STS-3

Infobox Space mission
mission_name = STS-3
insignia = Sts3-patch.png shuttle = Columbia
launch_pad = 39-A
launch = March 22, 1982, 16:00:00 UTC
landing = March 30, 1982, 16:04:46 UTC
duration = 8d/00:04:46
altitude = 272 km
inclination = 38.0°
orbits = 130
distance = 5,367,008 km
crew_photo = STS-3_Crew.jpg
crew_caption = Lousma (left) and Fullerton
previous = STS-2
next = STS-4

STS-3 was the third space shuttle mission, and was the third mission for the Space Shuttle Columbia. It was the first launch with an unpainted external tank, and the only landing so far at the White Sands Space Harbor near Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Crew

Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to and including this mission.
*Jack Lousma (2) - Commander
*C. Gordon Fullerton (1) - Pilot

Backup crew

*Thomas K. Mattingly - Commander
*Henry W. Hartsfield Jr. - Pilot

Mission parameters

*Mass:
**"Orbiter Liftoff:" 235,514 lb (106,782 kg)
**"Orbiter Landing:" 207,067 lb (93,924 kg)
**"OSS Payload:" 22,710 lb (10,301 kg)
*Perigee: 150 mi (241 km)
*Apogee: 155 mi (249 km)
*Inclination: 38.0°
*Period: 89.4 min

Mission highlights

"Columbia" was launched on its third flight at 11:00 a.m. EST, on March 22, 1982, the planned launch date [cite web |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration |title=NASA - STS-3 |url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-3.html |accessdate=2008-05-09 ] . The launch was delayed 1 hour because of the failure of a heater on a nitrogen gas ground support line. "Columbia" had spent only 70 days in the Orbiter Processing Facility -- a record checkout time. The two-man crew included Jack R. Lousma, commander, and Charles G. Fullerton, pilot.

Major objectives of the flight were to continue testing the RMS arm, and to carry out extensive thermal testing of the "Columbia" by exposing its tail, nose and top to the Sun for varying periods of time.

In addition, in its payload bay, "Columbia" again carried the DFI package, and OSS-l -- named for the NASA Office of Space Science and Applications -- which consisted of a number of instruments mounted on a Spacelab pallet to obtain data on the near-Earth environment and the extent of contamination caused by the orbiter itself. A test canister for the Small Self-Contained Payload program -- also known as the Getaway Special (GAS) -- was mounted on a side of the payload bay.

For the first time a number of experiments were carried in the middeck lockers. These included a Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System experiment to study separation of biological components and a Monodisperse Latex Reactor experiment to produce uniform micrometre sized latex particles. The first Shuttle Student Involvement Project (SSIP) -- the study of insect motion -- also was carried in a middeck locker.

During the flight, both crew members experienced some space sickness, the toilet malfunctioned, one Auxiliary Power Unit overheated (but worked properly during descent), and three communications links were lost on March 26.

STS-3 was planned as a 7 day flight. However, it was extended an extra day because of high winds at the backup landing site, Northrop Strip, White Sands, New Mexico, since the planned landing site at Edwards Air Force Base had flooded due to excessive rain. A largescale equipment movement from Edwards AFB to White Sands was undertaken during the mission to ensure that a landing could be fully supported.

Touchdown finally took place at 9:05 a.m. MST, March 30, 1982, at Northrop Strip (later renamed White Sands Space Harbor). STS-3 was the only shuttle mission to land at White Sands Missile Range. The landing demonstrated that the Shuttle could land in the desert, but sand damaged the orbiter. The landing was also one of the more dramatic of the program, when the nose was raised again right before nose-gear touchdown.

"Columbia" made 130 orbits and traveled 3.3 million miles (5,400,000 km), during its 8 day, 4 minute, 45 second flight. A total of 36 tiles were lost and 19 were damaged. It was returned to KSC on April 6, 1982.

This was the last mission for which NASA named a backup crew.

Flight dedication

:"Just as the "Columbia", we think, represents man's finest aspirations in the field of science and technology, so too does the struggle of the Afghan people represent man's highest aspirations for freedom... I am dedicating, on behalf of the American people, the March 22nd launch of the "Columbia" to the people of Afghanistan." -- President Ronald W. Reagan

Mission insignia

The three large orange triangular points of the mission patch tell the flight's numerical designation in the Space Transportation System's mission sequence.

ee also

* Space science
* Space shuttle
* List of space shuttle missions
* List of human spaceflights chronologically

External links

* [http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/shuttle/missions/sts-3/mission-sts-3.html STS-3 Shuttle Mission]
* [http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/chron/sts-3.htm STS-3 Mission Chronology]
* [http://www.nss.org/resources/library/shuttlevideos/shuttle03.htm STS-3 Video Highlights]
* [http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/features/000414overhaul/sts03_qt.html Video of STS-3 landing at White Sands]

References