Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site decwrl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!zehntel!dual!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-dvinci!fisher From: fisher@dvinci.DEC (Burns Fisher, MRO3-1/E13, DTN 231-4108) Newsgroups: net.space Subject: Shuttle auto-landing capability Message-ID: <9@decwrl.UUCP> Date: Mon, 17-Dec-84 09:14:17 EST Article-I.D.: decwrl.9 Posted: Mon Dec 17 09:14:17 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 19-Dec-84 00:28:05 EST Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP Organization: DEC Engineering Network Lines: 34> ...it was not until the sixth mission that the crew landed the shuttle Nope, sorry. It was the reverse if not more...no one trusted the unproven auto-land software to do something that the crew had demonstrated the ability to do time and time again. On the first several missions, the computers flew some of the reentry sequence with the crew manually entering "impulse" inputs to measure the response characteristics of the shuttle. However the crew took over entirely quite early; certainly before going around the heading alignment circle. Then they went manual all the way to the ground. I believe that the computers still made "recommendations" in the form of moving needles on the flight director for the crew to match up with if they chose. Some objectives on later flights were to test the autoland software closer and closer to the ground. I know that they got the the point of allowing the computer to take it down to just before the flair, but I never actually heard that any crew to date has allowed autoland all the way to the ground. Does anyone have further info? For that matter, one of the early objectives was to accomplish a cross-wind landing. I have never heard that that was actually accomplished either. Any updates? Burns Fisher UUCP: ... {decvax|allegra|ucbvax}!decwrl!rhea!dvinci!fisher ARPA: decwrl!rhea!dvinci!fisher@{Berkeley | SU-Shasta}