No signs accompanied this curiosity at the Joe Davies’
Heritage Park in Palmdale. Lacking
evidence to the contrary, I assumed it was a mockup to assist engineers during
the design phase, or used by the astronauts during preflight simulations. When I did a little
Internet-investigation, I discovered I was wrong on both
counts.
During the Space Shuttle's design phase, NASA conducted numerous safety tests. In 1977, four years before the first shuttle flight, this
test vehicle was bolted onto a rocket sled.
According to Robert Pearlman at Collectspace.com, “The test
worked fine with the overhead hatch blowing off and the ejection seat with a
dummy shot out and the chute opened.
Then you could see the hatch fly down and slice the dummy in half. OOPS!”
 |
| This, and more great photos, can be found at Robert Pearlman's forum. |
Test crash dummies lead incredibly dangerous lives, do they
not?
Due to the way it blasted into and returned from space, NASA
chose not to incorporate an escape capsule into the Space Shuttle’s
design. They installed ejections seats
on Columbia’s first four flights, though. And
what kind of ejection seats did they use, you ask? As far as I can ascertain, the ejection seats
used for the crash tests, and those they later installed in the Columbia, were modified versions of those in the SR-71 Blackbirds.
Just another way that those beautiful reconnaissance planes served our country.
Dragon Dave
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