STS-2 was the second
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
mission conducted by
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
, and the second flight of the orbiter
''Columbia''. The mission, crewed by
Joe H. Engle
Joe Henry Engle (born August 26, 1932) is an American Aviator, pilot, aeronautical engineer and former NASA astronaut. He was the commander of two Space Shuttle missions including STS-2 in 1981, the program's second orbital flight. He also flew ...
and
Richard H. Truly
Richard Harrison Truly (born November 12, 1937) is a retired Vice admiral (United States), vice admiral in the United States Navy, a former fighter pilot, engineer, astronaut, and was the eighth NASA Administrator, administrator of the NASA, Natio ...
, launched on November 12, 1981, and landed two days later on November 14, 1981.
[ ] STS-2 marked the first time that a crewed, reusable orbital vehicle returned to space. This mission tested the Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR) as part of the OSTA-1 (Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications) payload, along with a wide range of other experiments including the Shuttle robotic arm, commonly known as
Canadarm
Canadarm or Canadarm1 (officially Shuttle Remote Manipulator System or SRMS, also SSRMS) is a series of robotic arms that were used on the Space Shuttle orbiters to deploy, manoeuvre, and capture payloads. After the Space Shuttle ''Columbia' ...
.
Other experiments or tests included Shuttle Multispectral Infrared Radiometer, Feature Identification and Location Experiment, Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellites, Ocean Color Experiment, Night/Day optical Survey of Lightning, Heflex Bioengineering Test, and Aerodynamic Coefficient Identification Package (ACIP).
One of the feats accomplished was various tests on the
Orbital Maneuvring System (OMS) including starting and restarting the engines while in orbit and various adjustments to its orbit.
The OMS tests also help adjust the Shuttle's orbit for use of the radar.
During the mission,
President Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
called the crew of STS-2 from
Mission Control Center in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
.
In the early planning stages of the
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 ...
, STS-2 was intended to be a
reboost mission for the aging
Skylab
Skylab was the first United States space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three separate three-astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Major operations in ...
space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...
. However, such a mission was impeded by delays with the Shuttle's development and the deteriorating orbit of Skylab. Skylab ultimately
de-orbited on July 11, 1979, two years before the launch of STS-2.
Crew
Engle had been the original selection as
Lunar Module Pilot
Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon".
Lunar may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games
* "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta
* "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...
for
Apollo 17
Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on ...
, but was bumped in favor of
Harrison Schmitt
Harrison Hagan Schmitt (born July 3, 1935) is an American geologist, retired NASA astronaut, university professor, former U.S. senator from New Mexico, and the most recent living person—and only person without a background in military aviation ...
when it became clear that the mission would be the last lunar landing. As a consequence, both Engle and Truly were
rookie
A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year).
In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...
s during STS-2 (Engle had flown the
X-15
The North American X-15 is a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft. It was operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. The X-15 set spee ...
above and so had earned
USAF astronaut wings, but was still considered a NASA rookie), constituting the first all-rookie crew since
Skylab 4
Skylab 4 (also SL-4 and SLM-3) was the third crewed Skylab mission and placed the third and final human spaceflight, crew aboard the first American space station.
The mission began on November 16, 1973, with the launch of Gerald P. Carr, Edward ...
. Engle was the last NASA rookie to command his first flight until
Raja Chari
Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari (born June 24, 1977) is an American test pilot and NASA astronaut. He is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, and has over 2,000 flyi ...
in 2021 with
SpaceX Crew-3
SpaceX Crew-3 was the fourth operational flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the third overall crewed orbital flight of the Commercial Crew Program. The mission successfully launched on 11 November 2021 at 02:03:31 UTC to the International ...
. Engle and Truly had also served as one of the two Shuttle crews during the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) program in 1977.
Backup crew
This crew would later fly on
STS-4
STS-4 was the fourth NASA Space Shuttle mission, and also the fourth for Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. Crewed by Ken Mattingly and Henry Hartsfield, the mission launched on June 27, 1982, and landed a week later on July 4, 1982. Due to parachute ...
.
Support crew
*
Daniel C. Brandenstein (ascent CAPCOM)
*
James F. Buchli[Mission transcript](_blank)
Internet Archive Retrieved November 13, 2012
*
Terry J. Hart
*
Frederick H. Hauck (entry CAPCOM)
*
Sally K. Ride
Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space, after cosmonauts ...
(first American woman CAPCOM)
Mission summary
![Columbia On Final Approach - GPN-2000-001346](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Columbia_On_Final_Approach_-_GPN-2000-001346.jpg)
The second Space Shuttle mission launched from
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 National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...
on November 12, 1981, with liftoff occurring at 15:10:00
UTC, 7 months after
STS-1. The planned launch time of 12:30UTC was delayed while a faulty data transmitting unit on ''Columbia'' was replaced with one from new , which had been shipped overnight from the
Palmdale, California factory where ''Challenger'' was still being manufactured.
Originally, the launch had been set for October 9, 1981, but it was delayed by a
nitrogen tetroxide
Dinitrogen tetroxide, commonly referred to as nitrogen tetroxide (NTO), and occasionally (usually among ex-USSR/Russia rocket engineers) as amyl, is the chemical compound N2O4. It is a useful reagent in chemical synthesis. It forms an equilibrium ...
spill during the loading of the forward
Reaction Control System
A reaction control system (RCS) is a spacecraft system that uses thrusters to provide attitude control and translation. Alternatively, reaction wheels are used for attitude control. Use of diverted engine thrust to provide stable attitude cont ...
(RCS) tanks. The spill necessitated the removal, decontamination and reapplication of over 300 thermal tiles. The tiles could be reached from platforms at
Launch Complex 39A
Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is the first of Launch Complex 39's three launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39B, were first designed for the Saturn V launch vehicle. T ...
, allowing the work to take place without destacking ''Columbia'' and returning it to the
Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF). It was next scheduled for November 4, 1981, but was again scrubbed when high oil pressures were discovered in two of the three
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& ...
s (APUs) that controlled the orbiter's
hydraulic
Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) 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 counter ...
system. That issue was attributed to
hydrazine
Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a simple pnictogen hydride, and is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. Hydrazine is highly toxic unless handled in solution as, for example, hydrazine ...
seepage contaminating the lubrication system in the APUs.
The flight marked the first time an orbital crewed space vehicle had been re-flown with a second crew. Prior to launch, ''Columbia'' spent 103days in the Orbiter Processing Facility. It again carried the DFI package, as well as the OSTA-l payload (named for the NASA Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications), which consisted of a number of remote-sensing instruments mounted on a
Spacelab
Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier, ...
pallet in the payload bay. These instruments, including the Shuttle Imaging Radar-A (SIR-A), successfully carried out remote sensing of Earth's resources, environmental quality, and ocean and weather conditions. In addition, the
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
-built
"Canadarm" Remote Manipulator System (RMS) was successfully operated in all its various operating modes for the first time.
During the mission, the Mission Control Center was visited by
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:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
. He was supposed to visit during
STS-1, but was forced to cancel due to an
assassination attempt on March 30, 1981.
Although the STS-2 mission had been planned for a duration of five days, with a few hours a day spent testing the Canadarm, the flight was cut short when one of the three
fuel cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requ ...
s that produced electricity and drinking water failed. The mission was shortened to two days, and the Canadarm tests were canceled. The crew stayed awake during a scheduled sleep period and tested the arm anyway, working during the loss of signal (LOS) periods when they were not in contact with Mission Control.
The deorbit and reentry phase of this mission differed from STS-1, in that while the first shuttle entry was flown as a "middle of the road" test of the automatic guidance, the success of that mission allowed for the STS-2 crew to explore the stability margins of the vehicle's performance. Twenty-nine planned Programmed Test Inputs (PTIs) were manually flown in the Control Stick Steering (CSS) mode, with Engle making use of his past experience in the X-15. These PTIs provided useful data for subsequent engineering modifications.
NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project June 3, 2004, Retrieved July 17, 2013 Contrary to the interviewer's assertion in a JSC Oral history conversation with Engle, he hand flew manoeuvres throughout the entire entry speed range, but not for the entire duration. As a consequence of STS-1 entry anomalies, the first roll manoeuvre was flown manually and the elevon scheduling was adjusted to offload the body flap.
Chase 1 crewed by astronauts
Robert L. Gibson, "Hoot" Gibson and
Kathy Sullivan escorted ''Columbia'' on final approach. Landing took place on Runway23 at
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, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is E ...
at 21:23UTC, on November 14, 1981, after a 37-orbit flight which covered a total of over the course of 2days, 6hours, 13minutes and 12seconds.
Despite the truncated flight, more than 90% of the mission's objectives were achieved.
Moreover, modifications of the water sound suppression system at the pad, to absorb the
solid rocket booster
A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a large 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 ...
overpressure wave during launch, were effective; no tiles were lost and only 12 were damaged. ''Columbia'' was flown back to the Kennedy Space Center on November 25, 1981.
STS-2 was the first Space Shuttle flight where O-ring blow-by was observed. After the damage was discovered, another O-ring was intentionally damaged to a further degree. It was then put through a flight simulation at three times the flight pressure. It survived the test, and was endorsed as flightworthy. This same problem would occur on fourteen more Shuttle flights, before contributing to the
loss of orbiter ''Challenger'' in 1986.
STS-2 was the last shuttle flight to have its
external fuel tank (ET) painted white. In an effort to reduce the Shuttle's overall weight,
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 Ful ...
and all subsequent missions used an unpainted tank, saving approximately of launch weight.
[NAS]
"NASA Takes Delivery of 100th Space Shuttle External Tank"
Press release pp.99–193. August 16, 1999. Retrieved July 17, 2013 This lack of paint gave the ET a distinctive orange-brown color, which eventually became emblematic of the Space Shuttle.
Decades later, in 2006, some in the spaceflight community questioned whether the white paint would have prevented the ice-soaked foam shedding issue that led to the
loss of ''Columbia''. NASA consensus was that it would not.
[ ]
Experiments or tests
STS-2 payloads or experiments:
* OSTA-1
*
Shuttle Imaging Radar
*
SRMS, the Shuttle robotic arm, also known as Canadarm
* Shuttle Multispectral Infrared Radiometer
* Feature Identification and Location Experiment
* Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellites
* Ocean Color Experiment
* Night/Day optical Survey of Lightning
* Heflex Bioengineering Test
* Aerodynamic Coefficient Identification Package (ACIP)
They also tested the OMS engines.
Mission insignia
The mission patch notes the names of the mission's two crew members, and includes an image of a
bald eagle
The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
, the
national bird
This is a list of national birds, including official birds of overseas territories and other states described as nations. Most species in the list are officially designated. Some species hold only an "unofficial" status.
National birds
See al ...
of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, decorated with the colors of the
U.S. flag
The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the ca ...
.
Wake-up calls
NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the
Project Gemini
Project Gemini () was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual ...
, 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 United States' Apollo program and the fourth to Moon landing, land on the Moon. It was the first List of Apollo missions#Alphabetical mission types, J mission, with a ...
.
[ ]
Gallery
File:Space shuttle on the launch pad dnd0525.jpg, ''Columbia'' on launchpad
File:STS-2 Lut Desert.jpg, The Lut Desert
The Lut Desert, widely referred to as Dasht-e Lut ( fa, دشت لوت, "Emptiness Plain"), is a large salt desert located in the provinces of Kerman and Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran. It is the world's 33rd-largest desert, and was included on U ...
as seen from orbit by STS-2.
See also
*
List of human spaceflights
This is a list of all human spaceflights throughout history. Beginning in 1961 with the flight of Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1, human spaceflight occurs when a human crew flies a spacecraft into outer space. Human spaceflight is distinguished ...
*
List of Space Shuttle missions
*
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is an international research effort that obtained digital elevation models on a near-global scale from 56°S to 60°N, to generate the most complete high-resolution digital topographic database of Ea ...
Notes
References
External links
STS-2 mission summary NASA.
. NSS.
NASA. 2006.
{{Orbital launches in 1981
Space Shuttle missions
Edwards Air Force Base
Spacecraft launched in 1981
November 1981 events
1981 in California
Spacecraft which reentered in 1981
1981 in Florida