Page 1 - Aerotech News and Review, April 16, 2021

Aerotech News
Aerotech News
Aerotech News

Journal of Aerospace, Defense Industry and Veteran News
and Review
and Review
Touchdown! Landing the first Shuttle Mission

by Larry Grooms NASA and the new administration of
special to Aerotech News President Ronald Reagan, TIME maga-
zine’s January cover story opined: “Like
Forty years ago this month, more than the U.S., the space shuttle Columbia is
a quarter-million human beings came to looking up as the year begins.
Edwards Air Force Base in Southern Cal- “It was mighty considerate of NASA
ifornia to witness and cheer the first land- to roll out Columbia a full three months
ing of a spaceship on Planet Earth. And before it shoots into the future. Everyone
around the world, hundreds of millions needs a lift in January, and here, magi-
more earthlings watched it on television. cally, comes this stark quartet of domes
Jammed shoulder-to-shoulder on view- and turrets rising like a restored castle
ing sites along the eastern shoreline of out of the Florida flats. The timing is
Rogers Dry Lake, eyes strained to see the impeccable. As the Reagan Administra-
Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia, and jaws tion lumbers into place, so too this other
dropped at the unexpected double crack new machine—huge, untried, ambitious
of a powerful sonic boom, the space shut- (albeit with limited maneuverability); de-
tle’s percussive overture. That signature signed to aid national defense, to boost
sonic blast was only the first in a string Big Business, to restore U.S. eminence in
of historic firsts that changed the world, a domain once its own; a reviver of old
the nation, and Southern California’s dreams; a boon to upward mobility. The
Aerospace Valley where NASA’s Space same question applies to both vehicles:
Shuttle era was born, after nearly two de- Will they fly?
cades of gestation in the dry desert air. “In Columbia’s case the question is a
The April 14, 1981, landing at NA- bit needling. A monument to Murphy’s
SA’s Dryden Flight Research Center on Law, the great white Batmobile that will
Edwards AFB, came just two days, six be piloted by Astronauts John Young and
hours and 20 minutes after Columbia Robert Crippen is already two years be-
was launched into orbit from the Ken- hind its timetable and $3.6 billion over
nedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, budget. Only a year ago workmen had
Fla. After 36 Earth orbits, mission com- diagnosed the ship’s ailment as “small-
mander John W. Young and pilot Robert pox,” a reference to the holes left in its
L. Crippen began Columbia’s descent as outer shell when heat-dissipating tiles be-
the world held its breath. came unglued. At one time or another, the
It wasn’t just thrills and drama that entire project became unglued. Perhaps it
lured the multitudes to Edwards that was prophetic that the task force propos-
mid-April morning. According to archi- ing the space shuttle back in 1969 was
val news reports, the Space Shuttle’s first headed by Vice President Spiro Agnew.
launch and landing ended what was seen
as a discouraging American absence in In any case, Columbia offers in its fashion
a symbol not only of the Reagan Admin-
space after the end of the Apollo mis- istration, but of the U.S. as it rolls into
sions. The impromptu Super Bowl-sized
tailgate party on the dry lakebed could the 1980s—way behind schedule, well
not be ignored. America’s space program over budget, its hopes, as ever, riding on
had roared back bigger and better, with machines.
overwhelming public pride and support. “Yet the hopes are surprisingly and
In a grudgingly left-handed salute to See COLUMBIA, Page 2
The Space Shuttle Columbia begins a new era of space transportation when it lifts
off from NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The reusable Orbiter, its two (2) fuel
tanks and two (2) Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB) has just cleared the launch tower.
Aboard the spacecraft are Astronauts John W. Young, Commander, and Robert L.
Crippen, Pilot. NASA photograph

AlwAys free Access!

Frequent Updates – Breaking News – Local • Regional • National

April 16, 2021 • Volume 36, Issue 7 Serving the aerospace industry since 1986 Use your smartphone to
www.aerotechnews.com www.facebook.com/aerotechnews connect to our Website.