Springfield Leader and Press from Springfield, Missouri • 10

The News-Leader Sunday, April 10, 1983 10a Space shuttle NASA plans to extend U.S. presence in space fuel and revive satellites or resupply space stations. Astronauts and engineers are working on methods for' assembling large structures in space, preparing for the day when permanent space stations or solar power systems will be constructed In orbit. NASA also is planning for ordinary people to join highly trained astronauts in orbit. A committee has been named to decide how the first "civilians" will be selected to fly on the shuttle, an idea that emphasizes the confidence NASA has in the safety of the craft.

These Ideas once seemed just the tinkering of dreamers. But the success of Challenger brings them an important step closer to reality. As Christopher C. Kraft, former director of the Johnson Space Center, said after the first flight of Columbia: "We're infinitely smarter now." America's first black astronaut. 9: Six astronauts will be housed in Columbia for a week of science experiments in the Spacelab module.

10: Challenger will deploy a secret military cargo on flight. 11: A rocket chair will be tested during a spacewalk. 12: A third shuttle, Discovery, will take its maiden voyage. During a later mission, an astronaut flying in the rocket chair will cruise out to repair a broken satellite. And on Flight 25, a powerful space telescope able to study vistas never before seen will be launched by Challenger.

Experts also are developing a method of transferring fuel from the shuttle to a satellite. Astronauts already are practicing techniques that could tum the shuttle into a tanker to re tion flaws and helped make possible the highly successful 3-hour spacewalk by Story Musgrave and Donald Peterson. Astronauts say they now have full confidence in the new suits. Proven the design and use of a robot arm that can be used to move large objects In space. The arm was tested on flights of Columbia and is ready for a major application, such as launching or recovering satellites.

Proven the reliability and cost-effectiveness of using the shuttle to ferry satellites into orbit. The fifth flight successfully launched two satellites. NASA officials are now looking ahead ea-gerly to their goals for the next six flights: 7: Three satellites will be launched, and America's first woman astronaut will fly in space. 8: The shuttle will be launched at night for the first time, on a mission that includes By Paul Recer United Press International SPACE CENTER, Houston Two years ago space officials held their breath as they tested a radical concept that some thought impractical a reusable shuttle. Now, with two of the ships in operation, NASA is boldly moving forward with plans to expand America's presence in space.

From launch last Monday to landing Saturday, Challenger, second in the shuttle fleet, performed with a precision that impressed the experts. The only blemish a problem with the $100 million communication satellite apparently had nothing to do with Challenger, but was caused by a faulty rocket stage. "It was kind of a proof flight," said Gary Coen, a flight director. "We're proving that it works the way it was built to work." In two years, NASA has come from having no proven shuttles to having two of the world's most advanced spacecrafts. When Columbia was poised for launch in April 1981, space agency experts still had a timid uncertainty about the wisdom of trying to fly a winged craft into and out of space.

Aerodynamically and scientifically, there were unknowns that caused sleepless nights and gray hair. Now, after six flights five by Columbia and one by Challenger the shuttle system has accomplished these important milestones: Proven the practicality of a reusable craft that can land like an airplane. That accomplishment will be enhanced even further on the seventh flight when Challenger lands on a limited concrete runway at the Kennedy Space Center. Proven a spacesuit design that is more flexible, more easily put on and less expensive. A pair of malfunctions on the fifth flight helped to iron out small design and applica 0-1 Challenger crew gets 'Geritol Bunch' tag United Press International CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

The astronauts who flew the newest shuttle into space were America's oldest space crew and mission control never let them forget it. Dubbed the "Geritol Bunch," the crew of Paul Weitz, 50, Karol Bobko, 45, Story Musgrave, 47, and Donald Peterson, 49, has a combined flying experience of 1 1 1 years. Troop (they were designated the astronaut team) has set a space record for having the oldest average crew age, 48 years and 5 months," mission control pointed out early in the mission. "Our congratulations to the Geritol Bunch," the message read. From then on, air-to-ground talk was sprinkled with jokes and barbs about their age.

"This is the Geritol Gang's versiori of a victory roll," Weitz quipped at one point, as Challenger rotated very slowly. During a chat with Vice President George Bush, the crewmen huddled in front of television cameras and flashed their Troop" flag and held up a sign that read "111 Years of Aviation Experience." Bush congratulated them on the Challenger's successful maiden flight and praised them for their hard work. "We just wanted to say that so far, we've done our best and that this project has been brought to you by the 'Geritol Bunch' Weitz said. "It just goes to bring home that old adage that (astronaut) John Young said, spaceflight is really for old folks." In a teleprinter message to the crew prior to Challenger's return, mission control said: "You may be older, but you're better." nil i A ft Shuttle at a glance The maiden flight of the shuttle Challenger at a glance: Crew: commander Paul Weitz. 50.

co-pilot Karol Bobko. mission specialists Donald Peterson, 49. and Story Musgrave, 47. Launch: 12:30 p.m. CST Monday, April 4, from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Landing: 12:54 p.m. CST, Saturday, April 9, at Edwards Air Force Space, Calif. Major accomplishments: Launch of a tracking and data relay satellite; a spacewalk of nearly four hours by Musgrave and Peterson. Cost $266 million. Distance: Challenge covered 2 million miles in 80 orbits: flight lasted 5 days and 24 minutes.

Next flight Early June. United Press International Astronauts, left to right, Donald Peterson, Karol the crowd after their landing Saturday at a Air Bobko. Story Musgrave and Paul Weitz wave to Force base in California. Official: Dreams approach reality Custom Sale 30 to 35 off custom draperies and top treatments from selected fabrics. (Includes fabric, lining, labor and installation.) The Associated Press EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.

Challenger's maiden voyage was "incredibly routine" as the new shuttle outperformed its veteran sister ship and pushed dreams a little closer to reality, a space agency official said Saturday. But Lt. Gen. James A. Abrahamson also noted problems with a giant satellite sent aloft from the shuttle could, if not resolved, jeopardize the schedule for the shuttle-borne Spacelab, which is to carry German physicist Ulf Merbold into space along with an American crew on Sept.

30. The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System is an integral part of the Spacelab's scientific mission and if problems are not solved the mission might be delayed until late spring, said Abrahamson, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's associate director for space flight. However, He also said "that's looking more favorable now" and a decision will be made in about a month. A scientific team is already investigating the failure of the "inertial upper stage" rocket that boosts the satellite from the shuttle's 175-mile orbit to about 22,000 miles. The second stage of the rocket malfunctioned.

that we're moving a little way from the dreams and to the reality of the planning." He talked of scheduled missions that will see astronauts "go scooting around outside the (cargo) bay" with individual propulsion jets early next year. Then, next spring, "we'll go out and we'll repair a wounded satellite," the Solar Max scien- ufic satellite that failed in 1980, a few months after launch. He even talked of some future day when "there are going to be citizen flights. There are going to be just lots and lots of people who go up." In about six days Challenger will be mounted atop a jumbo jet for a return flight to Kennedy Space Center, Fla. There it will be readied for a June flight that's supposed to end, for the first time, on a runway near its Florida launch site.

That mission will carry America's first woman astronaut, Sally K. Ride. In August, Challenger is to return to its dry Iakebed landing strip at this desert airbase. A night landing is planned and, Abrahamson said, "The first time we do this at night we'd like to have all the room that's available out here." The team should get a boost from pictures that show the satellite-rocket combination as it went awry. Abrahamson said a North American Air Defense Command facility recorded the failure.

Soon after Challenger's "good Air Force landing right down the middle of the runway," Abrahamson told a news conference the ship is "just in really great shape." "All the indications are (Challenger) is indeed a better spacecraft" than the Columbia, which returned America to space two years ago and has flown five missions. It is now being modified to carry Spacelab. A quick look at the ship showed three chunks of thermal blankets were bent, ripped or missing from pods alongside the tail on top of the craft. The blankets are a new type of heat shield used on parts of Challenger. Abrahamson said the damaged blankets posed no problem and "we can resolve that pretty easily." He said Challenger's success shows the shuttle system's increasing ability to tackle greater challenges.

"We have both dreamers and planners in the agency," he said, "What (they) are finding is 25 off custom bedspreads. The crowd 100,000 throng to desert to share glory of U.S. space feat TT1 1 30 to 50 off selected vertical blinds. Elegant, contemporary and very practical. JCPenney custom vertical blinds control light and air.

They're easy to clean, too. Choose from fabric laminates, vinyl and metallics. United Press International satellite launch and a spacewalk. Thousands watched the landing Saturday. The space shuttle Challenger lands after a five-day flight which featured a 35 off Horizon aluminum mini blinds.

25 off Joanna custom roller shades. The Associated Press EDWARDS AIR FORCE FASE, Calif. About 100,000 enthusiastic spectators came to the California desert Saturday to share in the glory of the U.S. space program by welcoming the shuttle Challenger and its four voyagers back to Earth. The crowd, which braved heavy traffic and stinging desert dust, was rewarded on a cloudless day with a vivid experience they could not get by watching the landing on television.

"I heard we would be a long way away and we were," said Jim Marek of Los Angeles. "But there is always the fear that it's not going to come down and in seeing it, it's like you are part of the success in a history-making event" "We've been here for each landing," said Marty Holyfield of Los Angeles. "You can't beat it. It's just for that fleeting few moments of glory for the U.S. It really puts us out front" Much of the crowd gathered around more than a mile of makeshift wooden fencing surrounding the landing site at Edwards Air Force Base.

Entrepreneurs did a brisk business in "E.T." dolls wearing space shuttle T-shirts as well as the usual baseball caps, decals and buttons commemorating the mission. As the huge spacecraft came in view, sharp cries of excitement spread through the crowd. Some spectators, seeking a clearer view, broke through the flimsy restraining fence. "It was just the thrill of a lifetime. It's real," said Bennie Scotch! who came to the landing from Santa Barbara, Calif.

Jack Tarantino and his wife, Anita, of Long Is- land, N.Y., celebrated their 33rd anniversary at the shuttle landing. "It's just a start in the right direction," Tarantino said. "I don't think the shuttle landings will become routine in our lifetime. "I think in many respects this might be the whole future of the race," said Tom Mitchell, 29, of Culver City, Calif. "All across the world since the concepts of God were developed by the Mayans, the Incas and the Egyptians and all the races, we've been looking for the answers.

We came a lot closer to getting those answers today." mm ias mum i line, mi Hiai i Longtime fans observe desert landing 35 off JCPenney 1" wood mini blinds. 30 to 50 off selected Del Mar woven woods. The Associated Press EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. Bernard Waggoner was 16 when the Wright Brothers changed the world in 1903. Four years later he took his first plane ride a heartstopping tour of his Kansas farm.

On Saturday, Waggoner, 96, and his wife Mary, 93, peered anxiously into the brilliant desert sky and then smiled as the space shuttle Challenger touched down successfully. "It was great just what I expected," said the retired carpenter. Earlier he had commented: "I wouldn't mind going myself. I think it would be great" The Waggoners, who live in their own home in coastal Ventura, have followed the space program for years. They have toured the Kennedy Space Center at Florida's Cape Canaveral and watched most previous mission launches and landings on television.

"I think it's great all the exploring they're doing," said Mrs. Waggoner. "I'd like to try living on the moon myself." Earlier aviation feats astounded Waggoner, but he no longerthinks the sky is the limit. "I didn't think it could happen," he said of Charles Lindbergh's 1927 trans-Atlantic flight "I didn't think you could possibly fly a plane that far." The Waggoners' visit here was arranged by a family friend who works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The couple, married 74 years, has 10 children, eight grandchildren and 12 greatgrandchildren.

Waggoner, who retired in 1962, said he isn't bothered by the money the United States has poured into space exploration. "I don't begrudge what they've spent," he said. "Sure it's worth it I'd hate to see them quit now." 25 to 40 off selected custom carpet. Treat any room to a sweep of color. Several styles in rich colors.

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