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- STS an abbreviation for Space Transportation System, the official name for the United States' Space Shuttle program. STS-1 is also an abbreviation for Synchronous Transport Signal (level)-1 in the SONET hierarchy.
| Mission insignia | |
|---|---|
| Mission statistics | |
| Mission: | STS-1 |
| Shuttle: | Columbia |
| Launch pad: | 39A |
| Launch: | April 12, 1981 6:00:03 a.m. CST (12:00:03 UTC) |
| Landing: | April 14, 1981 12:20:57 p.m. CST (18:20:57 UTC) Edwards AFB, Runway 23 |
| Duration: | 2 days, 6 hours, 20 minutes, 53 seconds |
| Orbit altitude: | 166 nautical miles (307 km) |
| Orbit inclination: | 40.3 degrees |
| Orbits: | 36 |
| Distance traveled: | 1,074,000 miles (1,728,000 km) |
| Crew photo | |
|
Crew members John W. Young and Robert L. Crippen pose in ejection escape suits (EES) with small model of space shuttle. | Previous mission: None |
Next mission: STS-2 |
The first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1, was launched April 12, 1981, and returned April 14. Space Shuttle Columbia orbited the earth 36 times in this 54.5 hour mission. It was the first US manned space flight since the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in July 1975.
Crew
- Commander: John W. Young (flew on Gemini 3, Gemini 10, Apollo 10, Apollo 16, STS-1, & STS-9)
- Pilot: Robert Crippen (flew on STS-1, STS-7, STS-41-C, & STS-41-G)
The crew of STS-2 served as backup for this mission.
- Backup Commander: Joe Engle
- Backup Pilot: Richard Truly
Mission parameters
- Mass:
- Orbiter Liftoff: 99,453 kg
- Orbiter Landing: 88,662 kg
- DFI payload: 4,909 kg
- Perigee: 240 km
- Apogee: 251 km
- Inclination: 40.3°
- Period: 89.4 min
Mission highlights
The first launch of the Space Shuttle occurred on April 12, 1981, when the orbiter Columbia, with two crew members, astronauts John W. Young, commander, and Robert L. Crippen, pilot, lifted off from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, at the Kennedy Space Center -- the first of 24 launches from Pad A. It was exactly 7 a.m. EST. A launch attempt, 2 days before, was scrubbed because of a timing problem in one of the Columbia's general purpose computers.
Not only was this the first launch of the Space Shuttle, but it marked the first time that solid fuel rockets were used for a U.S. manned launch. It was also the first US manned space vehicle launched without an unmanned powered test flight. The STS-1 orbiter, Columbia, also holds the record for the amount of time spent in the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) before launch -- 610 days, time needed for replacement of many of its heat shield tiles.
Primary mission objectives of the maiden flight were to check out the overall Shuttle system, accomplish a safe ascent into orbit and to return to Earth for a safe landing. All of these objectives were met successfully and the Shuttle's worthiness as a space vehicle was verified.
The only payload carried on the mission was a Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI) package which contained sensors and measuring devices to record orbiter performance and the stresses that occurred during launch, ascent, orbital flight, descent and landing.
The 36-orbit, 933,757-mile-long flight lasted 2 days, 6 hours, 20 minutes and 32 seconds. Landing took place on Runway 23 at Edwards AFB, Calif., on April 14, 1981, at 10:21 a.m. PST.
Columbia was returned to Kennedy Space Center from California on April 28 atop its 747 carrier aircraft.
Mission anomalies
STS-1 was the first test flight of what was, at the time, probably the most complex spacecraft ever built. Unsurprisingly, there were numerous problems -- 'anomalies' in NASA parlance -- on the flight, as many systems could not be adequately tested on the ground or independently. Some of the more serious or interesting were:
- During reentry a protruding tile gap filler ducted hot gas into the right main landing gear well, which caused significant damage including buckling of the landing gear doorSpace Review. Also, a tile next to the right-hand External Tank (ET) door on the underside of the shuttle was incorrectly installed, leading to excessive re-entry heating and melting of the part of the ET door latch.
- Inspection by astronauts while in orbit showed significant damage to the thermal protection tiles on the OMS/RCS pods at the orbiter aft end, and John Young reported that two tiles on the nose looked like someone took 'big bites out of them'STS-1 Technical Crew Debriefing, page 4-4. Post-flight inspection of Columbia's heat shield revealed that an overpressure wave from the Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) ignition resulted in the loss of 16 tiles and damage to 148 others.
- The same overpressure wave pushed the body flap below the main engines at the rear of the shuttle well past the point where damage to the hydraulic system would be expected, which would have made a safe re-entry impossible. The crew were unaware of this until after the flight, and John Young reportedly said that if they had been aware of the potential damage at the time, they would have flown the shuttle up to a safe altitude and ejected. Columbia would have been lost on the first flight.Quoted by James Oberg
- Bob Crippen reported that all through the first stage of the launch up to SRB seperation he saw 'white stuff' coming off the External Tank and splattering the windows, which was probably ET foamSTS-1 Technical Crew Debriefing, page 4-4.
- The toilet suffered from 'low urinal flow and a feces seperation problem'.
- Columbia's aerodynamics at high Mach number were found to differ significantly in some respects from those estimated in pre-flight testing. As a result the computer extended the body flap by fourteen degrees rather than the expected eight or nine, and side-slip after the first re-entry roll maneuver exceeded pre-planned safe limits.
For a more complete list, see the STS-1 Anomaly Report, the source for most of the anomalies listed above.
Despite these problems, STS-1 was a successful test and in most respects Columbia came through with flying colors. After some modifications to the shuttle and to the launch and re-entry procedures Columbia would fly the next four Shuttle missions.
Mission insignia
The artwork for the official mission insignia was designed by artist Robert McCall.
Anniversary
Yuri's Night is an international celebration held on April 12 every year to commemorate the first human in space and the first Space Shuttle launch.
In tribute to the 25th anniversary of the first flight of Space Shuttle, the firing room 1 in the Launch Control Center at Kennedy Space Center is renamed to the Young-Crippen Firing Room, dedicating the firing room that launched the historic flight and the crew of STS-1.
NASA described the mission as: "The boldest test flight in history" *
Trivia
- The song "Countdown" by Rush from the 1982 album Signals was written about STS-1 and the inaugural Space Shuttle flight of Columbia. The song was "dedicated with thanks to astronauts Young & Crippen and all the people of NASA for their inspiration and cooperation". The song "Red Sector A" from their 1983 album Grace Under Pressure was named for the area where the band witnessed the launch.
Hail Columbia!
IMAX cameras filmed the launch, landing, and mission control during the flight for a film entitled Hail Columbia!, which debuted in 1982. It is now available on DVD. The title of the film comes from the pre-1930s unofficial American national anthem, also titled Hail, Columbia.
See also
- Space science
- Space shuttle
- Space shuttle thermal protection system
- List of manned spaceflights to the ISS
- List of space shuttle missions
- List of human spaceflights chronologically
Media
References
External links
- NASA PAO page about STS-1
- 04/27/06: Astronaut Bob Crippen Awarded Congressional Space Medal of Honor
- 04/12/06: Remembering STS-1 and Yuri Gagarin
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"STS-1"