In article , says...

On 2020-06-19 7:46 PM, Alain Fournier wrote:
Wow, you actually saw the moon missions live. You must be an old man.

Not to mention witnessing, in person, the launch of Columbia on STS-1.

I'm 51, so don't remember Apollo at all. But I do remember STS-1 and
beyond. STS-1 was ground breaking for its time. Unfortunately, the
press never picked up on the many things that went wrong with STS-1
besides perhaps the obvious missing silica tiles that fall off. Even
NASA still isn't terribly forthcoming about all of the issues. Cite:

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/...lls_sts-1.html

No mention of the body flap (that was almost a very bad day) or the
flight control system issues. Here is a cite for the body flap issue:

First Time Lucky: The Space Shuttle?s Dicey Inaugural Mission
BY TERRY DUNN ON JAN. 16, 2018 AT 8 A.M.
The story of STS-1.
https://tinyurl.com/ybvsthrh

Cite for the flight control system issue (Mary Shafer used to be a
regular poster here):

Extraction of stability and control derivatives from orbiter flight data
Author and Affiliation:
Iliff, Kenneth W. (NASA Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Facility,
Edwards, CA, United States)
Shafer, Mary F. (NASA Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Facility,
Edwards, CA, United States)
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19940006252
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/c...9940006252.pdf

Jeff
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