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From: kenny@m.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Vandenburg never to used?
Message-ID: <22000004@m.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 5 Oct 88 16:08:00 GMT
References: <41680@pyramid.pyramid.com>
Lines: 37
Nf-ID: #R:pyramid.pyramid.com:41680:m.cs.uiuc.edu:22000004:000:1554
Nf-From: m.cs.uiuc.edu!kenny    Oct  5 11:08:00 1988


/* Written 10:57 am  Oct  4, 1988 by nixon@cisunx.UUCP in m.cs.uiuc.edu:sci.space.shuttle */
/* ---------- "Re: Vandenburg never to used?" ---------- */

>I thought I heard after Challenger, that Vandenburg was too risky a
>launch site.  Didn't they have to modify the Shuttle Main engines in
>Discovery (or maybe Atlantis) to even attempt a launch from Vandenburgh?

No, the risks were with the possibility of the polar ground track
presenting a risk to populated areas, even from Vandenberg (Can't
*anyone* spell Vandenberg?)  The SSME's would be standard.

>Also, didn't one of the early military/shuttle flights of Columbia get
>into a polar orbit?  I remember on one flight that it was possible for
>people up here on the East Coast to "see" the shuttle as it flew over.

High-inclination, but not polar.  Ones that you might have seen at a
fairly high latitude include

Flight	Date		Orbiter		Inclination	Notes

STS-1	4-12-81		Columbia	40.3	
STS-2	11-12-81	Columbia	38.0	SIR-A
STS-9	11-28-83	Columbia	57.0	SpaceLab 1
41-G	10-5-84		Challenger	57.0			(STS-13)
51-C	1-24-85		Discovery	 **	DoD		(STS-15)
51-B	4-29-85		Challenger	57.0	SpaceLab 3	(STS-17)
51-F	7-29-85		Challenger	50.0	SpaceLab 2	(STS-19)
51-J	10-3-85		Atlantis	 **	DoD		(STS-21)
61-A	10-30-85	Challenger	57.0	SpaceLab D-1	(STS-22)

** - Orbital elements were not released.

Kevin Kenny			   UUCP: {uunet,pur-ee,convex}!uiucdcs!kenny
Illini Space Development Society   ARPA Internet or CSNet: kenny@CS.UIUC.EDU
P.O. Box 2255, Station A
Champaign, Illinois, 61820	   Voice: (217) 333-6680