Chapter 31: Enter Patriot.
(
Kate Bush, Running Up That Hill)
Air conditioning bill? Shuttle will pay for that. The stripes on the VAB starting to fade? Shuttle program will cover it. The MCC needs their roof replaced, Shuttle Program, you guessed it. All of this goes into the launch cost of a Shuttle, it’s all a baseline factor. There’s a minimum operating cost we can expect to achieve, but the more we launch, the more we can divide that cost.
- Anonymous Shuttle Program Office Employee
Freedom would see near slow expansion and development in the coming months. December of 1985 would see the docking of the Freedom Shuttle Docking Adapter (SDA) to the forward port of the Journey module. Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, Snegopad was hard at work. The booster had completed its fit tests, and soon began a series of testing campaigns leading up to the first full-duration engine test. January 12th, 1986 saw Snegopad light all 30 of her main engines, the signal was sent, and engineers lay anxiously in wait.
Screech-
Controller 1: Зажигание! (Zazhiganiye, ignition.)
Boom… Hisss…
A roaring crackle filled the air over Baikonur. The night sky was once again lit by a man-made sun. Snegopad roared to life, just as her sister N1 had on many occasions, quickly bringing all 30 NK-33M main engines to maximum rated thrust. The Lifter sat on the launchpad, a stream of hot gasses and plasma lighting her underside. Before long, 6 of the inboard engines shut down, followed shortly by the remaining engines throttling up. The lifter shut down her remaining 24 engines, and the seconds counted by.
Controller 2: В любую секунду сейчас- (V lyubuyu sekundu secychas-, Any second now-)
Controller 1: Огонь! (Ogon!, Fire!)
Controller 2: снегопад при максимальном внутреннем дросселе! (Snegopad pri maksimal'nom vnutrennem drossele, Snegopad is at maximum inboard throttle.)
Snegopad relit her core 6 engines, quickly picking the healthiest 3 and shutting down the others. The burn lasted under a minute, and before long a hushed silence fell over the Kazak skies once more.
Multiple Controllers: Ура! (Ura!, Hooray!)
The lifter had completed her final pre-flight test. The next phase would see the booster lift shuttle mass-simulators, and eventually, Стрелка itself. This testing would last through June of 1986, and overlap with the other major Soviet Space endeavor: Mir. Mir began assembly just over a month after the initial test burn had been completed, and before long, her first crew would arrive. Pressure had been placed on Soviet space officials to launch the Mir core as soon as possible, leaving the space agency without much to do with the large spacecraft. Nevertheless, Mir’s core would launch on February 25th, 1986 atop the final N1, resembling the N1 launched stations that came before her: Salyut 6 and Salyut 7.
The following day, two STS rockets sat atop their launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center in florida. STS 56 and STS 57/SM-41, the 3rd and 4th missions of the year, respectively, sat ready for their launches a mere 24 hours apart. The launch would mark the first time crewed spacecraft flew with such cadence, topping the record set by SM-26 and SM-27 the year prior. Nevertheless, The two rockets sat ready. STS-56, also known internally as Freedom Assembly Flight 3 (FAF-3) was to deliver a payload that would, with the help of SM-41, form the backbone of the station. STS-56 lifted off on course for a direct-rendezvous with the station. The launch went as scheduled, and within 2 hours, Liberty had landed back in the cape, and the payload, atop an ADDRESS, was stationkeeping with the space station.
Controller 1: Contact light, soft capture confirmed-
Controller 2: Ring-retract-
Screech- Thud Thud Thud.
Controller 1: Alright engine off, systems idle, ADDRESS has docked to Freedom!
Controllers cheered, the payload had been successfully delivered. On board freedom, docked to her aft docking port now sat hundreds of aluminum rods, ready to partake in the largest orbital construction project to date. Tested on previous shuttle flights, Freedom’s Beam-Builder was to be lofted to orbit aboard SM-41, allowing crews to begin the months-long assembly of Freedom’s many truss structures.
Capcom: Alright, Lifter swing arm retracted, Shuttle swing arm retracted.
Hartsfield: Alright, Let’s do this-
…
Oswald: Alright, engines gimballing well
Capcom: 15-
Cameron: Green for liftoff-
Capcom: 7… 6… 5-
Cameron: Ignition-
Capcom: Two, One-
Hartsfield: There’s the kick!
Capcom: Liftoff!
SM-41 shot into the sky, racing off the pad in pursuit of her station. Before long, America had separated and begun her boostback burn, carrying Pilot Kennith Cameron and Stephen Oswald back to the KSC.
Boom Boom
Launch Commentator: America has returned to the Kennedy Space center!
Capcom: T-minus 60 to cutoff, Intrepid.
Nagel: Roger, 60 to cut.
Cameron: Entering the descent cone-
Hartsfield: Engine off-
Capcom: Intrepid Houston, welcome to space.
…
…
…
Cameron: Touch, reverse throttle…
Oswald: Wheels stopped, engine off-
Capcom: America, welcome home.
As hectic as shuttle launches always were, the 10 astronauts made it to their destinations. Intrepid opened her payload bay, and deployed her radiators. Before long, the crew could see a twinkle appear in their front window. The sparkling object grew and grew until Intrepid laid eyes upon the SDA ahead.
Hartsfield: Okay, we’re go for docking.
Capcom: Roger, go for docking-
The shuttle approached the SDA, slowly closing the distance between the orbiter and the station. Eventually, a light lit up on the orbiters control panel, DA-Contact
Hartsfield: Contact light.
…
Hartsfield: Okay we're docked.
Capcom: Intrepid Houston, welcome to Freedom.
Hartsfield: Me and the crew are happy to be here, flight.
Capcom: Alright, go ahead and proceed to post-docking checks.
Hartsfield: Roge.
The docking tunnel pressurized, and the crew made their way on board the station. The beam-builder was mounted to the Journeys starboard truss mount, and the solar power package mounted to a temporary position on the front node of Freedom's OWS. By days end, Intrepid and her two pilots were ready to return to the Earth, delivering the shuttle back to the Kennedy Space Center for her next flight.
The crew of Expedition 1 were now on their own, without a shuttle, but with a mission that would take months to complete. The 6-astronaut crew, consisting of Bonnie Dunbar, James Buchli, Guion Bluford, Reinhard Furrer, Ernst Messerschmid, and Jacob Wolf consisted of half NASA and half ESA astronauts. This crew reflected Freedom’s international heritage, as future cres promised to.
On day 8 of the mission, the first EVA began. Bonnie Dunbar and James Buchli made their way out the stations airlock, climbing down to the Journey modules exterior. Operation of the beam builder was a group effort, and Buchli operated the machine while Dunbar aligned the truss beams. Over the course of the EVA, the first truss segment was erected. From here, after 5 hours on EVA, the two reboarded the station. On day 18, the pair would once again disembark, constructing the second starboard section of the truss structure.
The truss was now ready to receive its first solar power package, and on day 25 of the mission, Dunbar and Bluford departed the OWS airlock wearing AIMS' on a mission to mount the SPP. All the while, the station's crew worked tirelessly performing experiments and research in the station's laboratories.
Dunbar: Alright, let's see what we're working with.
Bluford: looks like it shouldn't be too bad.
…
Dunbar: these things fly pretty intuitively.
Bluford: Just like the sim, isn't it?
Dunbar: sure is-
Capcom: Alright you two, make your way towards the SPPs underside when you can.
Bluford: Got it.
The two slowly drifted their way towards the package's mounting point, beginning the slow process of removing it from the station's forward attachment point. Eventually, with a little effort, the module was freed, allowing the two to grapple the large, solar power plant and begin driving it down towards the end of the station's truss. The SPP sat atop a rotating mount, allowing the panels to rotate independently of the truss, and point towards the sun at all times. This allowed the station to recieve near continuous power, regardless of orientation, allowing more in depth Earth observation experiments to take place.
The two astronauts took turns, each tethering themselves to the truss below, and slowly inching along with their jetpacks, handing off the payload as needed. Before long they had reached the truss’ end. The two astronauts now began the nearly two hour process of mounting the SPP, and routing its cables along the outer truss. By hour 7 of their 8 hour scheduled EVA, the crew were making good work of the task at hand, and with but 15 minutes to spare, the two boarded the station once more. This EVA, lasting 7:45:00 would set a new record for the longest spacewalk performed by a US, or Soviet, astronaut or cosmonaut.
With the closing of EVA 3, Expedition 1 had now largely completed its primary objective. The 6 crew onboard were to remain on station a further 5 months, conducting scientific and engineering experiments in the meantime. Now that the Solar Power Package 1 had deployed, the power output of the station nearly tripled. The OWS solar panels were already proving insufficient for further expansion modules, and with the completion of the S1 and S2 truss structures, future crews would be able to install SPP-2, and construct the Port and Nadir truss elements.
But this would be a task for a later time. As February turned to March, delays piled up, as they often do for new spacecraft, leading up to the launch of Space Shuttle Patriot. Patriot sat atop Space Lifter Vanguard, ready for launch the morning of March 18th, 1986. Originally scheduled for ten days prior, USA-8 was finally ready for flight. The payload was highly classified, but Air Force personnel were eager to get the satellite airborne as quickly as possible. Frank Casserino, William Pailes, Gary Payton, and Charles Jones sat aboard patriot, ready for launch, as the countdown passed 15 seconds.
Capcom: T-minus 15-
Bolden: Alright, let’s go.
Shriver: Let’s rock and roll!
Capcom: 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5-
Shriver: Main engine start-
Bolden: Throttle wide open-
Capcom: 2…
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAR
Capcom: 1-
BANG
Hisssss
Capcom: Vanguard has separated, we have… we have a liftoff, 34 minutes past the hour liftoff of Space Shuttle Patriot!
Patriot and Vanguard, the final additions to the fleet, rose skywards. The vehicle rolled over facing its belly to the sky and pulling backwards. Before long, the vehicle reached Max-Q, and all 6 F-1A engines began throttling down, then up again before ultimately shutting down the central pair.
Bolden: (Unintelligible) Center engine cutoff
Capcom: Roger engine off, Vanguard!
The lifter continued its trajectory South, flying out over the Pacific briefly before shutting down her engines. The lifter peeled off, and communications with the shuttle became slim. From here, the mission was to be highly classified, and only encrypted communications would be allowed. Nevertheless, Vanguard continued contact with Houston, while Patriot would continue communications with the Air Force’s Space Command.
Shriver: Alright, boostback start-
Capcom: Roger successful ignition, Vanguard.
Bolden: Alright, engines stopped, we’re heading North.
Capcom: Roger that, see you when you get here, Vanguard.
Minutes later, Vanguard would arrive in California once more, and Patriot would silently reach orbit. The payload bay doors swung open, and the tangled mess of wires beneath was exposed. The payload, unbeknownst to many on the ground, was a Magnum Signals Intelligence satellite. The satellite rode atop an ADDRESS, which soon placed the payload into a 4,000x35,000 km orbit, with its lowest point directly over the Soviet Union. Once the payload was inserted into its orbit, the ADDRESS was expended, and the Shuttle descended to Vandeburg once more. In total, the mission lasted just over 24 hours, and with its closing, the Air Force had an operational space vehicle.
Expedition-1 had proven to be a complete success, and before long, NASA was preparing for their next mission to the station. The coming mission would further expand the station’s capabilities, delivering an additional SPP module, and expanding the station’s truss-structure. SM-51 was undergoing final checkouts, and within 4 days was anticipated to be docking with the space station.
Expedition-2 was to be a special one, alongside smashing the existing record for most american and non-american astronauts in space simultaneously, the mission was to carry one very special passenger for her layover flight to Freedom. Two years prior, and at the end of his tenure as president, Ronald Regan had called upon NASA to deliver a series of schoolteachers into orbit, inspiring the coming generations to pursue Science and Technology based fields. Of the thousands of applicants, only a handful of finalists were chosen to complete their training, and first up on the flight deck was Chrsita McAuliffe.
Christa was a Social Studies teacher by trade, teaching the importance of history to her students. She taught of kings, politicians, rulers… But also of the normal folk, the citizens, believing “they were as important to the historical record as kings, politicians or generals” She was beloved by her students, and eager to fly to Freedom. With just days leading up to her flight, the entire crew of STS-67 were beaming. Expedition 2 was about to set sail, just as those ancient explorers once had.
Launch Commentator: Vehicle is now experiencing the maximum aerodynamic pressure. Those 6 main engines aboard Liberty are throttling back-
Capcom: Liberty, go at throttle up.
Lifter Commander: Roger, go at throttle-up.
The six main engines roared back to life, delivering the 12.4 million pound punch the vehicle needed to continue supersonic. Liberty lofted the orbiter up over the horizon, shutting down her engines just over a minute later.
Lifter Pilot: Okay, we have separation-
…
Lifter Commander: Ignition!
Capcom: Roger, good ignition Liberty.
Launch Commentator: As Liberty is returning to the launchsite, the crew of SM-51 are continuing their journey upwards at this time.
Boom Boom
Liberty arrived back at the Cape, soaring towards the runway as Enterprise made orbit. The S-IIB main engines cut off, and the vehicle separated from the External Tank below-
Capcom: Enterprise, Houston- Welcome to space.
The crew of SM-51 breathed a sigh of relief, knowing they had made it through the most complex and difficult part of their journey. The astronauts unclamped their helmets, stowing them beneath their seats for the time being before unbuckling, and making their way to the windows to glance at the earth below.
McAuliffe: Oh the view is spectacular!
The 9 astronauts gathered in the flight deck, gazing out the orbiter's front and top windows. The view was unmatched, and before long, Freedom came into view.
(Freedom during the Arrival of STS-67/SM-51)
Sc
obee: This is Enterprise on final approach to Freedom, how do we look?
Messerschmid: 10/10, Enterprise.
Smith: Capcom, we are green for docking.
Capcom: Roger that, mike. You two can bring it in whenever ready.
…
…
…
…
Scobee: Contact light-
Smith: Capture ring retracting.
…
Smith: Okay, hard capture. Pressurizing-
Hissss
The tunnel pressurized, and the two spacecraft reached equilibrium. For the first time in history, 15 astronauts were on board a spacecraft for the first time. While future missions would make this routine, and even far surpass it, the moment was still something worth celebrating. Many at the Marshall Spaceflight Center began clapping, and Capcom passed on this regard-
Capcom: Congrats on a successful docking, thanks for helping us break double digits.
Scobee: We’re happy to help. Here’s hoping this becomes normal in a few years time.
The hatch opened, and the station proved to be a full house. Despite the crowd, SM-51 would spend a full week docked to the station, allowing the Teacher in Space to teach a plethora of lessons she had planned. The lessons varied in topic, but largely centered around the sciences.
McAuliffe: Good evening students! Today we’re going to be talking about Isacc Newton, and his laws of motion. Now a lot of you have probably heard of Newton before, and he was a brilliant mathematician and scientist, he was even one of the first mathematicians to explore and use calculus. Newton discovered three laws about motion, and today we’ll be talking a look at two of them.
The camera panned away from Christa, showing Commander Scobee soaring arms outstretched down the massive OWS module.
McAuliffe: See, Newton discovered that an object in motion will stay in motion, until acted upon by another force. While on Earth, objects often come to a stop when they reach the ground, here in space, objects can continue a lot farther. As Commander Scobee demonstrated, objects in space continue their movement basically forever, and if we threw a ball out of that airlock, it would remain in motion for centuries, at least until it hit something.
Scobee pretends to hit his head on the side of the OWS, remarking Ow, kinda like that.
McAuliffe: The second thing that Newton discovered was that heavy things are hard to move. Now, to most people that sounds like common sense, but Newton applied mathematics to it, giving us a scientific definition of force, equal to an object's mass times its acceleration.
Onizuka then appears from off frame holding two bags, handing them to christa before moving out of frame holding a bungee cord.
McAuliffe:By using this law, we can demonstrate how this bag, which is really light, and this bag, which is really massive, are not equally hard to move.
The pair proceed to sling the two bags across the OWS module, demonstrating that the two bags have different masses, and thus given the same force, experience differing accelerations.
McAuliffe: That’s all for today's lesson, but tune in tomorrow, where we’ll be talking about bubbles in microgravity!
McAuliffe waves to the camera, and the first of many nation wide broadcasts concluded. Her lessons would continue throughout the week, lasting until Thursday morning. All the while, two astronauts had begun the work required to install the SPP onto the Starboard truss structure. Before this could happen though, a spacer-truss would need to be assembled in order to allow additional clearance between the solar panels. With this in mind, Judith Resnik and Jacob Wolf were tethered to the S-1 Solar power packaged, maneuvering about with theirAIMS jetpacks, fixing the station’s beam-builder to the SPP’s mounting point. The work was repetitive, but relatively labor intensive, requiring one astronaut to align the beams with their hands, and another to weld them together. Through teamwork, astronauts had made quick work of the S1 truss thus far, and today was proving to be no different.
Wolf: Alright, just one more beam on this cross-section and we’ll be good to put another ring on it
Resnik: Got it, here’s the last one-
Wolf: Uh-oh.