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Show h) .. ftp. 1 SALT FLAT NEWS, APRIL 1971 The Stable Missoion Plain The main Space Shuttle system NASA is studying of a booster, an orbiter, and supporting equipment. With a wide range of mission tasks, it is intended to be the workhorse of space, transporting passengers, supplies, spare parts, and even systems required to maintain and repair satellites and orbiting experiments. It would be capable of launching unmanned satellites and conducting rescue operations. Major phases of the shuttle mission would be boost flight, orbital operations, orbiter and booster entry, and ground operations. Basically, the shuttle-craf- t would be launced from a vertical position, with the orbiter riding piggyback atop the booster, to an altitude of about 200,000 feet. Here, about three minutes after liftoff, the orbital vehicle would sep-- . arate and the booster would be flown back to the launch area. Current studies call for the orbiter to be injected into an elliptical parking orbit and then a circular rendezvous orbit. Upon completion of its space tasks, the piloted orbiter departs orbital station by firing the orbit maneuvering propulsion system (OMS), reenters the earths atmosphere crossing through the supersonic region, slows to subsonic speed, and levels off to land like a jet aircraft. Ground turnaround operations for the shuttle are expected' to be accomplished in fourteen days. This g includes operations, maintenance, refurbishment, and prelaunch operations. Prelaunch operations include placing the payload aboard the orbiter, mating the orbiter to the booster, and launch readiness checkout. The mated configuration is then towed to the lauch site. consists . high-temperatu- re post-landin- WENDOVER LANDING SIZE COMPARISON by' Richard Goldbexger tended to ignore the press; however, this meeting is intended to correct this, said Ray Hixson, Executive Secretary of the Utah Spaceport Committee, as he addressed some fifty persons, most of whom represented the media. It was a though cloudy, afternoon in April, the the of meeting being to review developments and discuss objective in Utahs future obtaining the spaceport, in answer to an official invitation from the Honorable Calvin L. Rampton, Governor of Utah. I look forward to discussing with you our future strategy and the impact of the space shuttle program upon our state and nation, went the invitation. Unfortunately, Governor Rampton was unable to attend the briefing. state Milton We are converts to the (space) program, Serof Executive Development Director, Department Weilenmann, a for this has been Utah project promoting vices. He mentioned that office of the period of not less than six years, primarily through William Palfreman, Director of Industrial Promotion, Office of Department of Labor. This office, incidentally, was at first responsible for the total industrial promotion of Utah until four years ago when the legislature set up the present developmental office. on the general attributes A film prepared by McDonald-Dougla- s Mr. as Hixson put it, equal billing" to a of the space shuttle gave, second or orbiter part of the shuttle cutaway model of the space Vice Presprepared by North American Rockwell. Incidentally, the ident of Manufacturing and Facilities of North American Rockwell, We have mild-mannere- d, J. P. Healey, was in attendance at the briefing. Ironically, no representative of Boeing was present, although only two weeks earlier Mr. Longfelder of the Boeing team that toured Utah gave a more Salt Lake Desert site. report on the Wendover-Grea- t a about the disadvantage of inadequate barge facilRaising point ities in Utah, Ray Hixson remarked, in jest, that we have the Jordan River, bringing a chuckle or two. We put the front seat in back, joshed Mr. Browning as Phase B, though not officially referred to as that,; began in a velvet amphitheatre of plush chairs and multi-pus- h button rear projection screens. This room is referred to as The Official State of Utah Briefing Room. As the screens lit up and the house lights dimmed, Mr. Hixson read a paper entitled SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCHING SITE CONSIDERATIONS, prepared by the Utah Spaceport Committee, a delegated body of eleven citizens Milton L. Weilenmann, Haven J. Barlow, Max I. Beers, C. Taylor Burton, John W. Gallivan, Curtis P. Harding, Kenneth J. Olsen, Dilworth S. Woolley, Raymond Hixson, Gordon Harmston, Richard K. Hemmingway, whose objective it is to promote Utah for prime consideration before the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Broken down into seven parts: 1. Facilities Requirements, 2. Site Comparisons, 3. Facilities Cost Estimates, 4. Air Force Role, 5. Geographic Cost Benefits Great Salt Lake Site, 6. Site Payload Advantages and, 7. Competing Site Comparisons Summary, the presentation lasted for approximately fifty minutes and was in the form of ( cont . on page 11) than-favorabl- e |