WYLBB@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Michael Linn) (08/16/88)
In response to: > Hi. I am trying to trace a certain poster that I have hanging on >my wall. It's a night time shot of a Shuttle on the launch pad. I >guess u would call it a frontal shot (as opposed to side shots or >top down views). The only noticeable oddity is the WHITE fuel tank, >the shot is tilted so i can see more of the rightside of the shuttle >(i can read the NASA and USA markings), but the left side is obscured. > Other clues: writing on the poster > Verkerke Poster/6402/Space Shuttle/Photo : Ken Sherman - Bruce >Coleman/Verkerke Copyright & Licensing GMBM 1983/..../Printed in the >Netherlands. > If anyone can tell me what shuttle flight this is, could you please >drop a note to me? Since the copywrite date is 1983, it must be either the Enterprise, Columbia or Challenger. (Discovery didn't make its debut until 1984). The exact shape and location of the black trim in front of the cockpit and at the apex area of the wings is slightly different for each orbiter vehicle, and can thus help to identify it. A white external fuel tank was used with the Enterprise and also the first two missions of Columbia. I don't remember whether STS-8 (Challenger) ir STS-9 (Columbia) had white tanks, although probably not. I do know that STS-3 through STS-7 had the more familiar rust/orange tank. So, without the poster in front of me, I'd say it's either the Enterprise or one of the first two flights of Columbia (STS-1 or STS-2).
aaa@pixar.UUCP (Tony Apodaca) (08/24/88)
In an ancient article, someone wrote: > > Hi. I am trying to trace a certain poster that I have hanging on >my wall. It's a night time shot of a Shuttle on the launch pad. I >guess u would call it a frontal shot (as opposed to side shots or >top down views). The only noticeable oddity is the WHITE fuel tank, > > If anyone can tell me what shuttle flight this is, could you please >drop a note to me? Lots of people answered "STS-[123]", and quoted various statistics about paint weight, etc. Well, if the poster is the same as the poster *I* have, (Frontal shot, white tank, well-lit shuttle but dark gantry, and a full moon... wonderfully ironic shot then, even more so now!) it is not a launch at all, but a test rollout of Enterprise quite a while before STS-1. The (not-so) secret way to tell the Enterprise from the other orbiters (when you can't read the name on the side) is that Enterprise has white wings and chines. The spaceworthy orbiters have black chines (chine == the long thin part of the wing, forward of the main wing). -- UUCP: {sun,ucbvax}!pixar!aaa Tony Apodaca ARPA,BITNET: aaa%pixar.uucp@sun.com Pixar, San Rafael, CA, USA