STS-2
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| Mission statistics | |
|---|---|
| Mission name: | STS-2
<tr><th>Shuttle:</th><td>Columbia</td></tr><tr><th>Launch pad:</th><td>39-A</td></tr> |
| Launch: | November 12, 1981, 10:09:59 a.m. EST |
| Landing: | November 14, 1981, 1:23:11 p.m. PST |
| Duration: | 2 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes, 12 seconds |
| Previous mission | Next mission |
|---|---|
| STS-1 | STS-3 |
STS-2 was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Columbia, launched November 12, 1981. This was the second space shuttle mission, and was also the second mission for the Space Shuttle Columbia. It was thus the first time ever that a manned reusable spacecraft left the earth for its second mission and returned to space. Previously, the Gemini 2 unmanned, suborbital capsule was reused in another unmanned, suborbital test for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory project after significant refurbishment.
Contents |
[edit] Crew
(total flights to date in parentheses)
- Joseph H. Engle (1), Commander
- Richard H. Truly (1), Pilot
[edit] Backup crew
- Backup Commander: Thomas K. Mattingly
- Backup Pilot: Henry W. Hartsfield
[edit] Mission parameters
- Mass:
- Orbiter Liftoff: 104,647 kg
- Orbiter Landing: 92,650 kg
- DFI Payload: 8,517 kg
- Perigee: 222 km
- Apogee: 231 km
- Inclination: 38.0°
- Period: 89.0 min
[edit] Mission highlights
Launch of the second Space Shuttle took place 7 months after STS-1, on 12 November 1981, with liftoff at 10:10 a.m. EST. The planned launch time of 7:30 a.m. was delayed while a faulty data transmitting unit on Columbia was replaced. Originally the launch had been set for 9 October, but it was delayed by a nitrogen tetroxide spill during loading of the forward Reaction Control System (RCS) tanks. It was next scheduled for 4 November, but was again scrubbed when high oil pressures were discovered in two of the three Auxiliary Power Units (APU) that control the orbiter's hydraulic system. Prior to launch Columbia had spent 103 days in the OPF.
The flight marked the first time a manned space vehicle had been reflown with a second crew: Joseph H. Engle, commander, and Richard H. Truly, pilot. 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 pallet in the payload bay. These instruments, including the Shuttle Imaging Radar-A (SIR-1), successfully carried out remote sensing of Earth resources, environmental quality, ocean and weather conditions. In addition, the Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm was successfully operated in all its various operating modes for the first time.
Although the STS-2 mission had been planned for 5 days, the flight was cut short when one of the three fuel cells that produce electricity and drinking water failed.
The plan was to spend a few hours a day over the five-day mission doing just that, but a malfunction in one of the fuel cells threw that plan off. The mission was shortened to two days, and the Canadarm tests were canceled. They would have been rescheduled for one of the following shuttle flights if it hadn’t been for the crew’s unwillingness to let it go.
“Fortunately at that time we did not have the almost continuous communication with the ground that we have now,” Joe Engle, the mission’s commander, said. “The pilot, Dick Truly, and I told everybody at home goodnight and looked at each other and decided that, well, it’s only one night. We were young, and we thought we’d just go ahead and get as much data as we could – stay up during the night to do it.”
Engle said he doubts Mission Control was fooled for long, but no one called them on it.
“We were tired and dehydrated the next day when we were getting ready to come back in, but we did get to accomplish 90 to 95 percent of the objectives of the mission,” Engle said. “In retrospect it was so much worth it.”
Landing took place on Runway 23, at Edwards AFB, at 1:23 p.m. PST, 14 November, after a 36 orbit, 933,757 mile (1,502,736 km) flight that lasted 2 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes, 13 seconds.
Despite the truncated flight, more than 90 percent of the mission's objectives were achieved. Moreover, modifications of the water sound suppression system at the pad to absorb the solid rocket booster overpressure wave during launch were effective -- no tiles were lost and only 12 were damaged. Columbia was flown back to KSC on 25 November 1981.
[edit] Trivia
This was the last American manned space mission to have an all-rookie crew. Every Shuttle mission after this, as of STS-115, has included at least one crewmember who had flown in space before.
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[edit] See also
- Space science
- Space shuttle
- List of space shuttle missions
- List of human spaceflights chronologically
[edit] External links
- Astro Info STS-2 Data
- STS-2 Shuttle Mission
- STS-2 Mission Chronology
- Space Shuttle Canadarm Robotic Arm Marks 25 Years in Space
| Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) |
|---|
| STS-1 | STS-2 | STS-3 | STS-4 | STS-5 | STS-9 | STS-61-C | STS-28 | STS-32 | STS-35 | STS-40 | STS-50 | STS-52 | STS-55 | STS-58 | STS-62 | STS-65 | STS-73 | STS-75 | STS-78 | STS-80 | STS-83 | STS-94 | STS-87 | STS-90 | STS-93 | STS-109 | STS-107 |
| Status: Out of service - destroyed 01/02/03 (STS-107) |
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