Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) after that secret space station program was canceled without ever flying in 1969. Young was unable to attend Saturday's celebration.Ĭrippen and Truly came to NASA from the U.S. "John Young was the chief of the Astronaut Office, he had flown twice on Gemini, twice on Apollo, including walking on the moon on Apollo 16, so I thought - well, I know I did and I think a lot of other people did - that John was going to be the guy to command that first flight," said Crippen of the crew selection for STS-1. Moonwalker, rocket plane pilot and MOL men
The dinner benefited the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, which to date has awarded more than $4 million to more than 400 college students excelling in science, technology and engineering degrees.
(collectSPACE)Įngle and Truly joined Crippen at Space Center Houston, where hundreds turned out to celebrate the crewmembers' contributions to history. That took a load off the remaining shuttle missions, specifically STS-2," added Richard "Dick" Truly, who piloted the orbiter Columbia on that second flight.ĭick Truly and Joe Engle, who flew together on STS-2, reunite with STS-1 pilot Bob Crippen and ascent capcom Dan Brandenstein at a gala celebrating the missions' 35th anniversary. had never been through ascent or been through entry, and they did it. "Here was a brand new vehicle, a couple of hundred thousand pounds at landing. That was a big, big confidence builder," Joe Engle, STS-2 mission commander, remarked at a gala celebrating the 35th anniversaries of the first two space shuttle missions on Saturday (Sept. "It was a great confidence builder that Crip and John flew it through ascent, got it on orbit, performed the mission and got it back on the ground. NASA's first space shuttle launch, 35 years ago, demonstrated that a winged orbiter could lift off like a rocket and land like an airplane, able to fly again.įor the two astronauts who flew on that second mission - the world's first launch of a "used" orbital spacecraft – that maiden mission, crewed by John Young and Bob Crippen, also cleared a large hurdle for the space shuttle flights that followed, beginning with their own.
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