On Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:11:01 -0800 (PST), Chris
wrote:


Vandenberg Shuttle flights were evidently also called STS-1V, STS-2V,
etc.

I thought that the numbering scheme for VAFB flights was that they had
were (FY)2-(Letter). So the first flight scheduled was STS-62A, second
would have been STS-62B, and the next years flights were going to be
STS-72A, STS-72B, etc.

It gets complicated, but if I understand it properly, there was also
an STS-1V for Vandenberg, an STS-2V, etc. just as there was an STS-1
through 9 at Kennedy before the number-number-letter (i.e., 41-B)
system. STS-1V is how the first Vandenberg flight was being identified
prior to the implementation of number-number-letter, which was meant
to consolidate the missions under a common system. But it seems that
within NASA, the old STS numbers were still widely used. The first
Vandenberg flight was still being referred to as STS-1V, and, for
example, there is lots of Challenger documentation referring to the
doomed 1986 STS-51L as STS-33.

That's why officially some of the early post-Challenger flights were
given an R suffix for "Reflight", i.e., 1989's STS-33 was called
STS-33R internally.

Brian