#sts-26

Space Shuttle Discovery descending to land on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base at the conclusion of STS-26. It was the first Space Shuttle mission following the Challenger Disaster on January 28, 1986.

Date: October 4, 1988

Except for the countdown clock during my own three spaceflights, I have never watched a clock as closely as I watched the sleep timer during that first shift. To my mild astonishment but great delight, Robin Williams had jumped at the opportunity to help us celebrate the shuttle’s return to flight with a rousing crew wakeup call. On top of thinking it was a wildly fun idea, he had a personal connection to the crew: he and Pinky Nelson had been contemporaries at college in Southern California. He sent me a five-inch reel of tape with about a dozen variations of “Gooood morning, Discovery!” on it. At least half of them were so edgy that playing them on air-to-ground would surely have gotten me fired, but the others provided more than enough material for my needs. Mr. Williams’s agent had also been thrilled by our scheme because of the publicity boost it would offer. He gave me a scare when he laid out his plan for promoting Robin’s participation ahead of the launch. I told him in no uncertain terms that this was to be a surprise, and that I would destroy the tape if there was so much as a peep from their end beforehand (I had the foresight to demand they give me the studio master tape, so could make good on my threat). For the first morning’s wakeup, Pierre and I made an audio tape with two of Robin’s craziest opening shouts and a corny number Mike Cahill had written to the jaunty tune of the Green Acres sitcom title song. We had managed to keep our escapade secret the entire time it was afoot. Only Pierre, KT, and I knew what was about to hit the airwaves.

The sleep clock finally hit zero. The tone that signaled an active link to the shuttle beeped into everyone’s headset a fraction of a second later, followed instantly by Robin Williams bellowing “GOOOOOOOD MORNING, DISCOVERY!” Quizzical looks and then huge grins spread across the faces in the control room at the sound of his voice, so very familiar but utterly unexpected within the hallowed walls of space shuttle mission control. On he went: “Good morning, Discovery. Rise and shine, boys. Time to start doin’ that shuttle shuffle, you know what I mean? Hey, here’s a little song comin’ from the billions of us to the five of you. Rick, start ’em off, baby. The Hawkster, to you.” Then the “Green Acres” melody started, and Cahill and his pals launched into lyrics that seemed absolutely perfect for the shuttle team’s happiest day in nearly three years:

On orbit is the place to be,

Free-wheeling on Discovery.

Earth rolling by so far below.

Just give her the gas and look at this baby go.

We can’t believe we made it here,

So high above the atmosphere.

We just adore the scenery.

Yeah, Houston’s great but give me that zero-gee.

Hey, look out the window!

That’s neat!

Cap’n, I’m hungry.

Let’s eat!

Maybe we’ll land at … White Sands?

Uh-uh.

Look ma, no hands!

This is the life! Oh, what a flight!

Earth orbit, we are here!

Rick Hauck jumped onto the air-to-ground link as soon as the tune ended, with an exuberant, “Gooooood morning, Houston!” The STS-26 crew was clearly awake and in very good spirits.

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-26) began its 4-day mission on 29 September 1988.

The 5-person crew included mission specialist David C. Hilmer, Pilot Richard O. Covey, mission specialist George D. Nelson, commander Frederick H. Hauck, Jr., and mission specialist John, M. Lounge.