Is the reason why NASA needed to launch frequently (no matter the risk) is because they promised Congress they could do so in order to put payloads into space for money? I didn't get the whole Air Force connection, were they in competition to provide the payloads for Congress as well?
Thx.
Yes, the Space Shuttle program was originally meant to be a profitable endeavor. But in order to do that they would have had to launch a shuttle something like once every 2 weeks, which is now known to have been an impossible goal. So they were under tremendous pressure to launch as many vehicles in as short a time as possible.
I don't know if NASA was ever in direct competition with the Air Force to launch payloads, but since the beginning of the space program the Air Force has had the ability to launch it's own satellites. I think they actually had a manned spaceflight program that was canceled before any flights, but I may be imagining that.
Ironically the Air Force was one of NASA's biggest contracts because the shuttle was perfect for launching big, heavy spy satellites. But after the Challenger disaster, and with the advent of more powerful single use rockets, the space shuttle was deemed too unreliable for the Air Force to keep using it to launch their billion dollar satellites.
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The Air Force built its own shuttle launch complex at Vandenberg AFB in California. Construction was complete or nearly so when the project was cancelled because of safety and budget considerations. It's still there. If you have Google Earth, go to: 34 34 52 N, 120 37 38 W.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandenberg_AFB_Space_Launch_Complex_6
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In the mid 70's NASA claimed that the Shuttle would complete 500 missions by the end of 1992, they managed a total of 135 in 30 years. There's simply ynwa way they could have managed that with the fleet of 4 Orbiters they were planning to build, they'd have fallen apart under the strain even if all the other problems that exist.
It was a stupid promise made simply to keep the funding stream going and to put one over on USAF. Basically it was another symptom of the complacent management culture at NASA which eventually led to Challenger.