One Giant Leap One Giant Leap (May 04, 2001)

Ames Research Center celebrates space shuttle's 20th anniversary

By Amy Goodpaster Strebe

On April 14, 1981, the space shuttle Columbia became the world's first reusable space vehicle to orbit the Earth. As the shuttle celebrates its 20th anniversary, NASA's Ames Research Center looks back at the contributions it made to the early development of the Space Transportation System, as the space shuttle is formally known.

"Back in the '50s we started looking at shapes that could enter the Earth's atmosphere, long before the space shuttle was even thought about," said Jack Boyd, an aerospace engineer and former associate director of Ames Research Center who helped develop the shuttle. "They turned out to be blunt shapes developed by one of our people here."

According to Boyd, who has been at Ames since 1947, researchers at the center realized during the Apollo era, in the 1960s, that they needed lifting vehicles that could come back into the atmosphere and also be flown. NASA then began looking at what it called "lifting bodies," which were precursors to the space shuttle.

Boyd said researchers conducted aerodynamic tests on the 15 or 16 wind tunnels at Ames that generate test speeds ranging from 200 miles an hour to Mach 25, the reentry speed of the shuttle. "We did a lot of the aerodynamic tests to determine what the configuration should look like," Boyd explained.

Ames researchers also conducted tests on a protective heat shield designed to withstand the temperatures encountered on reentering the Earth's atmosphere at Mach 25, or about 18,000 miles an hour. According to Boyd, the atmospheric gases heat up to 25,000 degrees Fahrenheit at reentry. The surface of the shuttle under the tiles reaches temperatures as high as 3,000 degrees.

In addition to withstanding high temperatures, the tiles had to be lightweight as possible.

"The heat shield protection was the most original thing that we did. The shuttle couldn't have flown without it," Boyd said.

According to Boyd, researchers were able to fly the shuttle characteristics, including the heat shield, on one of the simulators for several years before the first shuttle was built.

"Every aircraft we've ever flown has gone on the simulator first, whether it be a 747 or a fighter airplane or a bomber," said Boyd. "This way pilots get a feel as to how they fly."

The shuttle underwent numerous tests before it was sent into orbit. In 1978 it was put on the back of a 747, flown to high altitude and dropped. It glided to a landing, confirming that the simulation was right, and the shuttle really could land.

"The process is first that you go through a wind tunnel test, then you fly it on a simulator, and finally you fly the real thing," said Boyd. "It usually takes five to 10 years to complete this whole process."

On April 14, 1981, the Space Shuttle Columbia landed at Dryden Research Center outside Los Angeles, after spending two days, six hours, 20 minutes and 53 seconds orbiting the Earth 36 times.

"When it [the shuttle] came back in from orbit everybody was on pins and needles, of course," said Boyd. "Everyone's watching for it, and all of a sudden you hear two sonic booms and that's the shuttle as it's going through the sound barrier. Then you know it's close by. We were quite excited because we weren't 100 percent sure that we wouldn't have some problems up there, though it had gone through all the tests we could think of."

The Columbia, which to date has made 103 fights, is stationed at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. A model of the space shuttle is on display in front of the Ames visitors' center at Moffett Field.

Although Ames no longer gives public tours of the research center, Boyd said he enjoys speaking with young people about the space program. "When I talk to students I tell them about the significance of the whole space program, the space station [and] the space shuttle, because it's humans' first step away from the planet," he said. "Just like we've done for the last 2,000 years, we go exploring, and I think people have to explore. Kids are really excited about it. They think of space as a frontier that they can explore in their own lifetime. One of them could someday be the first person on Mars."