Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!milano!cactus.org!rdd
From: rdd@cactus.org (Robert Dorsett)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Edwards as primary site
Message-ID: <6943@cactus.org>
Date: 15 May 91 05:38:07 GMT
References: <72189@microsoft.UUCP> <1991May12.182355.13384@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> <1991May14.121925.59@%boot.decnet@edwards-tems.af.mil>
Organization: Capital Area Central Texas Unix Society, Austin, TX
Lines: 28

In article <1991May14.121925.59@%boot.decnet@edwards-tems.af.mil>, martin%boot.decnet@edwards-tems.af.mil writes:
>      The logistics of shuttle operations at VAFB dictated that one orbiter
> vehicle be essentially dedicated to polar launches.  When the fifth orbiter
> was scratched to recover from cost overruns, the practicality of launching 
> from VAFB was seriously undermined.  Eventually, the plan was scrapped and 
> the
> completed facilities were mothballed.  The facilities are now being modified
> for use as a Titan launch complex.

I seem to recall several articles in AvLeak, between 1984 and 1986, which
alleged that the quality of workmanship at the Vandenberg launch facility
was pretty mediocre, and that from a cost/effectiveness standpoint, there
was absolutely no use for it (and I don't really accept that *one* orbiter
would justify the billions of dollars involved in the project--but then
again, that was the Reagan Administration). 

After the Challenger disaster, Vandenberg was stillborn--but I don't recall 
any tears shed, since the project was considered dead even before then, being
viewed as a cash cow.  Does anyone have more info on this?





---
Robert Dorsett
Internet: rdd@cactus.org
UUCP: ...cs.utexas.edu!cactus.org!rdd