Discovery, and Endeavor. They were involved in an eclectic array of mis- sions, including carrying the Spacelab module into orbit in 1983, deploy- ing the Magellan probe to Venus in 1989, repairing the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993, and ferrying com- ponents for construction of the ISS. Shuttle crews also performed a variety of scientific experiments. The shuttle pro-
gram shattered a lot of social barriers along the way. In 1983, for example, Sally Ride became the first Ameri- can woman in space, and that same year, Guion Bluford Jr. became the first African-American to break the space barrier. The five shuttles proved to be
reliable workhorses, ferrying scores of astronauts and tons of equipment and supplies into space. But there were tragedies among the successes. On Jan. 28, 1986, Challenger explod- ed 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts aboard, including Christa McAuliffe, the first member of the Teacher in Space Project. And Feb. 1, 2003, Columbia broke apart over Texas during reentry. Its crew of seven also perished.
The military’s big plans Eager to make full use of the fleet, DoD built a shuttle launch pad, Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6), at Van- denberg AFB, Calif. The site origi- nally was conceived as a launch and support site for the canceled Manned Orbiting Laboratory, essentially a military version of Skylab. Later, it was to be used for military polar-orbit missions, which could launch only from the West Coast. “The Air Force essentially was going to pay NASA to launch a vehicle for them with a crew they designated,” explains Bolden. However, no shuttle ever was launched from SLC-6. According to
PHOTOS: NASA
When in orbit,
the space shuttles traveled around the Earth at approximately
17,500 mph. As a result, the crews saw a sun- rise or sunset every 45 minutes.
Sally Ride (right) was the first American woman in space while Col. Guion Bluford Jr., USAF-Ret., (above) was the first African-American. (top) Enterprise made its first appearance in 1979.
JANUARY 2012 MILITARY OFFICER 67
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