Aug 30 1984
From The Space Library
The New York Times reported that space industry experts and government intelligence officials had said that U.S. Air Force satellite photographs of launching pads in central Asia showed that the Soviet Union was developing a booster rocket for a Soviet version of the Space Shuttle and a new family of big rockets similar to those used by the United States for the Apollo Moon program. A special feature of the new rockets was that they would use liquid hydrogen, a cryogenic (supercooled) type of fuel technology that had eluded Soviet space experts but had been mastered in the United States nearby 20 years ago.
The Pentagon had originally described the Soviet development of new booster rockets and a Space Shuttle in April. The new disclosures gave added detail of the Soviet program, including checkouts on the launching pad and the development of cryogenic fuels.
"It's a major step to go to liquid hydrogen," said James E. Oberg, an expert on Soviet space technology." They've been using the same boosters for 20 years. Now they appear to be trying to build a new family." The Pentagon's "Soviet Military Power 1984" had originally suggested the existence of a new family of Soviet booster rockets. The publication asserted that the biggest of the new Soviet rockets could lift payloads of up to 150 tons into low orbits around the Earth, about seven times more than the largest operational Soviet booster and five times more than the biggest U.S. booster, the Space Shuttle. The publication also said the Soviet Union's Space Shuttle differed from the U.S. Shuttle only in the respect that the main engines were not on the orbiter. In addition, the publication published pictures of a small Soviet space plane that had undergone flight tests. (NY Times, Aug 30/84, B-13)
NASA launched at 8:41 a.m. from KSC the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS 41-D) on its maiden voyage after three earlier postponements, another one-day postponement due to computer problems, and a last-minute delay to avoid possible collision with a private line. Discovery carried for mission 41-D a six-member crew of commander Henry Hartsfield; pilot Michael Coats; mission specialists Judith Resnick, Steven Hawley, and Richard Mullane; and payload specialist Charles Walker, a McDonnell Douglas engineer. It also carried the heaviest cargo flown in orbit aboard a Space Shuttle.
About eight hours after liftoff, three of the crew members deployed a U.S. communications satellite, SBS-4, which was owned by Satellite Business Systems, McLean, Va., and was designed to relay data, including telephone and television transmissions. About 45 minutes later its on-board engine ignited flawlessly to send it to a position 22,400 miles above the equator just west of South America. The successful launch helped dispel doubts about the solid-fuel rocket motor technology when two satellites last February did not reach orbit.
Also planned for launch from the Space Shuttle were the Leasat-2, owned by Hughes Communications Services, Inc., and leased by the U.S. Navy, and the Telestar 3-C of AT&T. On board would be NASA's Office of Astronautics and Space Technology OASTOI, a collapsible solar array, and the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System (CFES) of McDonnell Douglas.
On the same day as the liftoff, President Reagan visited GSFC and addressed several hundred of Goddard's employees. In his remarks, Reagan said that "there is nothing that the United Stages of America cannot accomplish. If the doubting Thomases would just stand aside and get out of our way:' He went on to speak of the creation of new jobs, technologies, and medical breakthroughs as a result of the rigors of the space program. (NASA Release 84-112; NASA Press Kit June 84, August 84; W Post, Aug 31/84, A-l; W Times, Aug 31/84, 3A)
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