Welcome to Shuttle Operations

Abstract

After only four flights of one orbiter, the reusable space shuttle was declared operational and readied to fly its first commercial customers and a crew of four on STS-5 in 1982. Science fiction author Ben Bova, a member of the L-5 Society and the Planetary Society, endorsed the Space Operation Center concept. Anticipating a quick build up to flights once or twice a month and approval for a space station that would lead to a SOC, planning for downstream flights began in earnest, with an emphasis on pleasing the commercial customers at the expense of internal NASA and science payloads such as the Large Format Camera initially assigned to STS-11. The American Astronautical Society held its 29th annual meeting in October 1982. Military speakers opined that whoever controlled space controlled the surface of the Earth and that NASA was helping to keep the peace by increasing American prestige. The author shares her struggle to start a family amid the high stress world of flight control and taking flying lessons.