AF Delays 1st Shuttle Launch at Vandenberg Until Early ’86

The first launch of the space shuttle from Vandenberg Air Force Base has been delayed until early next year because of problems in meeting the shuttle’s ambitious launch schedule, the space agency and the Air Force announced Tuesday.

The launch had been scheduled for Oct. 15, but the shuttle Discovery, which is to be based at Vandenberg, will remain at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for two more missions than had been expected. The delay also will provide an “added margin” of time to ensure that the secret military payload it will carry on its first launch from Vandenberg will be ready.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the launch will be no sooner than Jan. 29, 1986--a 3 1/2-month delay.

Launch of Discovery

In the meantime, Discovery--the only operational member of the shuttle fleet--will be launched from the Florida spaceport Jan. 23 on a mission that was to have been flown by the shuttle Challenger, which has been grounded because of problems with insulation tiles. The mission will be the first classified flight in the history of the space shuttle program and the first flight in which the entire payload belongs to the Defense Department.

Discovery will remain in Florida until September before moving to its new base at the Central California facility. It was to have been shipped to California in May.

Spokesmen for NASA and the Air Force emphasized Tuesday that the delay in the first Vandenberg launch was not caused by any problems in the construction of the launch facilities at Vandenberg. Construction there was described as “on schedule” by an Air Force spokesman.

Since Discovery will be based permanently at Vandenberg, most of its flights in the years ahead will be military, although NASA also expects to use the Discovery for some scientific flights out of Vandenberg.