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STS-1 (
Space Transportation System The Space Transportation System (STS), also known internally to NASA as the Integrated Program Plan (IPP), was a proposed system of reusable crewed spacecraft, space vehicles envisioned in 1969 to support extended operations beyond the Apollo ...
-1) was the first
orbital spaceflight An orbital spaceflight (or orbital flight) is a spaceflight in which a spacecraft is placed on a trajectory where it could remain in space for at least one orbit. To do this around the Earth, it must be on a free trajectory which has an altit ...
of
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
's
Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...
. The first
orbiter A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, ...
, ''Columbia'', launched on April 12, 1981, and returned on April 14, 1981, 54.5 hours later, having orbited the Earth 37 times. ''Columbia'' carried a crew of two—commander John W. Young and pilot Robert L. Crippen. It was the first American crewed space flight since the
Apollo–Soyuz Test Project Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as an American Apollo spacecraft docked wit ...
(ASTP) in 1975. STS-1 was also the maiden test flight of a new American spacecraft to carry a crew, though it was preceded by atmospheric testing (ALT) of the orbiter and ground testing of the Space Shuttle system. The launch occurred on the 20th anniversary of
Vostok 1 Vostok 1 (, ) was the first spaceflight of the Vostok programme and the first human spaceflight, human orbital spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA space capsule was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 12 April 1961, with Soviet astronaut, c ...
, the first human spaceflight, performed by
Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful Human spaceflight, crewed sp ...
for the
USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. This was a coincidence rather than a celebration of the anniversary; a technical problem had prevented STS-1 from launching two days earlier, as was planned.


Crew

Commander John Young and pilot Robert Crippen were selected as the STS-1 crew in early 1978. Young stated that as the Chief of the Astronaut Office he recommended himself to command the mission. Young, with four previous missions, was the most experienced astronaut in NASA at the time and was also the only member of
NASA Astronaut Group 2 NASA Astronaut Group 2 (nicknamed the "Next Nine" and the "New Nine") was the second group of astronauts selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Their selection was announced on September 17, 1962. The group augmen ...
still in service. He flew twice on
Project Gemini Project Gemini () was the second United States human spaceflight program to fly. Conducted after the first American crewed space program, Project Mercury, while the Apollo program was still in early development, Gemini was conceived in 1961 and ...
and twice on the
Apollo program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...
, walked on the Moon in 1972 as the Commander of
Apollo 16 Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth human spaceflight, crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to Moon landing, land on the Moon. It was the second o ...
, and became Chief of the Astronaut Office in 1974. Crippen, part of NASA Astronaut Group 7 after the cancellation of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL), was a rookie and would become the first of his astronaut group to fly in space. Prior to his selection on STS-1, Crippen participated in the Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test (SMEAT) and also served as a
capsule communicator Flight controllers are personnel who aid space flight by working in mission control centers such as NASA's Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center or ESA's European Space Operations Centre. Flight controllers work at computer consoles ...
(capcom) for all three
Skylab Skylab was the United States' first space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Skylab was constructe ...
missions and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). ''Columbia'' carried
Extravehicular Mobility Unit The Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) is an independent spacesuit that provides environmental protection, mobility, life support, and communications for astronauts performing extravehicular activity (EVA) in Geocentric orbit, Earth orbit. Introd ...
s (EMU) for both Young and Crippen in the event of an emergency spacewalk. If such an event occurred, Crippen would go outside the orbiter, with Young standing by in case Crippen required assistance. Young and Crippen trained the longest for a space mission before flying in NASA history. If STS-1 had launched in March 1979 as originally scheduled "We'd have been launched about halftrained", Young said. As no one had flown the shuttle before, they helped design the craft's controls, including 2,214 switches and displays in the cockpit — about three times as many on the
Apollo command module The Apollo command and service module (CSM) was one of two principal components of the United States Apollo (spacecraft), Apollo spacecraft, used for the Apollo program, which landed astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. The CSM functi ...
— and many contingency procedures. STS-1 carried 22 manuals, each three inches thick and together weighing ; the procedure for an electronics failure from a cooling system malfunction had 255 steps.


Backup crew


Support crew

* Daniel C. Brandenstein (ascent CAPCOM) * Henry W. Hartsfield *
Joseph P. Allen Joseph Percival "Joe" Allen IV (born June 27, 1937) is an American former NASA astronaut. He logged more than 3,000 hours flying time in jet aircraft. Early life and education Allen was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, in June 1937. His paren ...
(entry CAPCOM)


Mission parameters

*
Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
: ** Orbiter liftoff: ** Orbiter landing: ** DFI payload: *
Perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...
: *
Apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...
: *
Inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...
: 40.30° * Period: 89.88 minutes


Crew seat assignments


Suborbital mission plan

During the original planning stages for the early Space Shuttle missions, NASA management under the
Carter Administration Jimmy Carter's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 39th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Jimmy Carter, his inauguration on January 20, 1977, and ended on January 20, 1981. Carter, a Democratic Party ...
felt a need to undertake initial tests of the system prior to the first orbital flight. To that end,
Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...
Walter F. Mondale as chairman of the National Space Council suggested a suborbital flight landing at the emergency landing site at Dakar, Senegal. NASA further suggested that STS-1, instead of being an orbital flight, be used to test the Return To Launch Site (RTLS) abort scenario. This involved an abort being called in the first few moments after launch, and using its main engines, once the SRBs had been jettisoned, to power it back to the launch site. This scenario, while potentially necessary in the event of an early abort being called, was seen as being extremely dangerous. Young overruled both proposals, and STS-1 went ahead as the first orbital mission. The NASA managers were swayed by Young questioning the need for the test, and the weight of his opinion was especially strong as he was someone who not only had been to the Moon twice, but had walked on it. He would fly the Space Shuttle again on the STS-9 mission, a ten-day flight in 1983.


Mission summary

The first launch of the Space Shuttle occurred on April 12, 1981, exactly 20years after the first crewed space flight, when the
orbiter A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, ...
''Columbia'' lifted off from Pad A,
Launch Complex 39 Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) is a rocket launch site at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, Merritt Island in Florida, United States. The site and its collection of facilities were originally built as the Apollo program's ...
, at the
Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...
. The launch took place at 12:00:04
UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...
. A launch attempt two days earlier was scrubbed because ''Columbia''s four primary general purpose IBM System/4 Pi computers (GPCs) failed to provide correct timing to the backup flight system (BFS) when the GPCs were scheduled to transition from vehicle checkout to flight configuration mode. Not only was this the first launch of the Space Shuttle, but it marked the first time that
solid-fuel rocket A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses Rocket propellant#Solid chemical propellants, solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder. The incepti ...
s were used for a NASA crewed launch (although previous systems had used solid-fuel motors for their escape towers or retro rockets). STS-1 was also the first U.S. crewed space vehicle launched without an uncrewed powered test flight. The STS-1 orbiter, ''Columbia'', also holds the record for the amount of time spent in the
Orbiter Processing Facility Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) is a class of hangars where U.S. Space Shuttle orbiters underwent maintenance between flights. They are located west of the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the orbiter was mated with its external tank and Space ...
(OPF) before launch – 610 days, the time needed for the replacement of many of its heat shield tiles. The NASA mission objective for the maiden flight was to accomplish a safe ascent into orbit and return to Earth for a safe landing of Orbiter and crew. The only payload carried on the mission was a Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI) package, which contained sensors and measuring devices to record the orbiter's performance and the stresses that occurred during launch, ascent, orbital flight, descent and landing. All 113 flight test objectives were accomplished, and the orbiter's
spaceworthiness Spaceworthiness, or aerospaceworthiness, is a property, or ability of a spacecraft to perform to its design objectives and Flight dynamics (spacecraft), navigate successfully through both the outer space, space environment and the atmosphere as a ...
was verified. During the final T−9minute holding period, Launch Director George Page read a message of good wishes to the crew from
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
, ending with, "John, we can't do more from the launch team than say, we wish you an awful lot of luck. We are with you one thousand percent and we are awful proud to have been a part of it. Good luck gentlemen." Ignition of the three
RS-25 The RS-25, also known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine that was used on NASA's Space Shuttle and is used on the Space Launch System. Designed and manufactured in the United States by Rocketd ...
main engines was sensed as a sharp increase in noise. The stack rocked "downwards" (towards the crew's feet), then back up to the vertical, at which point both Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) ignited. Crippen likened lift-off to a "steam catapult shot" (such as when an aircraft is launched from an aircraft carrier). The stack's combined northwards translation and climb above the launch tower's lightning rod were readily apparent to Young. After clearing the tower the stack began a right roll (until the +Z axis or vertical fin pointed) to a launch azimuth of 067° True (in order to achieve an orbital inclination of 40.30°), and pitched to a "heads down" attitude (to reduce loading on the wings). Simultaneously control was passed from the launch team in
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
to Flight Director Neil Hutchinson's Silver team in Flight Control Room 1 (FCR 1) in
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
with astronaut Dan Brandenstein as their CAPCOM. ''Columbias main engines were throttled down to 65% thrust to transit the region of Max Q, the point during ascent when the shuttle undergoes maximum aerodynamic stress. This occurred 56 seconds into the flight at
Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...
1.06. The wind corrected value was (predicted , limit ). The two SRBs performed better than expected causing a lofted trajectory, and were jettisoned after burnout at 2 minutes and 12 seconds (at altitude, higher than planned). After 8 minutes and 34 seconds Mission Elapsed Time (MET), the main engines were shut down (MECO, at altitude ) and the external tank was jettisoned 18 seconds later to eventually break up and impact in the
Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...
. Two twin-engined Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engine burns of 86 seconds duration initiated at 10 minutes and 34 seconds MET and 75 seconds duration at 44 minutes 2 seconds MET inserted ''Columbia'' into a orbit. This subtle deviation from the original plan of circular went largely unnoticed. In fact, it adjusted the spacecraft's orbital period to take account of the April 10, 1981, scrub, so that attempts could still be made to use
KH-11 The KH-11 KENNEN (later renamed CRYSTAL,p.199-200 then Evolved Enhanced CRYSTAL System, and codenamed 1010 and Key Hole) is a type of reconnaissance satellite first launched by the American National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in December 19 ...
reconnaissance satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...
s to image ''Columbia'' on orbit. Overall Young commented that there was a lot less vibration and noise during launch than they had expected. However, the sensations accompanying the first firing of the large
Reaction Control System A reaction control system (RCS) is a spacecraft system that uses Thrusters (spacecraft), thrusters to provide Spacecraft attitude control, attitude control and translation (physics), translation. Alternatively, reaction wheels can be used for at ...
(RCS) jets surprised the crew. Crippen commented "it's like a big cannon just fired ... you don't like them the first time you hear them". Young reported that "the entire cabin vibrates ... it felt like the nose was being bent". Once on-orbit both crew members safed their ejection seats and unstrapped. The next critical event was payload bay door opening. This was essential to allow heat rejection from ''Columbia''s systems via the doors' space radiators. Failure to open these by the end of the second orbit would have resulted in a return to Earth at the end of the fifth orbit, before the limited capacity of the flash evaporator cooling system was exceeded. As they opened the doors the crew noticed that they had sustained damage to thermal protection system (TPS) tiles on the OMS pods. This was televised to the ground. Shortly afterwards Young, then Crippen doffed their emergency ejection suits. The majority of the crew's approximately 53hours in
low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...
was spent conducting systems tests. Despite the scheduling impact of efforts to image ''Columbia''s TPS by utilizing external assets, these were all accomplished. They included: Crew Optical Alignment Sight (COAS) calibration, star tracker performance,
Inertial Measurement Unit An inertial measurement unit (IMU) is an electronic device that measures and reports a body's specific force, angular rate, and sometimes the Orientation (geometry), orientation of the body, using a combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes, an ...
(IMU) performance, manual and automatic RCS testing, radiation measurement, propellant crossfeeding, hydraulics functioning, fuel cell purging, and photography. The OMS-3 and OMS-4 burns at 006:20:46 and 007:05:32 MET respectively raised this orbit to (compared to a planned circular). These two firings were single engined utilizing the crossfeed system. The crew reported a cold first night on board despite acceptable temperature indications. They found the second night comfortable after settings were adjusted. During the second day of the mission, the astronauts received a phone call from
Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
.
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
had originally intended to visit the
Mission Control Center A mission control center (MCC, sometimes called a flight control center or operations center) is a facility that manages spaceflight, space flights, usually from the point of launch until landing or the end of the mission. It is part of the gr ...
during the mission, but at the time was still recovering from an assassination attempt which had taken place two weeks before the launch (Reagan had only returned home to the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
the day prior to the launch). The crew awoke from their second sleep period earlier than planned. Preparations for return to Earth began with breakfast. Stowing of cabin items, flight control system checkout, data processing system reconfigurations, and then ejection suit donning followed. In Houston, the Crimson team headed by their Flight Director Don Puddy came on duty in FCR1 for the mission's final shift. His CAPCOM was astronaut
Joseph P. Allen Joseph Percival "Joe" Allen IV (born June 27, 1937) is an American former NASA astronaut. He logged more than 3,000 hours flying time in jet aircraft. Early life and education Allen was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, in June 1937. His paren ...
with Frederick Hauck assisting. Payload bay door closing was a critical milestone to ensure vehicle structural and thermal integrity for re-entry. If power closing had failed, Crippen was trained to conduct a one-man
extravehicular activity Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable atmosphere of Earth, Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environme ...
(EVA) to manually winch them closed. With cabin switch positions verified, the crew strapped into their ejection seats. Meanwhile,
Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight controller, flight control are conducted. ...
(JSC) pilots Charlie Hayes and Ted Mendenhall were airborne over
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
's
Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...
area in a
Shuttle Training Aircraft The Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) is a former NASA training vehicle that duplicated the Space Shuttle's approach profile and handling qualities, allowing pilots to simulate Shuttle landings under controlled conditions before attempting the tas ...
(STA) performing a final check of landing weather conditions.
Auxiliary Power Unit An auxiliary power unit (APU) is a device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion. They are commonly found on large aircraft and naval ships as well as some large land vehicles. Aircraft APUs generally produce 115&n ...
s (APUs) 2 and 3 were started (to provide flight control hydraulic pressure). The 160-second twin-engine OMS de-orbit burn took place during the 36th orbit over the southern Indian Ocean and changed the orbital parameters from to . This ensured atmospheric capture of the spacecraft close enough to the planned landing site to have sufficient energy for a controlled glide landing, but not so close that energy would have to be dissipated at a rate exceeding its structural capability. Young then slowly pitched ''Columbia'' up to the wings level nose high entry attitude. Both crew members armed their ejection seats during this pitch around. Nearly half an hour later APU 1 was started as planned. Shortly afterwards, ''Columbia'' entered an approximately 21-minute long communications blackout. This was due to a combination of ionization (16 minutes) and lack of ground station coverage between
Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...
and Buckhorn Tracking Station at Dryden Flight Research Facility. Entry Interface (EI) was reached over the eastern
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
from the landing site at a speed of around . EI is merely an arbitrarily defined geodetic altitude of employed by NASA for the purposes of trajectory computations and mission planning. Above this altitude, the spacecraft is considered to be outside the "sensable atmosphere". Most of this first orbiter entry was flown automatically. An initial
angle of attack In fluid dynamics, angle of attack (AOA, α, or \alpha) is the angle between a Airfoil#Airfoil terminology, reference line on a body (often the chord (aircraft), chord line of an airfoil) and the vector (geometry), vector representing the relat ...
of 40° had to be maintained until through the most severe aerodynamic heating after which it was gradually reduced. At about altitude a light pink air glow caused by entry heating became visible, and both crew members lowered their visors. ''Columbia'' had to maneuver "cross range" of its orbital ground track to reach the planned landing site during the entry. Consequently, a roll into a right bank was flown when the air density had increased sufficiently to raise dynamic pressure to (with speed still in excess of Mach 24 and approximately altitude). Automatic roll reversals to control energy dissipation rate and cross range steering were performed at around Mach 18.5 and Mach 9.8. The crew clearly observed the coast of
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
as ''Columbia'' crossed it near Big Sur at Mach 7 and . Both the Mach 4.8 and Mach 2.8 roll reversals were automatically initiated and manually completed by John Young. The last RCS jet firing took place at an altitude of — lower than desired (due to a predicted risk of combustion chamber explosion). Young again took manual control for the remainder of the flight as they went subsonic approaching the Heading Alignment Circle (HAC). A wide left turn was flown to line up with lake bed runway23, whilst T-38 "Chase1", crewed by astronauts
Jon McBride Jon Andrew McBride (August 14, 1943 – August 7, 2024) was an American United States Navy, naval officer, test pilot, astronaut and administrator for NASA. Throughout his career with the United States Navy, McBride served as an aviator, a fig ...
and "Pinky" Nelson joined formation. Main gear touch down occurred on runway23 at Edwards Air Force Base, at
equivalent airspeed In aviation, equivalent airspeed (EAS) is calibrated airspeed (CAS) corrected for the compressibility of air at a non-trivial Mach number. It is also the airspeed at sea level in the International Standard Atmosphere at which the dynamic pres ...
, slightly slower and around further down the runway than planned. This was the result of a combination of better than predicted Orbiter lift-to-drag ratios and tail wind. Touch down time was 18:21UTC on April 14, 1981. As they rolled to a stop, Young remarked over the radio, "This is the world's greatest all electric flying machine. I'll tell you that. That was super!" ''Columbia'' was returned to Kennedy Space Center from California on April 28, 1981, atop the
Shuttle Carrier Aircraft The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) are two extensively modified Boeing 747 airliners that NASA used to transport Space Shuttle orbiters. One (N905NA) is a 747-100 model, while the other (N911NA) is a short-range 747-100SR. Both are now retired. ...
. The 36-orbit, flight lasted 2days, 6hours, 20minutes and 53seconds.


Mission anomalies

STS-1 was the first orbital test flight of what NASA claims was, at the time, the most complex flying machine ever built. Roughly 70 anomalies were observed during and after the flight, owing to the many components and systems that could not otherwise be adequately tested. These included: * Similar to the first Saturn V launch in 1967, engineers underestimated the amount of noise and vibration produced by the Space Shuttle. Shock waves from the SRB thrust were deflected up into the orbiter's tail section, which flexed the wing flaps and bent several fuel tank supports; Columbia could have had trouble landing if the flaps had been damaged. An improved sound suppression system was later installed in LC-39A to damp vibrations. * Pilot Crippen reported that, throughout the first stage of the launch up to SRB separation, he saw "white stuff" coming off the External Tank and splattering the windows, which was probably the white paint covering the External Tank's thermal foam. * The astronauts' on-orbit visual inspection showed significant damage to the thermal protection tiles on the OMS/RCS pods at the orbiter's aft end, and John Young reported that two tiles on the nose looked like someone had taken "big bites out of them".STS-1 Technical Crew Debriefing, page 4-4 The U.S. Air Force also photographed the orbiter's tiles using a secret KH-11 KENNEN reconnaissance satellite controlled by Blue Cube. Only the prime and backup crews and a few other NASA employees were aware of this. Young and Crippen were instructed to perform maneuvers to align ''Columbia'' so that the KH-11 could photograph it; because of the preplanned required trajectory, the launch window was far narrower than the publicized six hours. Images obtained confirmed that damage to ''Columbia'' was not serious. Post-flight inspection of ''Columbia'' confirmed that approximately 16 undensified tiles near the OMS pod had been lost during ascent. * ''Columbias aerodynamics at high
Mach number The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physicist and philosopher Erns ...
s during reentry were found to differ significantly in some respects from those estimated in pre-flight testing. A misprediction of the location of the center of pressure (due to using an
ideal gas An ideal gas is a theoretical gas composed of many randomly moving point particles that are not subject to interparticle interactions. The ideal gas concept is useful because it obeys the ideal gas law, a simplified equation of state, and is ...
model instead of a
real gas Real gases are non-ideal gases whose molecules occupy space and have interactions; consequently, they do not adhere to the ideal gas law. To understand the behaviour of real gases, the following must be taken into account: * compressibility effec ...
model) caused the computer to have to extend the body flap by sixteen degrees rather than the expected eight or nine. The first roll maneuver resulted in lateral and directional oscillations during which side slip angles of up to 4° were reached, twice as high as predicted. Analysis attributed the cause to unexpectedly large rolling moments due to yaw RCS jet firings. During the early stages of entry, orbiter roll control is achieved as a result of
sideslip A slip is an aerodynamic state where an aircraft is moving ''somewhat'' sideways as well as forward relative to the oncoming airflow or relative wind. In other words, for a conventional aircraft, the nose will be pointing in the opposite directio ...
modulation. * The orbiter's heat shield was damaged when an
overpressure Overpressure (or blast overpressure) is the pressure caused by a shock wave over and above normal atmospheric pressure. The shock wave may be caused by sonic boom or by explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amoun ...
wave from the
solid rocket booster A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a solid propellant motor used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial launch through the first ascent. Many launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, SLS and Space Shuttle, have used SRBs to give laun ...
caused a forward RCS oxidizer strut to fail. * The same overpressure wave also forced the orbiter body flap – an extension on the orbiter's underbelly that helps to control pitch during reentry – into an angle well beyond the point where cracking or rupture of its
hydraulic Hydraulics () is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counterpart of pneumatics, which concer ...
system would have been expected. Such damage would have made a controlled descent impossible, with John Young later admitting that had the crew known about this, they would have flown the shuttle up to a safe altitude and ejected, causing ''Columbia'' to be lost on the first flight. Young had reservations about ejection as a safe abort mode due to the fact that the SRBs were firing throughout the ejection window, but he justified taking this risk because, in his view, an inoperative body flap would have made landing and descent "extremely difficult if not impossible." * The strike plate next to the forward latch of ''Columbia''s external tank door was melted and distorted due to excess heat exposure during reentry. This heat was attributed to an improperly installed tile adjacent to the plate. * During remarks at a 2003 gathering, John Young stated that a protruding tile gap filler ducted hot gas into the right main landing gear well, which caused significant damage, including the buckling of the landing gear door. He said that neither he nor Crippen were told about this incident and he was not aware that it had happened until reading the postflight mission report for STS-1, also adding that the gas leak was noted in the report, but not the buckling of the landing door. (The buckling of the door is in fact in the anomaly report, anomaly STS-1-V-49). Despite these problems, the STS-1 mission was completed successfully, and in most respects ''Columbia'' performed optimally. After some modifications to the Shuttle and to the launch and reentry procedures, ''Columbia'' flew the next four Shuttle missions.


Mission insignia

The artwork for the official mission insignia was designed by artist Robert McCall. It is a symbolic representation of the Space Shuttle. The image does not depict the black wing roots present on the actual Shuttle.


Anniversary

The ultimate launch date of STS-1 fell on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's Vostok 1, the first spaceflight to carry a human crew. In 2001, Yuri's Night was established to celebrate both events. In a tribute to the 25th anniversary of the first flight of Space Shuttle, Firing Room 1 in the Launch Control Center at Kennedy Space Center – which launched STS-1 – was renamed the Young-Crippen Firing Room. NASA described the mission as "the boldest test flight in history".


External tank

STS-1 and
STS-2 STS-2 was the second Space Shuttle mission conducted by NASA, and the second flight of the orbiter Space Shuttle Columbia, ''Columbia''. The mission, crewed by Joe Engle, Joe H. Engle and Richard H. Truly, launched on November 12, 1981, and lan ...
were the only two shuttle flights to have the External Tank painted white. To reduce the Shuttle's overall weight, all flights from
STS-3 STS-3 was NASA's third Space Shuttle mission, and was the third mission for the Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. It launched on March 22, 1982, and landed eight days later on March 30, 1982. The mission, crewed by Jack R. Lousma and C. Gordon Fu ...
onward used an unpainted tank. The use of an unpainted tank provided a weight saving of approximately ,NAS
"NASA Takes Delivery of 100th Space Shuttle External Tank"
Press release p. 99–193 16 August 1999 Retrieved July 17, 2013
and gave the External Tank the distinctive orange color which later became associated with the Space Shuttle.


In popular culture

The song " Countdown" by Rush, from the 1982 album ''
Signals A signal is both the process and the result of Signal transmission, transmission of data over some transmission media, media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processin ...
'', was written about STS-1 and the inaugural flight of ''Columbia''. The song was "dedicated with thanks to astronauts Young and Crippen and all the people of NASA for their inspiration and cooperation". The footage of the launch was commonly played on
MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and was the first thing shown on the channel, along with footage of
Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineer who, in 1969, became the Apollo 11#Lunar surface operations, first person to walk on the Moon. He was al ...
on the Moon and the launch of
Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...
.
IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...
cameras filmed the launch, landing, and mission control during the flight, for a documentary film entitled ''
Hail Columbia "Hail, Columbia" is an American patriotic song and ceremonial entrance march of the Vice President of the United States, vice president of the United States. It was originally considered to be one of the unofficial national anthems of the Unit ...
'', which debuted in 1982 and later became available on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
. The title of the film comes from the pre-1930s unofficial American national anthem, " Hail, Columbia". The beginning of the song "Hello Earth", on Kate Bush's 1985 '' Hounds of Love'' album, contains a short clip of dialogue between ''Columbia'' and Mission Control, during the last few minutes of its descent, beginning with "Columbia now at nine times the speed of sound..." In 2006, "Collateral Damage," the 12th episode of the ninth season of the long-running Canadian-American military science fiction television show ''
Stargate SG-1 ''Stargate SG-1'' (often stylized in all caps, or abbreviated ''SG-1'') is a military science fiction Adventure fiction, adventure television series within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate, ''Stargate'' franchise. The show, created by Brad Wrig ...
'', a childhood flashback shows that the character Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell witnessed the launch with his father live on television at the age of ten, one of the events that led to him becoming a
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
.


Wake-up calls

NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the
Project Gemini Project Gemini () was the second United States human spaceflight program to fly. Conducted after the first American crewed space program, Project Mercury, while the Apollo program was still in early development, Gemini was conceived in 1961 and ...
, and first used music to wake up a flight crew during
Apollo 15 Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the Apollo program and the fourth Moon landing. It was the first List of Apollo missions#Alphabetical mission types, J mission, with a longer stay on the Moon and a greate ...
. A special musical track is chosen for each day in space, often by the astronauts' families, to have a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or in reference to the day's planned activities.


Pad fatalities

An accident occurred on March 19, 1981, that led to the deaths of three people. During a countdown test for STS-1, a pure
nitrogen Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. ...
atmosphere was introduced in the aft engine compartment of Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' to reduce the danger of an explosion from the many other potentially dangerous gases on board the orbiter. At the conclusion of the test, pad workers were given clearance to return to work on the orbiter, even though the nitrogen had not yet been purged due to a recent procedural change. Three technicians, John Bjornstad, Forrest Cole, and Nick Mullon, entered the compartment without air packs, unaware of the danger since nitrogen gas is odorless and colorless, and lost consciousnesses due to lack of oxygen. Several minutes later, another worker saw them and tried to help, but passed out himself. The fourth did not alert anyone, but was himself seen by two other people. Of those two, one alerted a security guard and another went to help the unconscious group. The security guard entered the compartment with an air pack and removed the five men from the compartment. Security procedures delayed ambulances from arriving on the scene by several minutes. Bjornstad died at the scene; Cole died on April 1 without ever regaining consciousness, and Mullon suffered permanent brain damage and died on April 11, 1995, from complications of his injuries. These were the first launchpad deaths at Cape Canaveral since the
Apollo 1 Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was planned to be the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, the American undertaking to land the first man on the Moon. It was planned to launch on February 21, 1967, as the first low Earth orbital ...
fire, which killed three astronauts during preparations for the crewed Moon landing missions. The incident did not delay the launch of STS-1 less than a month later, but pilot Robert Crippen gave an on-orbit tribute to Bjornstad and Cole. A three-month inquiry determined a combination of a recent change in safety procedures and a miscommunication during the operations were the cause of the accident. A report called ''LC-39A Mishap Investigation Board Final Report'' was released with the findings. The names of John Bjornstad, Forrest Cole and Nicholas Mullon are engraved on a monument at the
US Space Walk of Fame The American Space Museum is a museum in Titusville, Florida. It includes the US Space Walk of Fame, an outdoor plaza on the Indian River (Florida), Indian River that honors both the astronauts and the NASA and Aerospace manufacturer, contractor p ...
in Florida.


Gallery

Image:Columbia STS-1 arrival at launch pad.jpg, ''Columbia''s arrival at Complex 39A, on 29 December 1980. Image:Columbia.sts-1.01.jpg, ''Columbia'' at Launch Complex 39A, on 12 April 1981. Image:R. Crippen and J. Young KSC-81P-0140.jpg, Commander John Young (right) and Pilot Robert Crippen (left) suit up for launch, on 12 April 1981. Image:Sts1-liftoff-columbia.triddle.jpg, ''Columbia'' lifts off at the beginning of STS-1. Image:STS-1 Columbia Cargo Bay.jpg, ''Columbia''s cargo bay and aft section, on 12 April 1981. Image:Columbia landing on Rogers dry lake.triddle.jpg, ''Columbia'' landing on
Rogers Dry Lake Rogers Dry Lake is an endorheic desert salt pan in the Mojave Desert of Kern County, California. The lake derives its name from the Anglicization from the Spanish name, Rodriguez Dry Lake. It is the central part of Edwards Air Force Base as its ...
bed at Edwards Air Force Base, on 14 April 1981. Image:S81-30852.jpg, ''Columbia'' after its successful landing. Image:STS-1 control room.jpg, An overall view of the Mission Operations Control Room in Houston during ''Columbia''s landing phase. Image:S81-32625.jpg, ''Columbia'', mated to the
Shuttle Carrier Aircraft The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) are two extensively modified Boeing 747 airliners that NASA used to transport Space Shuttle orbiters. One (N905NA) is a 747-100 model, while the other (N911NA) is a short-range 747-100SR. Both are now retired. ...
, arrives at Kennedy Space Center after STS-1 to be prepared for its next mission.


See also

* List of human spaceflights *
List of Space Shuttle missions The Space Shuttle is a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated by NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a sy ...
* Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster


References


Further reading

*


External links


STS-1 video highlights

NBC News coverage of launch of STS-1
* {{Orbital launches in 1981 Space Shuttle missions Edwards Air Force Base Spacecraft launched in 1981 1981 in Florida Spacecraft which reentered in 1981 Articles containing video clips April 1981 1981 in California John Young (astronaut)