Atlantis (OV-104)


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Atlantis, the forth orbiter to join the fleet of Shuttle orbiters was named after the primary research vessel for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, from 1930, to 1966. The two-masted, 460-ton ketch was the first U.S. vessel to be used for oceanographic research. Such research was considered to be one of the last strong holds of the of the sailing vessel as stream-and-diesel-powered vessels dominated the waterways. The steel-hulled ocean research ship was about 140 feet long and 29 feet wide to add to the stability of the ship. It featured a crew of 17 and room for five additional scientists on board. The research personnel worked in two onboard laboratories, examining water samples and marine life brought aboard the ship by two large winches from thousands of feet below the surface. The water samples taken from different depths varied in temperature, providing some clues to the flow of ocean currents. The crew also used the first electronic sounding devices to map the ocean floor.

The spaceship Atlantis has carried on the spirit of the sailing vessel with several its own important voyages, such as: the Galileo planetary explorer mission in 1989, and the deployment of the Arthur Holley Compton Gamma Ray Observatory in 1991. In the modern world of Shuttle operations and processing, Space Shuttle orbiters go by a more prosaic designation. Atlantis is commonly referred to as OV-104, for Orbiter Vehicle-104. Empty Weight was 151,315 pounds at roll-out 171,000 pounds with main engines installed.

Atlantis also benefited from the lessons learned during the construction and testing of Enterprise, Columbia, and Challenger. At roll-out, its weight was about 6,974 pounds less than Columbia. The experience gained during the orbiter assembly process also enabled Atlantis to be completed with a 49.5 percent reduction in man hours (compared to Columbia). Much of this decrease can be attributed to the greater use of thermal protection blankets on the upper orbiter body instead of tiles. During the construction of Discovery and Atlantis., NASA pushed to have the various contractors manufacture a set of "structural spares" to facilitate the repair of an Orbiter if one was damaged during an accident. This contract was valued at $389 million and consisted of a spare aft-fuselage, mid-fuselage, forward fuselage halves, vertical tail and rudder, wings, elevons and a body flap. These spares were later assembled into the orbiter Endeavour(made as replacement for Challenger). Atlantis was shipped to California to undergo upgrades and modifications. These modifications include a drag chute, new plumbing lines that configure the orbiter for extended duration, more than 800 new heat protection tiles and blankets and new insulation for the main landing gear doors, structural mods to the Atlantis airframe. Altogether, 165 modifications were made to Atlantis over the 20 months it spent in Palmdale, California.

Atlantis flights to date


Alantis Flight Logs to date

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Last Updated by TeamQuest '96 c/o hotshots@ix.netcom.com on August 15th 1996 at 20:59:59 PDT