Space Shuttle First Flights: The Amazing Flight Software People
The people who designed, tested and supported the Space Shuttle Flight Software were the most exceptional technical team I’ve encountered.
Space Shuttle First Flights: Discovery Launch Abort (June 1984)
The maiden voyage of Space Shuttle Discovery was scheduled for June 25, 1984. The first-ever main engine shutdown launch abort scared the crap out of us.
Space Shuttle First Flights: STS-1 (Columbia) The First Orbital Flight
Our Shuttle flight software team had the “distinction” of hearing Walter Cronkite describe, live and on national television, whether we’d done our work correctly.
Space Shuttle First Flights: Dick Truly – The Approach and Landing Tests
I had visions of the Space Shuttle Enterprise getting jostled during separation and colliding with the 747’s vertical stabilizer – which would definitely make for a bad day all around.
Space Shuttle First Flights: John Aaron (“Exceptional” Flight Software)
NASA’s John Aaron set high standards for IBM, and Space Shuttle onboard software came closer to “error-free” than any large, complex software ever built.
Space Shuttle First Flights: John Aaron (Software Failure Is Not An Option)
I met with John Aaron to explain why IBM couldn’t fulfill a Shuttle software contract that required zero errors. His answer changed my mind.
Space Shuttle First Flights: John Aaron (Error-Free Code?)
NASA required IBM’s Space Shuttle software to be delivered “error-free”. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand the likelihood of that was extremely low.
Space Shuttle First Flights: Ten Pounds in a Five Pound Sack
The first version of the Shuttle flight software had two serious problems: it couldn’t fit in the computer, and it ran way too slow. IBM was two years into the contract and basically nothing worked. All hell broke loose.
Space Shuttle First Flights: Bob Crippen and Dick Truly – Working with Astronauts
Hearing about the near-legendary competence of NASA astronauts was one thing, seeing it in action was humbling. Bob Crippen and Dick Truly, the two I got to work with on Space Shuttle, were the most impressive professionals I’ve met.
Space Shuttle First Flights: “Fly-by-Wire”
During high speed atmospheric flight, the extreme forces buffeting the Space Shuttle produced abrupt, violent oscillations that, left unattended, would cause it to spiral out of control. No human was capable of flying the Shuttle unassisted.
Latest Posts
Recent Comments