several more opportunities for taste tests before McAuliffe selected her flight menu.
Other first-week activities included orientation briefings by management and training officials and familiarization tours of training facilities and mission control.
Asked by a reporter how drastically her life had changed since her selection, McAuliffe said that other than having the opportunity to fly onboard the Space Shuttle and the accompanying publicity she didn't perceive that much difference. She pointed out that as a teacher for a long time she had to gather material and present information to students daily. “As I see it, I'm doing basically the same things, only my audience has changed.” (JSC Roundup, Sept. 27/85, 7)
Continental Airlines filed a reorganization plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston in which it said creditors would be repaid 100% in a combination of immediate cash and deferred payments with interest, Aviation Week reported. Cash payments would total about $121 million at the time of court confirmation of the plan, expected by mid-1986.
Continental had originally filed September 24, 1983, for protection under Chapter 11 or the bankruptcy laws.
“We have submitted a plan that will make whole our obligations to those individuals and companies that stood with us through the worst of times,” said Continental Chairman Frank Lorenzo. “It's taken nearly two years to do it, but the pieces of the puzzle are almost all in place.” One missing piece in the plan was provision for union and employee claims. Continental asked the bankruptcy court to estimate these claims, a process that had been used in a number of other companies' bankruptcies.
Continental said its plan to repay its debt in five to ten years had the support of important creditor groups including Continental's banks and the committee representing Continental's unsecured creditors. Included in the plan was an agreement in principle for two groups of banks to provide the airline with $50 million in revolving credit and equipment financing facilities, which the airline said was “clear evidence of the financial community's support and confidence” in the company.
Once the reorganization plan was approved by the court, most creditors were entitled to vote on it. Even if a creditor class did not approve the plan, the bankruptcy court could still confirm it if the court found it “fair and equitable” and that it did not discriminate against the creditor class. (Av Wk, Sept 9/85, 34)
General Dynamics would delay for more than two weeks the delivery of the first Space Shuttle/Centaur upper stage to the company's facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, adding an increased schedule risk to already tight timing for launch in May 1986 of the Galileo and Ulysses missions on trajectories toward Jupiter, Aviation Week reported. Martin Winkler, General Dynamics Space Shuttle/Centaur program manager, said the stage remained in San Diego to complete acceptance testing and also to conduct some tests that were to have been done in Florida. Winkler said that keeping the stage in San Diego to complete assembly and testing would not affect the testing and processing schedule in Florida, since it would be delivered in time for the scheduled mating with the Centaur integrated support structure (CISS).
Winkler said the schedule called for completion of acceptance testing by September 11 and that there were no unresolved flight safety issues, although it was possible some might come up during future safety reviews and subsystem qualification testing.
Problems fixed prior to shipment included a mislocated forward bearing bracket that held each of the 12 springs on the stage, installation difficulties resulting from a minor tooling problem, and strut reengineering required for installation of a component in the tank.
The CISS, which was then in Florida for the first Space Shuttle/Centaur stage, was flight hardware and was a complete system with only some small parts yet to be delivered by mid-September. NASA had scheduled a major test for September 16, when the assembly would rotate with all of the installations in place to assure clearances. A November milestone would be four tanking tests.
The second Space Shuttle/Centaur was on schedule; contract date for delivery of the second stage and second CISS was the end of December. General Dynamics estimated it would deliver the second Space Shuttle/Centaur on November 22 and the second CISS on October 29. (Av Wk, Sept 9/85, 24)
NASA announced that pilots flew the NASA/Army XV-15 tilt-rotor research aircraft with its stability control augmentation system (SCAS) both operative and inoperative. The SCAS reduced pilot workload, allowing the pilot to devote attention to other tasks; however, if the SCAS failed, the pilot had to provide stability and control commands. A primary question answered by the NASA research was whether a pilot could fly a tilt-rotor aircraft with a sidestick controller when the SCAS failed.
The objective of the XV-15 tilt-rotor research aircraft program was to develop and evaluate tilt-rotor technology for civil and military applications. A tilt-rotor aircraft could lift off vertically like a helicopter and then, by rotating its rotor thrust from vertical to horizontal, fly like a conventional airplane at speeds up to 345 miles per hour.
The sidestick control system evaluation provided data for the V-22 Osprey, a tilt-rotor aircraft NASA was developing for the Department of Defense (DOD). DOD would consider the flight test when deciding whether to use a sidestick controller in the V-22.
Results of the flight evaluation indicated the sidestick controller provided a reasonable means of controlling the aircraft with or without the SCAS. However, when the third axis (yaw) was added to the sidestick controller, pilots noted a significant increase in workload, indicating that additional studies were necessary in this area.
The sidestick controller system used onboard digital computers and electronics, which replaced mechanical linkages that normally transmitted pilot signals to the aircraft's control surfaces. Ames Research Center developed the system and would refine and reevaluate it during future control system studies. (NASA Release 85-124)
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