I wanted to post this reflection before the fortieth anniversary of S.T.S.-6 in April, but I was overtaken by events. Alas! The Space Shuttle was declared "operational" after S.T.S.-4, but the changing of the calendar from 1982 to 1983 strikes me as marking more of an epoch in the thirty-year program than the redesignation from experimental to operational. There were two Space Shuttle flights in 1981, three in 1982, & four in 1983. 1983's flights saw no pressure suits, no ejection seats, the first Orbiter other than the Columbia, crews increasing from four to six astronauts, the first female American astronaut, the first European astronaut on an American spacecraft, & the first Payload Specialist astronauts. 1983 was the first recognizable year of the Space Shuttle program most of us grew up knowing.
1983, 1984, & 1985 were exuberant, almost giddy years for the Space Shuttle. There were four Space Shuttle flights in 1983 (a flight cadence not seen since 1969), five in 1984 (a flight cadence not seen since 1966), & an astonishing nine in 1985 (a cadence that has yet to be matched). The future was bright & the possibilities were endless. No one was trying to be unsafe, even if so many of the decisions made are incomprehensible in the cold light of hindsight. I want to honor & celebrate these missions on their own merits, not overlook them as paving stones on the road to the tragedy of 1986. Yet the fact remains that warning signs of the trouble ahead were already appearing, warning signs that would be dismissed with an attitude so cavalier it would later be rightly regarded as reckless.
The golden age of the Space Shuttle awaits us. I thank you for joining me & I hope you will enjoy & be edified.
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCCXLI: The 45th Anniversary of the Space Shuttle Enterprise
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCCVIII: The 44th Anniversary of the Approach & Landing Tests
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCCLXX: The 43rd Anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCCXI: The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-1
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCCXLIX: The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-2
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCCLXXIII: The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-3, Part I
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCCLXXIV: The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-3, Part II
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCCLXXXIX: The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-4, Part I
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCCXC: The 40th Anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger
"The Explorers' Club," № DCCCXCI: The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-4, Part II
"The Explorers' Club," № CMXV: The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-5, Part I
"The Explorers' Club," № CMXVI: The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-5, Part II
Commentary: Settle in, dear readers. Should the good Lord permit, we could be covering the fortieth anniversaries of Space Shuttle missions until 2051, if your humble narrator has not yet shuffled off this mortal coil, if the internet as we know it still exists, & if Blogspot or a successor still functions.
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