Subject:
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Re: The Final Frontier never saw this...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.geek
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Date:
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Tue, 2 Nov 2004 17:04:53 GMT
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Viewed:
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1824 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.geek, David Koudys wrote:
> But if I recall correctly (throwing this out to the 'geeks'...)
>
> The Enterprise and the Columbia were virtually identical--the Enterprise was the
> first shuttle built, and the Columbia was the first one to get into space.
>
> Then the Challenger, Atlantis, Endeavour were built, like 10 feet bigger in the
> cargo bay.
>
> In the article, it says that there were 3 'original' sister shuttles--I thought
> there were only 2--Enterprise and Columbia.
>
> Anyway, that article brought me back. I think I have to take a trip sometime to
> see the Enterprise.
Originally only funding for three orbiters were authorized and two shuttles
(Columbia and Enterprise) were ordered in the summer of 1972. NASA wanted five
orbiters but the Office of Management and Budget felt three was sufficient to
meet the projected launch schedules and wanted to defer production of the final
two until needed. Eventually funding for a fourth orbiter was approved because
the first two orbiters Columbia and Challenger were too heavy to carry the
largest DOD spy satellites. In this capacity the fourth orbiter, Atlantis was
sort of a security blanket in case #3 Discovery was destroyed. Funding for a
fifth orbiter remained an option for a little while and some structural spares
were built. These ended up being used on the Endeavour*
Challenger started life as a structural test vehicle and proved to be cheaper to
upgrade to a spaceflight capability than to modify Enterprise.
All the orbiters have the same basic dimensions, but there are differences in
weights and with some of the systems.
*from 'Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System /
The First 100 Missions'; author Dennis R. Jenkins - a relatively inexpensive and
highly recommended book
Spencer
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | The Final Frontier never saw this...
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| (URL) it was sad, but the Enterprise still makes my eyes misty. I was 9 years old when I saw this on the telly for the first time. I remember hearing the Trekkie writing campaign to get Carter to name the first shuttle 'Enterprise'. I also remember (...) (20 years ago, 2-Nov-04, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)
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