Arnold D. Aldrich Former NASA Director, National Space Transportation System (Space Shuttle Program) and Associate Administrator for Space Systems Development February 5, 2011
As the Space Shuttle flights wind down, I look back on a tremendous endeavor which has taken the Nation and the world-wide space faring community from a pioneering era in human space flight to one where people from numerous disciplines and nations now live and work in space. The Space Shuttle’s crowning achievement has been the role for which it was originally conceived - the assembly of the 1 million plus pound International Space Station.
In addition, the Space Shuttle has launched government, commercial, military and national security satellites; retrieved and repaired satellites on-orbit; returned orbiting satellites and extensive other cargo to Earth; supported innumerable scientific investigations in space; flown entire scientific laboratories in its cargo bay and evolved, demonstrated and refined exceptional human capabilities for extra-vehicular assembly, maintenance and repair in the space environment. Along the way, a robust international partnership and space community has evolved, setting the stage for broad international collaboration in future world-wide space endeavors.
The Space Shuttle is a marvelous system, far more technologically complex than is generally understood, with extensive redundancies to assure its success. I had the unforgettable opportunity to participate broadly in Space Shuttle development and its early flights. Highlights included serving as manager of the Orbiter Avionics Systems Office where I oversaw the development of the then highly advanced multi fault-tolerant Space Shuttle avionics and flight software systems. Subsequently, as Orbiter Project manager, I led Orbiter activities during 15 early Space Shuttle flights as well as the production of the orbiters Discovery and Atlantis.
Following the tragic Challenger accident, I was appointed Director of the Space Shuttle program. In addition to leading the program return to flight efforts, I instigated a program-wide review of all Space Shuttle systems , not just those directly implicated in the accident, a process I had witnessed George Low follow after the Apollo 1 fire. This resulted in my approval of over 400 safety related changes to the Space Shuttle vehicle, flight software and ground support systems. A number of these changes dealt with limitations/deficiencies which had been recognized during Space Shuttle development and had been waived as acceptable for early Shuttle flights with the intent to correct them at some later time. Many others were the result of experience gained during the first 25 flights of the Space Shuttle system. Also in this process, every one of the extensive Space Shuttle program Failure Mode and Effects Analyses were re-analyzed and re-base lined.
September 29, 1988 became one of the most memorable days of my lengthy aerospace career when Discovery lifted off on STS-26, 32 months after Challenger. This was the first of 87 continuously successful Space Shuttle flights over the next 14 years.
Today, Space Shuttle retirement looms as the Nation envisions new space initiatives for which the Shuttle was never designed or is not cost effective. These include re-invigorated human space exploration beyond low Earth orbit, reducing the cost of on-orbit space activity and enabling commercial space ventures and utilization. Never the less, over the past 30 years the Space Shuttle has led extensive progress in human space flight and has contributed significantly to setting the stage for even greater accomplishments in the years to come.