Thanks for posting, brings back a lot of memories.
I was with Sperry Flight Systems at the time of the first launch. (later bought by Honeywell, then bought by Allied Signal)
As I remember, during an early countdown (the first?) a problem was found with the MDM boxes, and subsequently the same fault was found in all the spares. I had just arrived to start my shift, (3rd) in the Short Order Machine Shop. My boss told me to get my tools ready, and not to start any work, but to stand by for the possibility of some very high priority, short notice work, of at that time, unknown type.
WTF?
I later learned that NASA had put MDM boxes from the shuttle on an F-15 and flown them to Deer Valley Airport, then used Sperry's taxiway to bring them directly to our plant for repair/modification.
The big brass all came in at midnight, and had all departments who might be involved in this fix pick some key people to stand by just in case they were needed.
For my part, the only reason I could guess that they had me standing by was in case someone broke a screw off or stripped a HeliCoil, or something along those lines.
I sat my whole shift doing nothing except cleaning & organizing my tools.
The boxes were returned a few hours later by the company jet, and the countdown resumed.
I never heard what the fault was, but I assume it was in the circuit boards or wiring, because the boxes spent the whole time in our production assembly area, where they did such things.
The F-15 sat next to the hangar (under guard) in our compound 3 or 4 days until a crew from Luke AFB came out to service it for the return flight to Florida. I talked extensively to the ground crew & pilot before they left, they were very interesting & had a lot of insider info.
( I was captain of the Fire Department, and had to "oversee" their work on our property.
)
