Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ncar!oddjob!gargoyle!att!ihnp4!ihlpl!knudsen
From: knudsen@ihlpl.ATT.COM (Knudsen)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Challenger tragedy
Keywords: Saturn unmanned tests combined
Message-ID: <6081@ihlpl.ATT.COM>
Date: 2 Aug 88 18:46:25 GMT
References: <1001@scicom.alphacdc.com> <5827@dasys1.UUCP> <14876@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 13

As I remember, one of the things that helped the Apollo Project
catch up to schedule after the tragic fire,
was the combining of lower and upper stage tests.
Originally the first few 1st stage tests were to be launched
with dummy upper stages (tanks full of water).
Instead these firings were made with the complete 3-stage
rocket, thus getting 3 tests for the price of one.

I think there was one malfunction where we even got a freebie
checkout of the escape tower rockets that pull the CM away
from the stack.

I'm still impressed that no Saturn stage EVER screwed up in
a crewed launch!  (No, I'm not counting #13's SM).