[pdonis]

> They very nearly lost the first shuttle they launched.

Which mission are you referring to?

If it's STS-1, AFAIK there were no close call incidents during the actual flight, but the mission commander, John Young, did have to veto a suggestion to make that mission an RTLS abort instead of an actual orbital flight. Doing that would have been reckless, yes: Young's reason for not doing it was "Let's not practice Russian roulette."

[mikkupikku]

The overpressure caused by the SRB ignitions exceeded predictions due to the geometry of the launch pad. This overpressure forced the orbiter's bodyflap away, beyond the design limits of the hydraulic system that controls it. John Young said that if he had known this, he would have ejected, which would have caused the loss of the shuttle.

[pdonis]

Ah, I see. But in fact the body flap was not inoperative, and the Shuttle landed safely. So this looks to me like a case where Mission Control turned out to be justified in not telling the crew what had happened.

One thing I wonder about is whether it would have been possible to test the flap while in orbit, to see if the hydraulic lines were actually ruptured or not.

[mikkupikku]

They made the right call, kind of, and only by accident. John Young had telemetry for the flap available to him in the cockpit but didn't notice it happen at the time. NASA ground control also had the telemetry, but also didn't notice / understand until after it was too late to eject (which was only possible during a narrow window for ascent, and not at all for reentry if the body flap had been inoperable.) They also simply got lucky the hydraulic system performed beyond it's designed safety margin.