Aerospace: Conversations with a space shuttle Keeping experimenters in touch with orbiter-launched payloads requires a new earth-based communications support system

In less than three years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) space shuttle will become fully operational, ushering in a new era of orbital and interplanetary experiments. Important milestones involving hardware construction have already been passed. On September 17, 1976, the first of three (or possibly four) reusable space shuttle vehicles was rolled out for public display at Rockwell International's assembly plant in Palmdale, Calif. Officially called “Orbiter 101,” the spacecraft was soon christened the “Enterprise” by President Ford. (NASA spokesmen explain that fans of the television series “Star Trek” conducted a massive letter-writing campaign to the White House suggesting that the first space shuttle be named after the show's galaxy-hopping starship.)