Blowing The Bolts

Abstract

“John, we can’t do more from the launch team than say, we wish you an awful lot of luck,” radioed Launch Director George Page from the Launch Control Center (LCC) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, a few minutes before 7 a.m. EDT on Sunday, 12 April 1981. “We are with you one thousand percent and we are awful proud to have been a part of it. Good luck, gentlemen.” Out on historic Pad 39A, Columbia – bolted like an ungainly butterfly onto a pure-white External Tank (ET) and twin Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) – stood ready to embark on the Space Transportation System’s first mission, a two-day test flight designated STS-1. Commander John Young responded with thanks. Next to him was pilot Bob Crippen. Both men had been training for STS-1 for three years and, if not for a last-minute computer malfunction, they might have launched two days earlier.