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Aviation History
1977
1977 - 3368.PDF
1382 FLIGHT International, S November 1977 X' Faultless last free flight by Shuttle Orbiter THE fifth and last free test flight by Shuttle Orbiter Enterprise, com pleted successfully on October 26, brought total flying time so far to 20min 18sec. Next month the Orbiter will be taken aloft on top of the Boeing 747 mothership to determine the ferry characteristics of the two- aircraft combination. After that, all efforts will be directed at preparing the Shuttle for a first orbital flight tentatively set for March 1979. The fifth flight was the shortest but in many respects the most important of the series. The Orbiter/747 com bination took off from Edwards AFB, Calif, at 0800hr local time with astro nauts Fred Haise and Gordon Fuller- ton at the spacecraft's controls. In common with all previous Shuttle flights, an early start was made to beat the daily build-up of atmospheric turbulence. The combination took 50min to reach 20,000ft and the push over point, a few miles south-west of the airbase and directly in line with Runway 22. Separation came at 17,000ft. Without the drag-reducing tailcone and with the speedbrakes deployed immediately after separation, the flight was short and steep. After 85sec the spacecraft was 15,000ft below the separation altitude. The pre tending flare was not guided by com mands from the microwave landing system, although the system was switched on, and the Orbiter was for the first time landing on -a concrete runway. Touchdown, set for about 5,000ft onto the 15,000ft runway, was controlled entirely by the crew, giving the closest approximation yet to a recovery from space. The flare began at 2,000ft and had to arrest a rate of descent in excess of 10,000ft/min. Touchdown speed was about 220kt, and initial reports indicate that the arrival was less smooth than usual. Enterprise bounced and veered slightly, but a Nasa spokesman described the flight as "exactly to plan." In the forthcoming captive flights the Orbiter will be attached to the Boeing 747 and the drag-reducing tail fairing will be refitted (the first three free flights were made with the fair ing attached). Ferry flight perform ance will be measured before the Orbiter is taken to the Marshall Space Flight Centre next March for ground vibration tests. The first orbital mission, set for March 1979, will be carried out with Orbiter 102, scheduled to roll out of Rockwell's Palmdale factory in August next year. Enterprise (Orbiter 101) will join the orbital programme in June 1981, to be followed by three more craft at a rate of one a year up to 1984. First Shuttle payload announced THE first payload to be carried into space by the Space Shuttle, on its second orbital flight, will investigate Earth resources, the quality of the environment and research into the mechanics of severe storms. The payload is being organised by Nasa's Office of Application and has five main tasks. The first, all-weather surface observation, is assigned to the space agency's Jet Propulsion Labora tory. Other components include an air- pollution measurement experiment produced by Nasa Langley, an infra red radiometer from the Jet Propul sion Laboratory, an ocean colour experiment from Nasa Goddard, and an optical thunderstorm, lightning and convection sensor developed by the State University of New York. Germany sets course for Jupiter WEST GERMANY is to take part in Nasa's Jupiter Orbiter Probe (JOP) mission in 1982. Under a memoran dum of understanding signed last month by Hans Matthrefor, Federal Minister for Research and Technology, Germany will provide the retro- propulsion module that will inject the Angola joins Intelsat THE People's Republic of Angola has joined the International Telecommuni cations Satellite Organisation, bringing Intelsat membership to 99. Angola is the 25th African nation to join. Other recent new members were Paraguay in July and China in August. Intelsat, formed in 1964, now pro- spacecraft into orbit around Jupiter. Scientific instruments will also be sup plied, and 14 Germans will join the 114-strong JOP team. The spacecraft will take about three years to reach Jupiter, after which it will inject a probe into the Jovian atmosphere and orbit the planet for about 20 months. vides through its global satellite sys tem more than half of the world's international transoceanic / telecom munications capacity, plus domestic capacity in nine countries. Its satellites are providing full - time services through 178 aerials at 143 terminals in 84 countries. ORBITER FLIGHT LOG Date Aug 13 Sept 13 Sept 23 Oct 12 Oct 26 Flight tim (min sec) 5-15 500 5-34 2-34 1 55 ; Special events First free flight 1-8g turn MLS guidance checked First high-drag flight First runway landing India launches first guided two-stager INDIA'S Space Research Organisation launched its first ever two-stage rocket with attitude and guidance systems from the Sriharikota range on October 16. The vehicle was developed by the Vikram Sarabhai space centre. The space centre said after the non- orbital flight that the flightpath had been dose to predictions. The attitude- control and guidance systems were very similar to those chosen for the SLV-3 launcher.
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