Chapter 23: Learning to Walk, Part I: Trial by Fire.
(Stevie Nicks, Edge of Seventeen)
Following the successful splashdown of Apollo 31-R, and the recovery of her crew, preparations began for the rollout of Apollo’s successor program’s maiden voyage. The officially-unnamed RS-IC Lifter rocket, alongside its dummy upper stage began the slow trip out to the pad. While the first fully-functional lifter, RS-IC-001 Liberty, had been rolled out to fanfare earlier that year this booster was different. Lacking a cockpit, as well as landing gear, parachutes, and reuse hardware, this booster was destined for but a single use, demonstrating the aerodynamic stability of the Space Transportation System. It was with this mission in mind that a group of engineers, possibly working alongside Boeing, or North American, or Marietta, broke into the VAB and spray painted the unnamed boosters wing. Trial By Fire it read, and it would be one hell of a trial indeed.
Somewhat unamused, NASA continued their plans to roll out the booster for its january 1978 launch window. By new years, the rocket was on the pad, illuminated by the fluorescent lights surrounding the stack. Over the years, LC-39A and LC-39B had received a series of upgrades. These upgrades prepared the two pads to withstand the full thrust of the lifter’s 6 F-1A main engines, as well as integrate more readily with the new crawler-transporters. These changes coincided with the wind-down of Project Apollo, happening silently in its wake, and preparing the cape for a new monolithic rocket to loom on its horizons.
STS-1 was to demonstrate the lifter’s aerodynamics and thermal protection system on a suborbital hop, proving the system ready for Liberty’s maiden voyage. As December became January, and days turned to weeks, the system was facing a number of problems. First, the boosters computers were refusing to cooperate, then the engines were misbehaving. As engineers solved one issue, it seemed two took their place. The launch slipped into February, but before long, pad technicians claimed to have gotten all the gremlins. The rocket began fueling up that morning, preparing for its first and final chance at glory. As it finished fueling its tanks, the countdown entered its final phase, and within minutes the rocket lifted off the pad with a thunderous roar even louder than that of the Soviet’s N1.
Public Affairs Officer: Liftoff, we have a liftoff, 45 minutes past the hour, STS-1 has cleared the tower!
The rocket rose into the heavens, slowly spinning to face its back towards the ground. Once the rocket had performed its roll maneuver, it began slowly pitching over, sending the nearly 500 ton mass simulator up and out over the Atlantic. Just over two minutes after liftoff, the rocket cut its main engines, separating the mass simulator and beginning a slow, pre-programmed, flip over maneuver. The rocket then acted as it would in a real flight, holding this attitude for the duration of its boostback burn, before nosing down towards the Earth below. The lifter was now in space, drifting nearly ninety miles overhead; Before long though it began its descent, punching through the Earth’s atmosphere and beginning its plunge towards the sea.
The heatshield held, and the booster sent back the oh so critical data it had been designed to collect. Without a pilot, however, the vehicle entered an uncontrolled spin at an altitude of 150,000 feet, breaking up before impacting the atlantic below. The vehicle had survived hellfire, but not its own aerodynamics; This however, was more than enough to convince NASA: The design was safe, and all subsequent STS flights would carry crew along to bring the booster back in one piece.
By year's end, STS would see yet another flight. This would be the first of two piloted missions carrying the same mass-simulator upper stage, and demonstrating flawlessly that piloted recovery could be performed. These flights also gave NASA their first look at what a booster coming back from space looked like, and to no one at the agency’s surprise, Liberty held up flawlessly. The booster would perform a second demonstration flight 4 months later, marking its first turnaround, and its second flight to space. Joe Engle, Fred Haise, Richard Truly and Charles Fullerton would all take their turn flying Liberty, gaining them the experience needed to eventually pilot a spacecraft down from orbit.
By 1979, the STS was ready for its first operational testflight. The first S-IIB, consisting of an External Tank and ERD was mated to the launcher, and Liberty began her next rollout to the pad. Her titanium skin was holding up well, easily handling the heat generated by the mach 6 entry she faced, and the supersonic mach 1.3 flight she sustained on her trips back to the KSC. Her jet engines were performing nominally, and as engineers had expected, her F-1A engines were holding up to repeated use flawlessly. Before long Liberty would need an engine refit, however this was still a few flights away; For now, the rocket sat alone on the launchpad, awaiting her crew to deliver the STS’s first orbital mission to space.
Launch Commentator: We are at T-minus ten minutes to flight. We can see Liberty’s six main engines performing their pre-planned gimbal check.
Capcom: Good Gimbal, Four-
Haise: Roger that.
Launch Commentator: We have a good gimbal check here at T-minus eight minutes to liftoff.
If you turned off the mundane chatter of mission controllers, astronauts and commentators you would be hard pressed to determine that the vehicle was a new system. STS was performing near-flawlessly, and had been for multiple flights. Liberty proved to be a much less temperable beast than many had feared; This leaving few with doubts that this Saturn-derived lifter could perform its design-minimum of 8 flights per year. If all went well, the lifters were to be capable of nearly a dozen flights a year, if not more. This goal was still many years out, but NASA was quickly learning which repairs and refurbishments were necessary, and how often they would be needed.
The F-1A’s were appearing to have a much longer lifespan than previously anticipated. With each booster getting an annual checkup, or once per 8 flights, whichever came first, the engines were originally expected to be removed and refitted. While NASA intended to keep to this schedule early on, it appeared the engines may be able to fly nearly a dozen times without major refurbishments being needed; This would doubtless bring down operational and maintenance costs as the system matured, but even in its infancy, the Space Transportation System was showing major cost benefits over the Saturn V that preceded it.
Launch Commentator: As we approach the six minute mark, the crew access arm has retracted. Liberty’s ejection capsule has now been armed- and, in the case of an emergency, crews would be able to escape the rocket following an accident. We are inside the T-minus 5 minute window.
Capcom: Alright, vehicle’s fully pressurized, the External Tank is doing her job dang well.
Young: Roger good press, Houston-
Haise: And we’re glad to hear our payload upstairs is behaving-
Capcom: Good Aerodynamic Surfaces, Liberty.
Haise: Roger.
Launch Commentator: Spacecraft Communicator Dan Bradenstein has confirmed that the Lifter’s control surfaces are moving as intended, allowing the spacecraft to glide back to the launch site after deploying the external tank and engine capsule.
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…
Launch Commentator: As we approach the one and a half minute mark, Crew members have closed and locked their helmet visors, allowing their personal oxygen supplies to activate in the case of a depressurization event-
Capcom: T-minus Sixty
Launch Commentator: Crews have switched the Lifter to internal guidance, allowing the vehicle to guide the astronauts onto their orbital track-
Capcom: 30.
Launch Commentator: The launch sequencer has now switched to allow auto sequence start, allowing Liberty to call the shots here-
Capcom: 12… 11… 10-
Launch Commentator: T-minus ten-
Capcom: 9… 8
Launch Commentator: 7… 6-
Capcom: Main engine startup-
Haise: Full throttle, darlin-
Launch Commentator: 4… 3… 2… 1-
Capcom: Bolt-fire
Launch Commentator: Liftoff, Liftoff of STS-4 on her way to orbit!
(Liftoff of STS-4)
Launch Commentator: Liberty has cleared the tower!
Liberty continued her climb upwards, rolling over into a belly-up position as she pitched towards the rising sun. Fading into the clouds over the Floridian coast, all spectators could hear was the deafening crackle of her 6 main engines.
Haise: Okay Houston, we have shutdown of the center engines (unintelligible) ready to go.
Capcom: Roger, Liberty
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…
…
Young: J-2 Ignition- Main engine shutdown-
Haise: Stage sep, and… … … yep, we got a good interstage separation-
Capcom: Roger that, 4.
(S-IIB interstage. July 14, 1979.)
Young: Alright, easy does it, mark- nose up.
Haise: Ignition-
(STS Lifter Liberty performs a boostback maneuver.)
Capcom: Roger, solid ignition Liberty, enjoy the view up there-
Haise: Don’t have to tell us twice- engines are healthy, T-minus 20 to MECO.
Young: MECO. On our way home, baby!
Launch Commentator: Space Lifter Liberty has performed its boostback maneuver and is now heading back to the launch site.
Lasting just under a minute, Liberty’s twin center engines throttled up once more and arrested the majority of her horizontal velocity, placing her on a course to just barely undershoot the Kennedy space center’s Shuttle and Lifter Landing Facilities (SLLF). Before long she had encountered the atmosphere, entering a brutal 2.7G entry corridor. Reaction control thrusters located on her nose and engine shrouds allowed the booster to remain in a steady, nose up attitude. This maximized her drag, whilst distributing the load evenly across the wing, ultimately minimizing stress on the lifter’s airframe.
Haise: 2.5… 2.6, leveling out
Young: Alright, 120,000 feet, leveling out.
Haise: Descending-
…
…
Click.
Haise: Thirty thousand, get em open for me
Young: Engine intake opened-
Capcom: Roger good intake open,
Haise: All engines running-
Launch Commentator: As we approach T-Plus three and a half minutes after separation, Lifter-Commander Fred Haise and Lifter-Pilot John Young have started Liberties 8 turbojet engines, allowing her to extend her range and return safely to the launch site.
Capcom: Go for return.
Young: Roger, engine out capability attained
Haise: We’re on glide slope now, babe.
The S-IIB continued upwards, pushing its trajectory higher and further out and across the atlantic. As the booster came into view from the space center crowds cheered as a triple sonic boom rang out; Liberty announced her presence, and with her came another announcement over the intercom.
Launch Commentator: We have a report of fairing deploy-
Haise: Gooooood Morning Florida!
Young: Woo-Hoo!
Capcom: Handing you off to L-Com, 4.
Landing Communicator: We see you on approach to the SLLF, Liberty.
Haise: Roger Visual, L-Com.
Young: Alignment cone start-
Liberty entered the heading alignment cone, allowing her to begin descending and adjusting to the correct heading for landing. Before long she had exited the alignment cone and commander Fred Haise took over manual control. John Young guided him down as he approached the runway-
Young: Alright looking good, 500.
Haise: Gonna get the gear-
Young: Good, 400.
Haise: Gettin down-
Young: Gear deployed- 250.
…
Young: Little high, little high
Haise: Roger-
Young: 100
Haise: Nosing down a hair-
Young: 60 feet
…
Young: 30 Feet
…
Young: 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4- Touch.
Haise: Rear gear down.
Young: Keep her steady, nose down, nose down-
Haise: Down-
Young: 4, 3, 2-
Haise: Touch, chute deploy-
Landing Communicator: Congrats on a beautiful landing, Liberty. Your ERD made orbit just a few minutes ago-
Haise: Thanks a bunch!
As 1979 came to a close, Liberty would perform a fourth flight, demonstrating the capabilities of the system to deliver some 80 tons of ballast to orbit. While still shy of the system's potential payload, this demonstrated the capabilities necessary to fly the next mission, STS-6. The Kennedy and Marshall Space Flight Centers had their work cut out for them preparing the shuttle for its maiden voyage. Meanwhile across the globe, An N-1 rocket sat poised for launch at Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Sitting atop this rocket was a wholly new payload, Salyut 6. Salyut 6 was to depart dramatically from the designs of previous stations, being grown and adapted to the N1’s gargantuan capabilities.
The N1F leapt off the pad, roaring to life as its lunar bound predecessors had years before. The rocket rolled to its flight attitude, and soon dropped its first stage. The massive fairings would deploy to reveal a station module similar in shape to those before it, yet dramatically larger in size. The new station rivaled America’s Skylab, and would soon host crews of soviet cosmonauts conducting Earth and Space studies from within its hull.
The vehicle successfully reached orbit, deploying the nearly 70 ton Salyut 6 into orbit before flipping about face, and reentering Earth’s atmosphere. Baikonur had once again been filled with the deafening sound of thunder, and once more the silence returned. The dust settled and the USSR soon began preparations for the station's first crew, all the while in the United States, the KSC and MSFC prepared to debut the next element of the Space Transportation System: Kitty Hawk.
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