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“STS-3 rollout to Pad 39A.”
A striking photograph, confirmed by its selection by Impact Inc. as a postcard, maybe even as one of its posters.
www.hippostcard.com/listing/kennedy-space-center-kennedy-...
Credit: Hip Postcard website
They of course only used images that…you know…had “impact”.
“For only the second time in Space Shuttle program history, Shuttles simultaneously occupy the two Launch Complex 39 pads: Shuttle Columbia (foreground) on Pad A, and Discovery at Pad B. Rollout of Columbia on April 22 also marked another highlight: Crawler-Transporter No. 2 racked up its 1,000th mile of carrying space vehicles to the launch pads. Discovery awaits liftoff on April 24 on Mission STS-31, while Columbia is scheduled for launch in May on Mission STS-35.”
This is a really nice-looking photograph. Despite my best efforts, the scan doesn’t do it justice.
"Columbia, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 102, slated for mission STS-35, left, rolls past Atlantis, OV-104, on its way to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) launch pad 39A. OV-104, being readied for STS-38, is parked in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) following its rollback from the pad for liquid hydrogen (LH₂) line repairs."
While this made for a spectacular & rarely seen photo, it would've been much better for it to have never been the case.
The much more widely published/seen photo of the "conjunction":
images.nasa.gov/details/S90-46555
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/flyout/multimedia/atla...
Finally, this "head-to-head" comparison of orbiter vehicles nicely reveals Columbia's black "chines" on the upper surface of the shuttle's forward wing. These black areas were incorporated because the first shuttle's designers did not know how reentry heating would affect the craft's upper wing surfaces.
It can be seen to terminate in line with where the fly of the United States flag on the fuselage also terminates.
“The Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia arrives at Launch Pad 39A atop a Mobile Launch Platform June 11 after its 3.4-mile rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) atop the crawler-transporter during final preparations for the STS-94 mission. The primary payload for the 16-day mission is the Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL-1) Spacelab module, which previously flew aboard Columbia during the STS-38 mission in April. The MSL-1 module will fly again with the full complement of STS-83 experiments after that mission was cut short due to indications of a faulty fuel cell. During the STS-94 mission, the experiments will be used to test some of the hardware, facilities that are planned for use on the International Space Station while the flight crew conducts combustion, protein crystal growth and materials processing experiments.”
A wonderfully detailed view of Columbia (OV-102), epitomizing what a used spacecraft looks like, prior to her 23rd mission. Note the Shuttle Infrared Leeside Temperature Sensing (SILTS) pod atop Columbia's vertical stabilizer, which used an infrared camera to observe reentry heating on the shuttle's left wing and part of its fuselage. The camera was first used on STS-61C and only a few more missions after that; however, the pod remained on Columbia for the remainder of her operational life.
My reference to the SILTS pod is paraphrased from the following:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-61-C
Credit: Wikipedia
“The first Space Shuttle vehicle destined to fly in space moves toward Pad A at Launch Complex 39 where it will be launched. The STS-1 vehicle, consisting of America’s first reusable spaceship - the Orbiter Columbia, an external propellant tank and two solid rocket boosters, was assembled on a Mobile Launcher Platform in the Vehicle Assembly Building. A six-million pound tractor, called the Crawler-Transporter, is used to carry the Space Shuttle from the VAB to the launch pad, some 3.5 miles away.”
A simpler, more trusting and I suppose, naïve time...I believe that's a TWA Services tour bus, directly in the path of the shuttle stack, immediately at the start of the incline up to LC-39A.
Official NASA/KSC pre-flight documentation photo of STS-8/Challenger, date stamped 30 August 1983 on verso.
science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-8/mission-sts-8...
