Start Date

4-1988 8:00 AM

Description

The Launch Operations Flight Test One (LOFT-1) was originally conceived by E'Prime Aerospace Corporation (EPAC) of Titusville, Florida, as strictly an administrative pathfinder toward satisfying all governmental requirements for conducting commercial spaceflight activities from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). As the program progressed from early June 1987 toward the original launch date set in the Fall, the complexion of the flight changed dramatically to one of a bonafide scientific mission. Four individual educational/commercial organizations agreed to provide experiments. As such, LOFT-1 would mark the first launch of a privately developed and funded suborbital vehicle carrying payloads from the CCAFS.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville, by way of participants within the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department, volunteered to serve as a focal point for all LOFT-1 payload design and integration tasks. In addition, UAH went on to design and develop its own experiment. Given only a few short months between conception of the mission and the originally planned flight date of October 1^, 1987, it was necessary to define a close-knit team, literally from across the nation, to make the mission possible within the original time constraint.

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Apr 1st, 8:00 AM

LOFT-1 Mission: New Concepts For Educational and Commercial Spaceflight

The Launch Operations Flight Test One (LOFT-1) was originally conceived by E'Prime Aerospace Corporation (EPAC) of Titusville, Florida, as strictly an administrative pathfinder toward satisfying all governmental requirements for conducting commercial spaceflight activities from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). As the program progressed from early June 1987 toward the original launch date set in the Fall, the complexion of the flight changed dramatically to one of a bonafide scientific mission. Four individual educational/commercial organizations agreed to provide experiments. As such, LOFT-1 would mark the first launch of a privately developed and funded suborbital vehicle carrying payloads from the CCAFS.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville, by way of participants within the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department, volunteered to serve as a focal point for all LOFT-1 payload design and integration tasks. In addition, UAH went on to design and develop its own experiment. Given only a few short months between conception of the mission and the originally planned flight date of October 1^, 1987, it was necessary to define a close-knit team, literally from across the nation, to make the mission possible within the original time constraint.

 

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