July 13, 2007

John F. Kennedy Space Center - America’s gateway to the universe

Spaceport Newshttp://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/snews/spnews_toc.html

Vol. 46, No. 14

Kennedy Space Center celebrates 45 years of excellenceBy Bill Parsons Center Director

The men and women ofKennedy Space Center havebeen extending humanity’s

reach and knowledge for 45 years.As we push to return to the moon,it is important that we look backon a remarkable record of scientificand technological achievement forthe United States.

The launch complexes dottingCape Canaveral’s shores had beenlaunching rockets for 12 yearsbefore ground was broken in 1962on what would become KennedySpace Center. With a mandate tobuild a launch center, NASA andKennedy’s first director, Dr. KurtH. Debus, set out to build aninfrastructure to support thebiggest rockets ever devised.

Facilities such as the Opera-tions and Checkout Building,Launch Complex 39 and thelandmark Vehicle AssemblyBuilding quickly took shape onthe barren sands of the northern tipof Merritt Island.

The agency’s cutting-edgeteam of engineers, technicians andcontractors launched astronautsaboard Redstone, Atlas and Titanrockets while the larger Apollostructures were built. They alsosent the earliest unmannedspacecraft toward planets in oursolar system that were previouslyout of reach. Missions to Mars,Venus, Mercury and Jupitercomplemented the great strides ofthe manned programs.

Seven years from its inception,Kennedy Space Center would

Special IssueThis commemorative issue of Spaceport News is a tribute to theachievements of the men and women who have worked at the KennedySpace Center during the past 45 years. From the early achievements ofthe Apollo launches to the successes of the Space Shuttle Program, wesalute the employees who have made spaceflight possible.

FORMER PRESIDENT Lyndon Johnson (in blue suit above) and formerVice President Spiro Agnew (in beige suit) view the liftoff of Apollo 11 fromthe Kennedy Space Center VIP viewing site. The two political figures wereat KSC to witness the launch of the first manned lunar landing mission,which took place from Pad 39A on July 16, 1969 (at left).

dispatch the first of six teams ofastronauts to the surface of themoon during the Apollo program.

The Kennedy Space Centerwork force next turned its focus tothe space shuttle and the chal-lenges of readying a reusablespacecraft for orbit. Columbialifted off from Launch Complex39A on April 12, 1981, to kick offa program that has seen 118launches in 26 years. Complexmissions called for Kennedy toready spacecraft and equipment forflights that would launch planetaryprobes, repair the Hubble SpaceTelescope and process the largestspace complex in history: theInternational Space Station.

NASA also evolved how it

handled the business of launchingplanetary probes and satelliteswith the use of the ExpendableLaunch Vehicle program in thelate 1980s. Private contractorstook on a larger role in testing andprocessing spacecraft while NASAmaintained oversight of the launchfacilities.

As NASA readies new space-craft for a return to the moon,

Kennedy workers continue toprepare the orbiter fleet forimportant missions to finish theInternational Space Station andmodify facilities to handle the newOrion vehicles.

The record of success mayseem like a finish line to some, butwe see it as a starting point forNASA’s explorations that powerthe future.

SPACE SHUTTLE Columbia arrives at Launch Pad 39A on Dec. 29, 1980.The orbiter lifted off on April 12, 1981.

SPACEPORT NEWS July 13, 2007Page 2

Awards

By Kay Grinter Reference Librarian

Some may not think of NASAas a real estate mogul, but inSeptember 1961, the

agency’s focus was on the pur-chase of space. Eighty thousandacres of Florida land were neededfor the creation of a large complexto support manned launches usingthe Saturn and Nova boostersalready in their conceptual stages.

The property lay north andwest of the U.S. Air Force MissileTest Center facilities at CapeCanaveral. Numerous privatelyowned homes and businesses weresituated on the tract on MerrittIsland. Approximately 50 homescomprised the Sunrise Beachhousing development, near thelocation of Pad 41 today.

Space program employeesCharlie and June Buchananpurchased a home in SunriseBeach in 1959. Charlie transferredfrom Baltimore with the MartinCompany on the Pershing project.

In the ensuing 48 years, he hasremained an aerospace contractorand is currently with SpaceGateway Support.

He recalled: “My daughter wasborn in 1960 while we were livingin Sunrise Beach. When I visitedthe home site a few years ago, Icould still make out her initialscarved in the cement of the

Land purchased to give NASA space for new center

driveway.“Twenty miles was a signifi-

cant distance. We only drove intoTitusville twice a week: to thegrocery store on Fridays and tochurch on Sundays.”

June began her NASA career inPublic Affairs. Retired since 1995,she recalled: “Sunrise Beach wasan active community of youngfamilies. At its main entrance was alittle restaurant where you couldalso buy milk and bread betweentrips into town.”

ASRC Aerospace Corp.’s TerryGreenfield relocated from Hunts-ville, Ala., with the Redstoneprogram in 1956 and still works inthe space program 51 years later.

He recalled: “There was a barbershop, too. After NASA purchasedthe property, arrangements weremade for the barber to continuecutting hair from a trailer installedbeside the E&L Building. I

appreciated NASA’s efforts to keephim in business.”

One of Greenfield’s assign-ments was with the NASA teamanalyzing the mobile launchplatform concept.

“ ‘How do you best distributethe weight of the mobile launcherwith the stacked vehicle on it?’was the question,” he recalled.“Use of a crawler transporter, ratherthan a railway or a barge, was themost practical solution becauseyou could spread the weight overits shoes.”

All of the buildings wereeventually removed to make wayfor the new launch pads andsupporting infrastructure.

Dredged fill from the BananaRiver and surrounding area wasused to alleviate the swampyconditions in the Launch Complex39 area as site preparation began in1962.

THIS BUSINESS across from Sunrise Beach provided the communitywith groceries and services so families did not have to drive to Titusville.

AN AERIALview of theroadconstructionfor theintersection of2nd Streetand C Avenuein the center’sindustrialarea.

Book review: ‘A History of the Kennedy Space Center’

Publication of KSC’s newhistory book, “A History ofthe Kennedy Space Center,”

is almost here after six years inthe making.

Authors Kenneth Lipartitoand Orville R. Butler havecombed through the archives andinterviewed key players in thedaily drama of the launch centerto capture the essence ofKennedy: “A spaceship has to flyon the ground before it can fly inspace.”

In the 469-page book, thewriters display a kinship with theengineers and techniciansprocessing the vehicles as they

describe the events leading up tothe Apollo 9 launch: “How didthings look for this, the firstmission to test all of the hardwarefor the moon descent and landing?

“During a chill-down test, twoof the three valves failed and hadto be replaced. Workers discovereda fault in a spacecraft battery line,and the “Z” Pipa Bias was out oftolerance. In other words, prettymuch the normal daily events ofpreparing for a launch.”

Readers may feel a connection,as well, through this analogy fromthe post-Challenger era: “Theshuttle went through some1.25 million steps between landing

and launch, which were stilltaking about 1.25 millionperson-hours. With threeshifts, seven days a week, and10 percent or more overtime,it was just possible to get thejob done, but each orbiterflow was like ‘running on thebeach with a backpack.’ ”

“A History of the KennedySpace Center” will beavailable on Aug. 12 for$39.95 in bookstores. Copiesmay also be purchaseddirectly from the UniversityPress of Florida by calling 800-226-3822 or by visiting theWeb site, http://www.upf.com/book.asp?id=LIPARS07.

SPACEPORT NEWS Page 3July 13, 2007

Dr. Kurt H. Debus: The father of Kennedy Space Center

DR. WERNHER von Braun (left) and Dr. Kurt H. Debus attend the Saturn500F rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building in May 1966.

AT THE opening of the Early Space Education and Conference Center inFebruary 2000 at the KSC Visitor Complex, the facility is dedicated toDr. Kurt H. Debus. Attending the dedication, from left, are former DelawareNorth President Rick Abramson, Ute Debus, former KSC Director RoyBridges and Sigi Debus Northcutt. Ute and Sigi are the daughtersof Debus.

DR. KURT H. Debus, the firstdirector of the Kennedy SpaceCenter from 1962 until 1974.

By Cheryl Mansfield Staff Writer

Dr. Kurt H. Debus may haveserved a long tenure as thefirst center director of the

John F. Kennedy Space Center,from 1962 to 1974, but his roots atCape Canaveral and in the UnitedStates space program reach evenfurther back in time.

Born in Frankfurt, Germany, in1908, Debus’ education androcketry experience in his homecountry landed him in the post-World War II ballistic missilesystems development program inthe U.S. He and about 100 Germancolleagues, led by rocket pioneerWernher von Braun, worked first atFort Bliss, Texas, before relocatingto Huntsville, Ala.

Their work became the focalpoint of the Army’s rocket andspace projects and Cape Canaveralbecame their launch site.

Debus came to the Cape in theearly 1950s to set up a launch site,and permanently moved to the areawith his family by the middle ofthe decade. By 1960, the ArmyBallistic Missile Agency was

transferred to the National Aero-nautics and Space Administration.On July 1, 1962, the Floridalaunch facility at Cape Canaveralwas officially designated asNASA’s Launch Operations Centerand Debus was officially named itsfirst center director.

By that time, construction ofthe spaceport under Debus’leadership was well under way.While the space hardware wasunder development, physicalstructures like the launch pads andthe Vehicle Assembly Buildingrose on what had been coastalwilderness.

Amid the flurry of buildingfacilities and developing rocketsthat would take men into orbit andon to the moon, Debus had theforethought to consider the naturalenvironment that surrounded thecenter. He arranged for the U.S.Department of the Interior toestablish and maintain a wildliferefuge at the space center. Thanksto his efforts, the 140,000-acreMerritt Island National WildlifeNature Refuge exists today.

With growing pride on the partof the public toward the space

program, Debus secured supportfor the first visitor center, as well.

By the time Debus retired ascenter director in 1974, the list ofhuman space achievements underhis leadership represents some ofthe greatest in U.S. history. Amongthem:

• 1961: Alan Shepard Jr.became the first American in space

• 1962: John Glenn Jr. becamethe first American to orbit Earth

• 1969: The Apollo program’sfirst lunar landing; Neil Armstrongwas the first man on the moon

• 1973: Skylab, a science andengineering laboratory, waslaunched into Earth orbit

To this day, the landmarksaccomplished in less than 20 years,from early rocket testing to man’sfirst footprint on the moon, are stillastonishing.

After leaving the space centerin 1974, Debus continued to livein nearby Cocoa Beach until hisdeath in 1983. Despite the vastaccomplishments that occurredunder his watch, his daughter, SigiNorthcutt, said he always empha-sized that teamwork made it allpossible. “He did not take credithimself; he felt it was everybody’sbaby,” she said.

Northcutt describes her father’slegacy in more down-to-Earthterms: “His main purpose in doingwhat he did was to furthermankind’s standard of living andstandard of knowledge.” She addsthat he’d be proud to see all the

everyday benefits that have comefrom the space program.

And what would her fatherthink of the direction of spaceexploration today? “I think he’dbe very excited about going toMars, the prospect of going backto the moon, and going into outerspace and discovering the uni-verse,” she said.

So it’s fitting that the develop-ments Debus helped mastermind inboth facilities and rocketry live ontoday at KSC, helping to usher inNASA’s new goals to go back tothe moon, then travel to Mars andbeyond.

Page 4 SPACEPORT NEWS July 13, 2007

1962-69: Transforming swamps into a spaceport

ANGELO TAIANI (left), Charlie Parker and Norris Gray have worked at thecenter since the early 1960s. The three now volunteer to assist the KSCNews Center during launches, landings and other events.

By Steven Siceloff Staff Writer

We don’t know exactlywhere the first fire wasbuilt, or who made it.

But we know where humans turnedthat fire into thrust and rode it intothe heavens.

That place is here, and there arestill plenty of people to testifyabout the days when KennedySpace Center was still emergingfrom an oceanside wildernesspunctuated by the occasionalcitrus grove.

“The mosquitoes were hor-rible,” said NASA retiree CharlieParker. “If you think we’ve gotmosquito problems now, multiplyit by tenfold, or a hundredfold.”

Parker came to the CapeCanaveral launch area in 1960 towork on the Army’s Pershingmissile program.

Ambitions to put men intospace were tempered by therealization that there was still a lotto learn about even simple rocketsbefore entrusting them with thelives of astronauts. This was a timewhen the health of a rocket’sengine was judged by the knowingeye of an engineer looking at thecolor of the exhaust flame insteadof by a studied reading oftelemetry.

But it was also a time whenglobal political ambitions dictated

determination on the part ofNASA. For the rocketeers, thatmeant making stronger engines,bigger fuel tanks and, above all,safer designs.

For the burgeoning spaceagency, it meant building apermanent launch base on MerrittIsland while still launchingsatellites and astronauts fromlaunch pads at Cape Canaveral AirForce Station.

The Army and Air Force hadbeen launching missiles from CapeCanaveral for nine years by thetime NASA selected its first elite

corps of astronauts in 1959. Still,Norris Gray, a former NASA rescueand safety officer known as“Chief,” said the requirement for apermanent base was unexpected.

“We thought (spaceflight) wasjust a passing fancy,” he said.

Kennedy Space Center offi-cially opened as the NASA LaunchOperations Center in 1962, whenfour astronauts had reached spaceand only two of them had seenorbit. But that didn’t stop the rushof construction crews onto the baseto build the Operations andCheckout Building and Headquar-ters Building.

The work force itself also sawfast changes. Dr. Kurt H. Debusdirected fewer than 300 workerswhen NASA was chartered in 1958.Ten years later, his KSC work forcepeaked at more than 26,000,

including contractor employees.Construction began for the

monumental Vehicle AssemblyBuilding in May 1963 with thedriving of the first of 4,225 steelpipe piles. By the time it wasfinished, the structure had con-sumed enough steel in its frame tobuild 58,000 cars.

The launch pads of LaunchComplex 39A and 39B for theSaturn V presented fresh chal-lenges. The flame deflector alonefor the Saturn V was half as tall asthe whole Mercury-Redstonerocket that shot Alan Shepard intospace in 1961.

Four years after Shepard’sflight, NASA had its starting pointfor moon missions. Another yearafter that, 1966, saw the firstSaturn V lift off the pad.

“The Saturn V had quite a bigimpact on the range,” said AngeloJ. Taiani, who worked on severalprojects back then and helpeddevelop a weather balloon that isstill used today.

It would be only a few moremonths before that optimism wastested on Jan. 27, 1967. “That waswhen we lost our three astronauts,”Gray said.

There were plenty of testsduring the first decade, but thespectacular successes of launchingastronauts into space, then landingthem on the moon, showed whatthe young agency and its fast-maturing cadre of workers couldaccomplish.

As big as the change was inless than a decade, it did not shockmost of the folks closest to it. “Ourtechnology was moving ahead; Iexpected to see it,” Gray said.

THE LAUNCH Complex 39A area in 1964. The first Saturn V rocket liftedoff two years later.

THIS JULY1963 aerialphotographshows theearly steelconstruction ofthe Operationsand CheckoutBuilding. Thesame buildingused to buildSaturn Vrockets will beutilized toconstruct theOrionspacecraft.

Page 5SPACEPORT NEWSJuly 13, 2007

IN PREPARATION for their April 16, 1972, launch, Apollo 16 astronautsCharles Duke and John Young simulate navigating the lunar surface at atraining area located at KSC.

ON AUG. 20, 1977, the Voyager 2mission launched fromComplex 41 at Cape Canaveral AirForce Station aboard a Titan III-Centaur-7 launch vehicle.

A PLANE flies over the developing Launch Complex 39 area, including theVehicle Assembly Building on May 21, 1976. After President Gerald Fordselected KSC as the site of the U.S Bicentennial Exposition on Scienceand Technology, exhibit domes were erected and the assembly buildingbecame a canvas for the largest American flag ever painted.

By Jennifer Wolfinger Staff Writer

The 1970s marked a decade ofmultitasking, and spaceportworkers perfected that skill.

They juggled the alpha and omegaof several programs, were respon-sible for all aspects of a missionfrom design through landing,created many programs stillsupported today, and built a strongfoundation for future explorationendeavors.

The agency began the 1970swith the development of the Titan-Centaur, an unmanned expendablelaunch vehicle that providedunprecedented strength formissions to the sun, Mars, Jupiter,Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Thesemissions are in addition to thedozens of spacecraft launchedduring the decade, by vehiclessuch as the Delta and Atlas-Centaur, which provided photo-graphs and original scientific dataof our solar system.

Exotic regions like theDescartes Highlands, Hadley-Apennine and Fra Mauro maysound like a tourist’s dreamdestinations, but these are lunar

surfaces that NASA astronautsexplored in the 1970s. During thedecade, NASA launched fiveApollo missions including thetriumphant Apollo 13 and theprogram’s final mission, Apollo17. Via these missions, 15astronauts journeyed into spaceand eight actually walked on themoon. Also, a small sub-satellitewas left in lunar orbit and crewsdrove the lunar roving vehicle.

Russel Rhodes, a technicalmanagement aerospace technolo-gist in the Engineering Director-ate, said that before and duringthis era, NASA disproved precon-ceived notions about spaceflightand the work force was immersedin all mission phases. Thisallowed him to perform dauntingtasks such as independentlyfueling a Saturn rocket in 1962.

“We were breaking newground and many people thoughtwe were crazy for attempting totravel to the moon,” said Rhodes,who was a U.S. Army drafteeassigned to the space programin 1959.

Long before the InternationalSpace Station’s Expedition crewsstarted calling space a secondhome, NASA proved humanscould thrive in space through theSkylab Program. When NASA’sfirst space station was launchedinto orbit on May 14, 1973, itsuffered damage that made itstemperatures soar to an uninhabit-able 126 F. Once these issues wereresolved, three different three-mancrews lived on the outpostbetween May 1973 and February1974 conducting nearly 300experiments.

At the decade’s midpoint, theU.S. and Russia began their firstjoint effort, known as the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, to testcompatibility of the rendezvousand docking systems of twospacecraft. For two days betweenJuly 15 and 24, 1975, the Apolloand Soyuz spacecraft were joinedwhile crew members conductedexperiments.

During the late ’70s, NASAfocused on and embraced the newspace shuttle era. Warren Wiley,special assistant for engineeringand technical operations, fondly

recalled many firsts from thedecade. These included supportingthe first space shuttle main enginetest, accepting delivery of theoriginal three Columbia enginesfor NASA, testing new methods toremove engine components, anddeveloping new heat shields.Wiley, who joined NASA in 1971as a systems engineer, sees manyparallels between the transition tothe shuttle and the current segue toConstellation Program work.

“We went to reusable aircraft-like spacecraft from traditionalrocket systems and the discontinu-

ance of the launch umbilical tower,and now we’re returning to thosesystems and rebuilding theumbilical tower,” Wiley said.

“It feels really good to watchthe programs come along. FromApollo to Skylab to shuttle, it wasvery busy, but there was somedowntime regarding launchesduring these transitions. We’regoing to see that again, but peoplewill be motivated by the excitingexploration goals and the develop-ment and activation of newfacilities.”

The ’70s: Apollo lessons contribute to shuttle program

Page 6 SPACEPORT NEWS July 13, 2007

A look back at 45 years of the K

AN ATLAS-AGENA 5 carrying theMariner 1 spacecraft lifted off July22, 1962 from Cape KennedyLaunch Complex 12. The Marinerspacecraft was the first toorbit Venus.

THIS AERIAL view of Missile Row at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Stationwas photographed Nov. 13, 1964. The view is looking north.

THE APOLLO Saturn V 500F facilities test vehafter conducting stacking operations inside thVehicle Assembly Building, rolls out to Pad 39perform crawler, launch umbilical tower and poperations in May 1965.

A VIEW from inside bay three of the VehicleAssembly Building shows Space ShuttleDiscovery as it makes a nighttime departureon its way to Pad 39B on July 4, 1988.Discovery flew on mission STS-26 with afive-man crew in September 1988, the firstflight after the Challenger accident.

THE SPACE Shuttle Atlantis thunders skyward fromLaunch Pad 39A. Liftoff of Mission STS-45 occurred onMarch 24, 1992. On board for the 46th shuttle flightwere a crew of seven and the Atmospheric Laboratoryfor Applications and Science-1.

IN SPACECRAFT Assembly and Encapsulation Facilitpetals of the Mars Pathfinder lander in October 1996.visible on one of the three petals.

SPACEPORT NEWSJuly 13, 2007 Page 7

Kennedy Space Center

ehicle, the39A tod pad

OVERALL VIEW of Firing Room 2 in the Launch Control Centerduring the countdown demonstration test for the Apollo 12 missionin October 1969.

IN AUGUST 1972, Apollo 17 Commander Gene Cernan and LunarModule Pilot Harrison Schmitt prepare the Lunar Roving Vehicle and theCommunications Relay Unit. Astronaut Gordon Fullerton, standing at left,discusses test procedures to be performed in the high bay of the MannedSpacecraft Operations Building, now called the Operations and CheckoutBuilding.

ility-2, employees close the metal6. The Sojourner small rover is

IN NOVEMBER 2004, the Delta II launchvehicle for NASA’s Swift spacecraft issilhouetted against a rosy sky at sunrise,waiting for liftoff from Launch Pad 17-A onthe Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Swiftwas a first-of-its-kind multi-wavelengthobservatory dedicated to the study ofgamma-ray burst science.

THIS MOTHER eagle turns away from one of her offspring, at left, in theirnest at the north end of State Road 3 near Kennedy Space Center. Therefuge includes several wading bird rookeries and approximately 2,500Florida scrub jays. It also is a major wintering area for migratory birds.More than 500 species of wildlife inhabit the refuge, with 14 consideredfederally threatened or endangered.

Page 8 SPACEPORT NEWS July 13, 2007

1980-89: Space shuttle, ELV programs accomplish many firstsTO HONOR the 25th anniversary of the first space shuttlelaunch on April 12, 1981 (pictured left), STS-1 Pilot BobCrippen (below left) and Commander John Young sit infront of a mockup of a shuttle at the Kennedy Space CenterVisitor Complex in April 2006 to share their experiences onthat historic flight.

THE EXPENDABLE Launch Vehicle program relied upon the Atlas (at left,launching Intelsat V in December 1981) and Delta (launching the SolarMaximum Mission in February 1980) launch vehicles in the ‘80s.

By Linda Herridge Staff Writer

NASA ushered in a new eraof spaceflight with thespace shuttle’s inaugural

launch in 1981, setting the pacefor a decade that would bringmonumental leaps in aeronauticachievements.

After a two-year checkout ofthe orbiter, the program kicked offon April 12, 1981, with thesuccessful launch of Space ShuttleColumbia on mission STS-1. Thefirst operational test flight fromKennedy Space Center’s LaunchPad 39A carried Commander JohnYoung and Pilot Bob Crippen intoorbit.

Young said KSC did a lot ofwork to prepare the vehicle forlaunch after it arrived in 1978.“We were delighted when we gotinto orbit,” Young said.

“We learned that we can builda complicated vehicle and make itwork very well.”

The early flights helped NASAbuild on its knowledge of thevehicle and its capabilities.

“We learned that humans inspace are very adaptable andcapable. And we also learned thatthe vehicle required a lot of careand was not forgiving of mis-

takes,” Crippen said.Dr. Guion Bluford, the first

African-American astronaut to flyon a space shuttle, was a missionspecialist on STS-8, launchingaboard Challenger on Aug. 30,1983. “I wanted to set the stan-dards of excellence for African-American astronauts and to help

demonstrate the benefits ofdiversity in manned space opera-tions,” Bluford said.

The agency accomplishedmany firsts, such as retrieving solidrocket boosters, landing the shuttleat White Sands, New Mexico,deploying two commercialcommunications satellites, andperforming tethered anduntethered spacewalks. The firstdeep-space probe (Magellan) wascarried aboard Atlantis on missionSTS-30 on May 4, 1989.

After 18 operational flightsthat safely carried 116 astronautsand more than 30 major payloadsinto orbit aboard shuttles Colum-bia, Challenger, Discovery andAtlantis, challenging times arrived.

The NASA family lost theseven-member crew of Challengeron Jan. 28, 1986, when a solidrocket booster failure caused theshuttle to break apart just 73seconds after launch on mission51-L. Gene Thomas was launchdirector on that fateful day.

“We learned the reality ofspace travel can be extremelyhazardous and that it will never becompletely safe and routine,”Thomas said. After the agencyinvestigation, he led the effort toreorganize the center’s safety,

quality and reliability operations.Space shuttle flights resumed

with the launch of Discovery onmission STS-26 on Sept. 29, 1988.

During the ’80s, expendablelaunch vehicle operations at KSCwere evolving into what wouldlater become NASA’s LaunchServices Program. KSC plannedand conducted 47 launches fromLaunch Complexes 17, 36 and 41at Cape Canaveral Air ForceStation, and from Space LaunchComplex 2 at Vandenberg AirForce Base, Calif.

Atlas-Centaurs launchedIntelsat international communica-tions satellites into orbit, whileDelta vehicles launched SATCOMdomestic communications satel-lites.

During the 1988-89 timeframe,the agency took initial steps totransition from owning anddirecting the flight hardware to therole of buying a launch service.The Delta and Atlas launch teamswere merged into one launchoperations division and the launchpads were transferred to the U.S.Air Force.

This progression led to theoverall Expendable LaunchVehicle program’s location at KSC.

Page 9SPACEPORT NEWSJuly 13, 2007

FRAMED BY the VehicleAssembly Building(above), Space ShuttleColumbia glides onto theShuttle Landing Facility onJuly 17, 1997, at the end ofmission STS-83.

FORMER KSC Director ofShuttle Operations RobertSieck (center) shakeshands with formerSecretary of StateMadeleine Albright afterlaunch of Space ShuttleEndeavour on missionSTS-88 inDecember 1998.

EMPLOYEES PROCESS NASA’s Cassinispacecraft (above) in the Payload HazardousServicing Facility in June 1997. Cassini launchedaboard an Air Force Titan IV rocket Oct. 15, 1997(left). The mission was the first launch of a Titan IVrocket.

By Anita Barrett Staff Writer

The Space Shuttle Program ofthe 1990s was a rebirthfollowing the Challenger

accident in 1986. It was not easy,according to former ShuttleLaunch Director Bob Sieck, nowretired.

“We had to ramp up to arealistic launch schedule andneeded to meet new requirementsin safety resulting from Chal-lenger, as well as new tools andupgrades.” The team was learningto service complex vehicles underchallenging conditions.

Sieck considers the results ofthe ramping up a real milestone asthe program achieved six launchesin 1990 and 1991, eight in 1992,seven per year from 1993 to 1996,and eight again in 1997.

A look at the launch history inthe decade reveals technicalproblems that delayed liftoffs, suchas hydrogen leaks.

According to current ShuttleLaunch Director Mike Leinbach,“Each instance was an opportunityto learn the nuances of thehardware and software in order toovercome the problems.” For

The ’90s: A decade of renewal for NASAinstance, hydrogen leaks weretraced to plate attachments, whichwere redesigned. The result of thisand other lessons learned werefewer launch delays after 1995,other than those caused byweather.

Even the weather has been lessof an issue, Leinbach said, as therehave been improvements inweather forecasting.

Sieck points to anothertechnical milestone of the modifi-cation of the landing equipment.“The drag chute modification wasthe result of lessons learned aboutthe need to relieve some of thestress on the main landing gearsystem on landing,” he said.

Leinbach added that lessonslearned and resilience of the teamcontributed to the STS-83 missionin 1997 “when one of the fuel cellsfailed shortly after launch.” Theshuttle flight rules require all threefuel cells to be functioning well toensure crew safety and providesufficient backup capabilityduring reentry and landing.

“In the event of a failure, therules say to return as soon aspossible. Since the trans-Atlanticlanding site was not available, wewere told to wait a day,” saidLeinbach. “The orbiter continuedto function well, so landing wasput off another day. The team’sunderstanding of the hardwareenabled a consensus decision tochange the rules and allowed themission to continue a few days.”

The mission management teamfinally opted to end the missionearly, four days after launch, but anumber of experiments planned forthe mission were completed inthat time.Expendable Launch Vehicles

On the expendable launchvehicle side, the late ’90s offered

the major milestoneof the decade,according to RayLugo, deputymanager of theLaunch ServicesProgram.

“That was whenKSC transitionedfrom a launch-onlysite to one providingprocessing, spacecraftintegration andlaunch services,” saidLugo, who was theNASA launchmanager at the time.

“Executing thetransition plan was abig effort to work out

the details with Goddard (SpaceFlight Center) and Lewis (nowNASA Glenn Research Center) ofwhat models, tools and codes, andwhat people to include. From anoriginal organization of 50employees, we had to recruit andhire, then find office space.

“It was an exciting timeputting something new together.Looking back, we did OK,” saidLugo.

The transition also enabledlessons learned to come into play.The transition team benchmarkedprocedures at the other sites andadopted the best of each. Accord-ing to Lugo, they were able todocument what worked or didn’t.“We tried to take the variabilityout of the processes, using lessonslearned of the people involved.”

A successful milestone was thelaunch of the Cassini spacecraft onOct. 15, 1997, which Lugooversaw. “It was the last bigplanetary mission, a multibillion-dollar one, and the first launch of aTitan IV rocket,” said Lugo.

Page 10 July 13, 2007SPACEPORT NEWS

By Anna Heiney Staff Writer

Robert Curbeam and ChristerFuglesang had their workcut out for them.

With mission STS-116 drawingto an end, time was running out toretract the P6 solar array. It had tobe retracted completely to allowstation assembly to continue. Theworld waited as the two missionspecialists used their gloved handsto work the kinks out of the balkyarray in the vacuum of space.Finally, after six-and-a-half hours,controllers applauded as the arrayswere retracted and safely tuckedaway.

That spacewalk represents atriumph over adversity thatexemplifies the NASA spirit. As westand on the edge of a newchallenge, we should reflect onsome of the highlights of NASA’smany achievements since the turnof the new century.

Assembly of the InternationalSpace Station took center stageearly in the decade. As the spaceshuttle fleet carried new residentsand hardware to the station, high-flying construction crews ex-panded the orbiting lab’s capabili-ties. The STS-101 mission markedthe first servicing mission. MissionSTS-92, the 100th shuttle flight,delivered the Z-1 truss segment.Subsequent missions brought theinstallation of the Destiny lab, thefirst crew shift change in orbit, andother station components.

During the same period,

Kennedy gains newfound strength in new millennium

NASA’s Launch Services Programlaunched several spacecraft onexpendable vehicles. Many wereEarth-observing spacecraft,including a series of weatherforecasting satellites. A host ofscientific and planetary missionsfeatured the Mars Odysseyspacecraft and Genesis. The HETE-2 launch in 2000 marked NASA’sremotely managed liftoff and firstlaunch from the Kwajalein MissileRange in the South Pacific.

The NASA family was dealt aheavy blow when foam from SpaceShuttle Columbia’s external tankpunctured the orbiter’s left wing

during launch, leading to the lossof seven astronauts and Columbiaon Feb. 1, 2003. The shuttle fleetwas grounded as the agency copedwith the loss and began workingon safety improvements andmodifications.

Two bright sources of light in adark year for NASA were thelaunches of the twin Mars Explora-tion Rovers, Spirit and Opportu-nity. The duo lifted off on separatevehicles one month apart duringthe summer of 2003 and embarkedon a journey to the red planet.

Spirit descended through theMartian atmosphere on Jan. 4,2004, and quickly began beamingbreathtaking photographs todelighted scientists on Earth.Spirit’s twin, Opportunity,followed with a landing on Jan. 25.

On Jan. 14, only 10 days afterSpirit’s arrival at Mars, PresidentGeorge W. Bush announced thenation’s Vision for Space Explora-tion: to build new vehicles forjourneys to the moon and beyond.

The first step — returning theshuttle fleet safely to flight andcompleting the station —prompted extensive shuttle andexternal tank upgrades andredesigns.

“Changes to the external tankgave us confidence,” explained

Discovery Flow Director StephanieStilson. “In addition,modifications such as the orbiterboom subsystem and wing leadingedge sensor system gave us theability to search for damage whileon orbit and evaluate any areas ofinterest prior to reentry.

“These modifications pavedthe way for getting the fleet backin space to continue the all-important task of building theInternational Space Station,” sheadded.

Discovery lifted off on STS-114 on July 26, 2005, on a missionhighlighted by an orbital backflip,new equipment and procedures,and the first in-space orbiter repair.But a chunk of foam came off thetank during liftoff, touching offseveral additional months ofredesign work.

On July 4, 2006, Discoveryagain blazed a trail toward orbit onSTS-121. The tank performed welland regular shuttle flights andstation assembly resumed.

Meanwhile, the LaunchServices Program sent an impres-sive array of spacecraft on a varietyof Earth-observing, scientific andplanetary missions. These includedMESSENGER, Deep Impact, NewHorizons, STEREO and manyothers.

IN THE Space Station Processing Facility (left),workers and the STS-98 crew gather for aceremony to turn over the key for the U.S. LabDestiny to NASA. Above is Stephanie Stilson,Discovery flow director. Stilson oversaw manymodifications to the orbiter, including changesto the wing leading edge sensor system.

IN THE Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at KSC, the Mars ExplorationRover-2, also known as Opportunity, is tested for mobility andmaneuverability. The spacecraft lifted off in the summer of 2003.

Page 11July 13, 2007 SPACEPORT NEWS

By Elaine Marconi Staff Writer

If there was an eighth wonder ofthe world, some might argue itcould be Kennedy Space

Center, the launch capital of theUnited States.

Where else on Earth have somany kings, queens, presidents,heads of state, politicians, moviestars, musicians and everydaypeople stared in awe at thevehicles that soar into space?

Visitors to Kennedy SpaceCenter have numbered in the tensof millions throughout the 45years the center has served thenation’s space program.

During those years, manydistinguished visitors and VIPshave been given a “red carpet”tour of the center.

President John F. Kennedy wasthe first dignitary to visit KSC in1962. Since then, the KSC guestbook has read like a “who’s who”of the world. Other U.S. presiden-tial visits to the center includedLyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter,George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton.

First Lady Laura Bush wit-nessed the historic launch of SpaceShuttle Discovery on return-to-flight mission STS-114 in July2004. She is only the third FirstLady to attend a shuttle launch.More recently, Vice President DickCheney was on hand in July 2006

Dignitaries discover out-of-this-world experience at spaceport

FORMER PRESIDENT Jimmy Carter (second from right) and former FirstLady Rosalyn Carter listen to NASA employee Bill Dowdell’s explanationof the modules in the Space Station Processing Facility in January 2002.With them are former Center Director Roy Bridges Jr. (right of JimmyCarter) and Tip Talone (left of Rosalyn Carter), now associate manager ofthe Constellation Program at KSC.

ACTOR TOM Hanks (left), film director Ron Howard (wearing hat) and aproduction crew film scenes at KSC in December 1994 for the movie“Apollo 13.”

NASCARDRIVERJimmieJohnson triesout a seat ofanother vehicleknown forspeed: theorbiterEndeavour.Johnson andother driverswere on a tourof KSC in July2003.

to view the first attempt of theSTS-121 launch.

Kennedy has hosted tours andevents for musicians like JerryVale, Gary “U.S.” Bonds, the 5thDimension, Paul Revere and theRaiders, Donny Osmond andAerosmith.

Manny Virata, who leadsmedia projects for KSC PublicAffairs, has escorted hundreds ofnotables in his 30-plus years withNASA. “Singer Jerry Vale was inawe of the space center afterfinding out what we did here,” saidVirata. John Denver was a “spacenut” who came to many launcheswith his son Zack, Virata said.

Royalty included EmperorHaile Salassie I of Ethiopia, PrincePhilip of England, Nehru of India,King Hussein of Jordan and QueenBeatrix of the Netherlands. TheSaudi royal family was at Kennedyfor the launch of Discovery onmission STS-51G in June 1985 tosupport family member SultanSalman Abdulaziz Al-Saud. Thesultan flew as a payload specialistrepresenting the Arab SatelliteCommunications Organization.

Major television journalistsincluding Walter Cronkite, PeterJennings, Katie Couric, DavidHartman, Charles Gibson and newsanchors from around the worldhave traveled to KSC to report onthe exciting launches and partici-pate in special events held at

the center.Virata remembers touring race

car drivers Ryan Newman andJimmy Johnson. He said heshowed them “our race car, whichwas the crawler (transporter),” andkidded them, “We get 38 feet pergallon.” He remembers how muchthey enjoyed exploring thecrawler.

Space-related movies like“Apollo 13,” “Contact,” “SpaceCowboys,” “Armageddon” and“The Right Stuff” brought filmcrews here. The fascinatingactivities at Kennedy enticed visitsby celebrities such as Tom Hanks,

Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg,George Lucas, Warren Beatty,James Garner, Bruce Willis andTommy Lee Jones, to name justa few.

“Hanks is a huge supporter ofthe space program,” said Virata.

Crews from the DiscoveryChannel and CNN are two of manymedia outlets that have come toKSC to film documentaries aboutthe space program and the shuttle.

After 45 years, visitors to thespace center, whether well-knownor not, still leave with a keenerunderstanding and deeper interestin the nation’s space program.

Page 12July 13, 2007 SPACEPORT NEWS

John F. Kennedy Space Center

Managing editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amber PhilmanEditor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jeff StuckeyCopy editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Corey Schubert

Editorial support provided by InDyne, Inc. Writers Group.NASA at KSC is located on the Internet at http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedyUSGPO: 733-049/600137

Spaceport News

Spaceport News is an official publication of the Kennedy Space Center andis published on alternate Fridays by External Relations in the interest of KSCcivil service and contractor employees. Contributions are welcome and should be submitted two weeks beforepublication to the Media Services Branch, IDI-011. E-mail submissions can besent to Jeffery.Stuckey-1@ksc.nasa.gov.

By Corey Schubert Copy Editor

Don’t believe your eyes. Thatmay be the best advice togive anyone who gazes

upon the Kennedy Space Centerskyline in the coming months, andwonders when its appearance willtransform for NASA’s Constella-tion Program.

It might appear at first glancethat little has changed at KSC’sfacilities to prepare for launchingthe next generation of spacecraftthat will take mankind back to themoon, then to Mars and beyond.But many of the most sweepingfuture advancements already are inmotion.

Now, as the center celebratesits 45th successful year as theagency’s launch operations center,those upcoming changes –including a revamped launch pad,a new mobile launcher and adifferent layout in the VehicleAssembly Building – mainlyinvolve improving existingfacilities and concepts instead ofcreating new ones from scratch.

“We’re trying to pretty muchbuild on what we have, drawingfrom the best ideas out there,” said

Constellation Program to transform Kennedy’s landscapeScott Colloredo, NASA’s seniorproject integrator for Constellationground systems. “Our budget islimited early in the program, andwe’re trying as best we can to reuseKSC infrastructure and onlyreplace what makes sense.”

The biggest and perhaps mostnoticeable conversions will beLaunch Pad 39B, which willbecome what’s known as a “cleanpad,” and a new mobile launcher.Almost everything the vehicleneeds for liftoff will be on themobile launcher, including thelaunch tower.

The new mobile launcher willmore closely resemble the kindused for the Saturn V rather thanthe launcher platform now used tolift off the shuttle. The crawlertransporter’s service will beextended once again to transportthe Ares I launcher to and from thepad.

While most of the pad’s newlook will be in the design phase forat least two years, KSC plans tobegin building one aspect of itlater this year: a new lightningprotection system at the pad withthree massive towers, each about600 feet tall, that will form aprotective shield around the

vehicle.The pad and

launcher will worktogether to support anemergency egressknown as a “railsystem,” which re-sembles a rollercoaster,for flight and groundcrews to quickly leavethe pad if necessary.

Engineers alreadyhave started designingthe basic infrastructureof the mobile launcher,with fabricationplanned to begin in ayear. Employees will beable to see the launcherbeing built at a sitecurrently used to parkone of the mobilelauncher platforms, justnorth of the VehicleAssembly Building.

Although specificchanges to the Vehicle

Assembly Building are still beingconsidered, the current plan callsfor modifying high bay 3,Colloredo said.

“Today, you have a set of eightbig platforms that service theshuttle and wrap around it,” hesaid. “As of today, our plan is totake those out and replace themwith new platforms that go muchhigher to service the much tallerAres I.”

Those upgrades, if approved inthe design phase, will begin inabout two to three years.

The Launch Control Center’sFiring Room 1 is being remodeled

to serve as the initial firing roomfor the Constellation Program.Workers have removed theequipment used to launch theshuttle and the room will bemodernized with a different launchteam layout, and new commandand control systems, consoles andarchitectural designs.

Other KSC facilities, includingthe Operations and CheckoutBuilding’s high bay, will receiveupgrades.

“Even though a lot of peoplearen’t seeing visible changes rightnow, it’s an exciting time,”Colloredo said.

THIS ARTIST concept reveals major changes to Launch Pad 39B,including a new lightning protection and emergency egress systems.

SCOTT COLLOREDO (left), NASA seniorproject integrator for Constellation groundsystems, examines Launch Pad 39B withDon Burris, NASA engineer, and CurtSatterthwaite of Science ApplicationsInternational Corporation.