SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA - THE SECOND FLIGHT

[Music] April 1981 Columbia the first space shuttle Orbiter Glides to a Pinpoint Landing at Edwards Air Force Base California ending at spectacular m flight but unlike spacecraft that had gone before Colombia would not be retired from service to become a museum piece its future as a space transport vehicle had only begun after its successful First Flight Columbia was carried back to Kennedy Space Center there the process of turnaround was set in motion there were system checkouts minor tile repairs and Replacements an experiments package called osta one was placed in the payload Bay the package rests on a platform built by the European Space Agency the Canadian built remote manipulator system was installed the system includes a 50 ft long mechanical arm can August Columbia was moved over to the Vehicle Assembly Building here it was made it to two new solid rocket boosters and an external fuel tank 3 weeks later it was rolled to the Launchpad once again shuttle flight one brought many firsts shuttle Flight 2 would bring another the first time in the history of space flight that an attempt would be made to launch the same spacecraft a second [Music] time during the next 3 weeks launch preparation Crews worked in three shifts trying to meet the early October launch date all had gone smoothly up to the point of loading the hypergolic fuels that process had barely begun when nitrogen tetroxide was discovered spilling onto the Orbiter approximately 15 to 20 gallons of the oxidizer had spilled down the side of the vehicle and into the propellant tank compartment of the nose section it had also SE seeped between the Orbiter thermal protection system tiles and dissolved the bond holding the tiles on the spacecraft eventually over 350 had to be [Music] removed cause of the spill was failure of a quick disconnect valve to close the valve could not close because of concentrations of iron nitrate in the head and hardening of lubrication in that area with Columbia still on the Launchpad workers were able to gain access inside the nose compartment and replace soaked thermal blankets they were also able to reach the soak tiles therefore it would not be necessary to move back to the Orbiter processing facility for [Music] repairs the tiles were put through a very Speedy decontamination process to remove the [Music] oxidizer within 3 weeks after the spill all 378 tiles had been removed decontaminated and rebonded launch was rescheduled for November 4th but Colombia was not destined to return to space yet only 31 seconds away from ignition the launch computer halted the countdown the pressure in the liquid oxygen tank was below the predetermined Li necessary for liftoff meanwhile controllers were also becoming increasingly concerned about the high oil pressure in two of the three auxiliary power units after analyzing this problem further they decided to scrub the launch for the day the apus are vital to Colombia's safe ascented entry for steering the engines during liftoff controlling the arrow surfaces during Landing and for lowering the landing gear it was suspected that oil pressure Rose in the units because the filters were clogged the problem would have to be solved before another launch analysis revealed that a wax- like substance had formed on the oil to clog the filters the substance was created by a chemical reaction between the oil and hydren fuel the hydrazine seeped into the gearbox over the 7 month period since the apus were last used and contaminated the oil although many thought technicians simply forgot to change the oil normal maintenance procedures did not require it indeed a key factor in shuttle's reusability is quick turnaround with minimum maintenance the apus were flushed with new Lube oil new filters were installed and fresh oil was added working on a very tight schedule ground Crews completed the work within a week the shuttle was again ready to be [Music] launched astronauts Joe Angel and Richard truy commander and pilot for the second shuttle [Music] flight Commander Engel who joined NASA in 1966 was part of the backup crew for a follow 14 and the first shuttle flight three of his 16 X15 flights went above 50 miles qualifying him for astronaut rank but he had not yet been in orbit nor had Richard truy pilot for this flight truy who joined NASA in 1969 was capsule Communicator for three Skylab missions and the Apollo soyes Mission he was also part of the backup crew for Colombia's First Flight both men had flown the shuttle before in approach and Landing tests at Triden flight Research Center in 1977 that was over 4 years ago it was now 1981 November 12th to be exact Richard tru's 44th Birthday Countdown now being conducted by the law sequence ERS on board the Orbiter the SRB nozzles have been moved to start position T minus 10 9 8 7 we have go for main engine start we have main entrance [Music] start [Music] I okay looking good Roger Clum [Music] onall Columbia Houston your go at 40 [Music] okay looks like we got a good SRV set Roger copy looks good to us smoo glass SRV Seine Roger 103 103 converged Roger got a 103 okay let's get a return Stanis here final go booster go go E we go Eagle go okay we're go to proceed past negative return Mark negative return that sounds [Music] good stand is f go guidance go M holding 34 yes sir booster go go Columbia Houston you're go at8 go and it's solid The [Music] Rock okay got a good Roger and we got a mo confirmed and confirmed let's get off the tank now flight no problem ignore him ignore the IMU bites ke Columbia Houston you can ignore the IMU bites Houston and we Roger on the set okay let's get an here the nominal Delta V 141 Roger hes one status booster go prop go Ecom go GNC go kecom we go for nominal ohms one go for Apu off Columbia Houston your go for nominal ohms 1 for Apu shut down on time okay Dan and we're maneuvering to attitude now Roger as Colombia continued toward orbit the srbs parachuted to a safe landing in the Atlantic ocean 160 m down range from the launch site they were recovered and will be used again on a later shuttle flight all orbital maneuvering system Burns were successful putting Colombia into a 138 M orbit around the Earth the payload bay doors were open to deploy the heat dissipating radiators and expose the osta experiments so began the many tasks of the 5-day mission that lay ahead however not long after achieving orbit at about 2 hours 27 minutes Mission elapse time the crew reported a high pH level indicating alkalinity in one of Columbia's three fuel cells the cells which produce electricity and water for the spacecraft and crew are essential for operating the many systems on board flight controllers having dealt with almost every conceivable problem during flight simulations immediately began working to find a real-time solution to this problem but meanwhile the cell's capacity to generate electricity continued to deteriorate at about 5 hours Mission elapsed time it was decided to take the fuel cell offline and safe it drain it of all its energy this would prevent a potentially dangerous reaction from occurring that could damage the spacecraft but according to a mission rule made pre-flight the failure of a fuel cell would reduce the 125h hour nominal mission to a 54-hour minimum Mission a mission management meeting was held to decide whether to enforce or override the rule whether e to come home after 54 hours or stay up for the full duration at a press conference on day two of the mission Johnson Space Center Director Christopher craft explained why the decision was finally made to shorten the mission well we certainly don't have any other problems on board I think that we think it's The Prudent thing to do uh at this point in our test program uh we think we can really get everything out of the mission that we have planned with the ex with the exception of time so we just felt from a more prudent position uh we had we had thought it out very carefully uh pre-flight that uh that was the best thing for us to do indeed virtually everything was gotten out of the mission that was planned all high priority objectives were accomplished and 90% of the overall objectives were completed even though this was a test vehicle on a developmental flight cut short 71 hours of top priority were the remote manipulator system tests completed on the morning of day two Sally Ride first female capsule Communicator guided the astronauts through the [Music] tests and we've got a great picture from camera Delta of the arm going down into the Cradle hey good I see the old looking out the windows the best alignment device I think and now we got a picture of the PLT moving the [Music] arm the RMS which is a major subsystem of the Orbiter is designed to deploy and retrieve satellites and other payloads and operational flights although the arm did not actually grapple a payload the end Defector was able to come within 6 in of the Target and maintain that position two very important objectives of the test you can do that if uh if you get it locked up okay we'll do that and we've got a picture of the flag back and we'll coordinate with enco super incidentally uh Houston one of the things that has surprised me at least I didn't think it'd be this way but we have not felt the RMS move move the Orbiter at all okay we copy that Columbia Houston we've got the uh we've got the elbow camera okay hi Mom in addition all five operating modes of the system were evaluated rain ing from manual operation by the astronauts to a completely computer controlled operation the 3 and A2 hours of tests done on the arm proved highly successful a real tribute to the designer the national research Council of Canada and the Builder Spar Aerospace limited Canada absorbed all expenses related to research and development of this first system the first package of scientific instruments to be flown on shuttle from NASA's office of space and terrestrial applications was designated osta 1 although all the visual results are not yet available from the shuttle data takes each experiment has already flown on aircraft or satellites the shuttle Imaging radar instrument used Side looking radar to create map-like images of the Earth's surface showing relief when supplemented with previously recorded landsat satellite data which could identify rocks and vegetation types the composite revealed geological structures of a type which could possibly contain valuable mineral deposits such as oil with the osta experiments mounted in the payload Bay of space shuttle Columbia at an altitude of 160 Mi worldwide data was obtained proving that sensors previously used on costly individual satellites could now be flown in groups on shuttle along with lowcost commercial grade sensors that could only be flown on aircraft before this will greatly reduce the cost of such experimentation in the future putting it within reach of lowbudget researchers the ability to map Earth from space Also demonstrated the potential for these instruments to map other planets yet unexplored even through dense cloud cover as the shuttle Imaging radar experiment was able to do at the end of the second day Mission Control had a special visitor Joe dick this is Ronald Reagan hello Mr President let me just say I'm sure you know how proud everyone down here is and how this whole nation I'm sure the world but certainly America has got its eyes and its heart on you well thank you very much Mr President we're uh we're awfully honored that we've got the opportunity to uh to take part in this we certainly do appreciate uh your taking the trouble to show all the people working on the space shuttle how much you care and it makes us Mighty proud well I care and again God bless you both and all of us here are watching with great pride thank you very much sir thank you sir very much thank you with all the priority One objectives completed the crew was ready to come home entry and Landing would be their last test we s minutes over Roger and the port door is coming closed and I want to at least get it close here and stop and then we talk okay that sounds good Richard operators assume all of you checked the configuration I'd like to come around the horn and get a go no go for the de burn pH guidance I'm go e maneuver attitude understand DPS we go fight command go e go Eagle go TNC go prop go booster go sergeon go Eno go Ops go on go Arrow go okayy get come from Houston we have a go for the deorbit burn 3 minutes remaining in this pass super thank you Rick The Landing like the first mission would be at Edwards Air Force Base in [Music] California [Music] entry on this Mission would test the vehicle's response to Maneuvers not performed [Music] before and the roll reversals will still be as updated Columbia Houston the roll reversals will still be as brief there will be no significant effect on that early turn on the first roll reversal over understand thanks [Applause] Rick the first maneuver done at the beginning of the communications blackout was executed at MO 24 the fastest speed at which manual control had ever been exercised in winged aerodynamic flight close to 30 Maneuvers took place as the shuttle sliced through the atmosphere at speeds from Mach 26 down to Mach 11 at about mach 10 A2 Colombia was expected to regain Communications with Mission Control plumia Houston through Buckhorn configure AOS you're about 25 miles south of ground track your nav is good your energy is good we'd like you to check your tackan MLS and radar altimeters on over okay Rick good to hear you and we're 10.5 Mark and 165,000 ft now Roger everything's looking good your energy is very good the nav is good [Applause] the first visual sighting of Columbia was aided by plums from reaction control system Jets which were fired during a pitch maneuver 100,000 ft Mark 3.6 you have positive [Music] [Applause] seats and we have a wind update for you and a weather update you've got a very thin layer at 25,000 the winds Airborne are as briefed and on the ground round 220 18 knots gusting to 24 hey good sounds like a good old Ed [Applause] [Music] [Applause] day ly Houston we show you intercepting the hack and a reminder you've got the strong winds out of the West now out of 38,000 ft okay thank you Rick [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and rck the Maneuvers have been going very good the bird is real solid good solid bird all the way well we love hearing [Music] it speed breakes coming close Roger slightly below Glide slope if you have a go for Autoland okay Rick thank you [Music] sir okay Rick we're in auto check speed brake Auto speed break body flap Auto everything's Auto thank [Music] you okay 2500 ft speed RS are closed we're at 270 knots Chase con is clear land L 23 21 okay here's coming three [Music] down 100 50 30 20 10 5 3 touchdown no gear [Music] 15 10 10 5 three touchd down one come on thank you [Music] Chase okay Houston Columbia has rolled us stop and we're getting into the post Landing okay Joe it's a great day for the ace moving company welcome home although this second shuttle flight only only lasted 2 and 1/2 of the 5 and 1/2 days plan it did answer some formidable questions the Orbiter is truly a reusable spacecraft that can be launched again and [Music] again instruments in the payload Bay can map Earth's resources on a global [Music] scale and the remote manipulator system has met this flight's test objectives the completion of this flight marks the halfway point in the shuttle flight test program Columbia's thirdd flight a mission of up to 7 Days duration is scheduled for the spring of 1982 the problems encountered so far are not unexpected during developmental flight testing indeed it is only through such testing that confidence in the vehicle it system systems and its flying characteristics can be built the Colombia is a totally New Concept in man space flight it needs very conservative very comprehensive testing before it can become operational making access to space something it's never been before routine a