He was responsible for coordinating space programs for the military and covert NRO, and he was convinced that the country couldn't put all of its proverbial eggs in the shuttle basket. The man calling the shots at the Pentagon was Edward "Pete" Aldridge, under secretary (later, the secretary) of the Air Force and director of the National Reconnaissance Office. The first years of flight revealed that there wouldn't be a simple ease of turning around a shuttle in between missions - it would take months, not days.Īlthough construction continued at SLC-6, it was becoming obvious to the military that the winged machines would not live up to the hyped concepts. Promises of flying 50 times per year were proving to be a laughable overestimation. However, the advertised capabilities used to build support for the space shuttle's development in the 1970s were not turning into reality once the vehicles actually entered service in the early 1980s. Industrial production of the expendable boosters was being phased out as NASA promised frequent and affordable launches of payloads aboard the space shuttle. space policy since the time of the space shuttle's creation directed that all payloads, no matter whether they were commercial, civilian or military, go aboard the human-tended vehicles instead of unmanned rockets. (Image credit: Air Force/TSGT Doug Gruben)
The space shuttle Enterprise, mated to an external tank and solid rocket boosters, is resting on the launch mount. They'd deploy the Teal Ruby experimental spacecraft and operate a package of sensors in the payload bay.īut as the West Coast shuttle site was being built, the program's overall viability as the nation's primary means of launching satellites was coming under serious doubt.Īn overall view of Space Launch Complex Six. Launching from the California base, Crippen's crew would become the first astronauts to experience the vantage point of polar orbit. It was a twist on operations for the space shuttle, not to mention the aesthetics of the towering hillsides surrounding the pad and Vandenberg's trademark fog that were so different from Cape Canaveral's endless swamps and waterways.
And the launch team would be stationed in a fortified control center inside the complex, too. The payloads would be readied in ultra-clean rooms right at the pad and wheeled up to the shuttle bay. Unlike shuttle infrastructure in Florida that stacked the vehicles at the Vehicle Assembly Building and rolled them three-and-a-half miles to the launch pad on Apollo-era transporters, the boosters, fuel tank and orbiter would be brought together on a stationary mount atop the California pad. SLC-6 had been closed for a decade after MOL when machinery moved in and started a $4 billion overhaul that transformed the complex from the previous program to the new space shuttle's California home.Įnterprise, NASA's prototype orbiter, was brought to SLC-6 in early 1985 to check out the nearly-finished pad, offering a dramatic glimpse of what a space shuttle looked like standing atop the site. Getting to that type of orbit is impossible from Florida's Cape Canaveral because the shuttle would fly above populated land during ascent. The Air Force base was perfect for launching shuttles southward over the open ocean to reach polar orbits, which are the destination for imaging and surveillance satellites. It was a distinguished spaceflight career, one that earned Crippen assignment as commander for the inaugural shuttle flight from the military's launch facility being constructed from the old mothballed SLC-6 pad at Vandenberg. The Columbia roared into orbit on Apon a two-day shakedown cruise like no other.Ĭrippen would get to fly three times aboard the Challenger, launching in June 1983 with Sally Ride, America's first woman astronaut, overseeing the first rescue and repair of a satellite in space, the wayward Solar Max, in April 1984, and commanding a satellite-deploy and research mission in October 1984 that also featured spacewalking astronauts testing techniques for orbital refueling of spacecraft. NASA picked up Crippen to join the civilian astronaut corps., pairing him with moonwalker John Young for the space shuttle's daring first mission. Construction of the $3 billion pad started in March 1966.īut President Nixon would end the whole program three years later without fielding the MOL due to delays, cost overruns and the realization that unmanned satellites could better fulfill the nation's reconnaissance needs.
Space Launch Complex 6 had been built on the southern stretches of Vandenberg to fly Titan 3 boosters and modified Gemini B capsules with the Manned Orbiting Laboratory.
(Image credit: Air Force/SSGT Steve Martin) A nighttime view of the space shuttle Enterprise, mated to an external tank and solid rocket boosters, resting on the launch mount next to the access tower at Space Launch Complex Six.
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