https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/552577main_Shuttle_Propulsion_Mitig...
After all of that they were probably confident enough in the individual pieces working well individually that they were also decently confident that they'd all work well together during the STS-1. Although STS-1 through STS4 had ejection seats installed for both crew members, just in case. Perhaps the thinking was that if anything was going to go wrong, it would happen below 80k feet where the ejection seats would still be usable.
I always find myself laughing when propaganda material like this mixes units for the benefit of sounding more impressive. Capacity of 20 tons, yet they switch to pounds to get a larger number. 1,693,500lbs is only 846.75 tons, which just doesn't sound nearly as impressive.
The shuttle cockpit upgrades didn’t take place until late-1990s/early-2000s, and before then, it was just green text on CRTs.
Regardless, it’s amazing to see what people can achieve with enough interest and time.
Pedantry ;-)
" The Space Shuttle was a vehicle designed to do many things, and in a deal with the US Military it was redesigned to make it able to perform a very specific secret mission. The redesign radically changed the Shuttle from the early concepts to the actual design which we saw fly, but, before the shuttle even flew the secret mission had been abandoned.
"
Do you think a Tesla Model X isn't a stylish vehicle?
