December 1982:STS-1 mission report, part 3

Astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen slept much more soundly during their second night in space than they did on the first. They dropped off to sleep rapidly and, as Crippen said later, were “really sawing the Z’s" when a systems alarm roused them shortly after 04:00 on 14 April. (All times are quoted in GMT unless otherwise stated.) The alarm was associated with a low-temperature indication on one of Columbia's three Auxiliary Power Units (APU). They solved the problem by cycling a heater switch to get the temperature back to normal. The crew went back to sleep.

As on the day before. Young and Crippen were up and around ahead of schedule. While over Madrid at 08:11 on orbit 30, Mission Control Center-Houston (MCC-H) received telemetry indications that the food warmers had been activated and that the computer displays were running, meaning that at least one of the crewmen was awake. Since the astronauts still had about 40 minutes of sleep coming to them, flight director Neil Hutchinson elected not to have capcom Dan Brandenstein call them just then. Up in Columbia, Young was making breakfast, an unusual job for him, since Crippen normally took care of the "cooking”. Young had hot coffee waiting for his pilot when he woke up. The astronauts found a teleprinter message down in the mid-deck area giving a systems status on their spacecraft and the weather forecast for their landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The weather predictions were excellent clear skies, warm temperatures and little wind.

Final Day in Orbit

The astronauts received their first call of the day at 08:41 over Quito in Ecuador on the 31st orbit. After some wake-up music, Capcom Brandenstein informed them that the temperature in APU-2, the same unit that roused them during the night, was again dropping.

The main cause for concern was that if the unit became too cold, it might prove difficult or impossible to start, much like a car engine on a cold winter day.

Since the units supply hydraulic fluid to drive the Orbiter’s aerodynamic control surfaces, they are vitally important during reentry and landing. Without them, there would be little way to control the spacecraft. Two units are sufficient to fly a normal reentry, so if APU-2 failed to start, the situation would not necessarily be dangerous. The temperature eventually stabilized at about 180°F (82°C). This was much colder than normal but the units had been test-started on the ground at lower temperatures.

Entry Preparations

After awakening and getting the flight deck powered up, the astronauts began preparing Columbia for reentry. Young performed an Inertial Measurement Unit alignment at about 09:45 while over Australia, and after that, the astronauts ran a series of test firings of their Reaction Control System jets. While the thruster tests were underway, members of flight director Don Puddy’s Crimson flight control team began arriving in the Houston control room. Their shift would be the final one of the mission, and they listened as Brandenstein bade the crew farewell on behalf of off-going flight director Hutchinson’s team.

“This is the last pass of STS-1 for the Silver team,” he said as Columbia approached loss of signal with Madrid at 10:40, “You guys sure gave us a thrill on that launch and we really enjoyed working with you the rest of the hop. I hope that you have a safe flight home and we will see you tonight.”

”Well that is mighty kind of you, Dan,” Crippen responded, “The Silver team really done it. You guys do good work.”

With that, the responsibilities of Hutchinson’s team ended, and Young and Crippen were greeted at the next ground station by the cheerful voice of the Crimson team capcom, scientist-astronaut Joe Allen.

“We’re looking forward to today,” he told them, “We understand that this is not a simulation today." “I hope you’re right.” Young said. After years of work and months of practising simulated Shuttle landings,Young and Crippen were indeed going to try the real thing.

Control System Checkout

One of their more important tasks was to perform a final checkout of the Flight Control System. The test involved movement checks on all of the Orbiter’s aerodynamic control surfaces, and verification of the proper operation of all the associated cockpit avionics. Columbia's computers were loaded with a software package known as "OPS-8” for this testing.

The OPS-8 load was designed specifically as a diagnostic and self-checking package to enable on-board systems operation to be evaluated without help from the ground. Nevertheless, the operation was still conducted during the Orbiter’s 33rd pass across the United States to allow Houston to keep an eye on things via telemetry.

The tests showed that all systems were ready for the reentry. In fact, the astronauts found that the Horizontal Situation Indicator on Young’s side of the cockpit, which had not been working properly earlier in the flight, was once again in order. Among the malfunctioning systems being studied from the ground was the trouble-plagued Development Flight Instrumentation Pulse-Code Modulation recorder [.After the attempted changing of the recorder had proved unsuccessful the previous night, engineers began re-evaluating the possibility of having the astronauts start the recorder before strapping themselves into their seats. Revised data indicated that the tape supply might be enough to last until landing. With no better plan in mind, that was what Houston eventually decided to do. The astronauts were not immediately told of the plan, however, for they were busy activating and checking out many of the systems that would be required for reentry.

When Columbia came up on the US west coast at 13:20 on orbit 34, the payload bay television cameras were running, providing viewers with the last real-time TV of the mission. The cameras were being controlled from Houston by the Integrated Communications Officer Ed Fendell. The astronauts continued their entry preparations while the flight controllers enjoyed beautiful vistas of the Earth.

During this pass across the States, Joe Allen gave Young and Crippen a GO for Payload Bay Door closing. But before this all-important event could take place, they had to put on their rust-coloured Emergency Ejection Suits. The men helped each other as Columbia passed across the Atlantic Ocean, Africa and the Indian Ocean. By the time the Orbiter had reached the west coast of Australia, the men were ready to begin closing the bay doors.

Payload Doors

‘‘Joe, do I understand that we have a GO for payload bay door closing?” Crippen asked over Yarragadee at 14:21. Allen assured him that they did, and almost immediately Crippen reported that the radiators inside the doors were stowed. The port door was closed several minutes later while over the Orroral Valley station, and the starboard door was closed sometime after losing contact with that station at 14:30.

At about the same time, the crew “dumped” the memories of their five General Purpose Computers so that engineers on the ground could verify the information stored in them was good. There was no reason to suspect any problems (the computers had functioned flawlessly so far) but the computers play a crucial role in the reentry and landing. The cross-check was being done just to make certain everything would be ready.

When Columbia arrived within range of Hawaii at 14:45, both the ground and the crew were able to verify that both bay doors were properly closed and latched, and Crippen reported that there had been no problems with the operation. Likewise, the computer memory checkout had gone well, and Allen was soon able to report to the astronauts that the memories were all in excellent shape.

The astronauts had been extremely busy all morning. At one point, Crippen thanked Allen for not talking to them too much while they were trying to work. "Running around this vehicle getting it ready to go takes a lot of time,” he said, “and to have to stop and talk kind of slows you down a little bit.”

Young agreed, “Yeah, we found out we never quite practised everything in the simulator even though we think we do.”

Final Preparations

Most of the 35th orbit was very quiet. After a light snack, Young performed the final Inertial Measurement Unit alignment at 15:45 and, after that, the star tracker doors were closed to protect the instruments from the heat of reentry. By the time Crippen performed the final fuel cell purge over Australia at 16:00, the astronauts were running about 20 minutes ahead of the flight plan.

Columbia began its 36th and final full orbit at 16:18 and, two minutes later, she came into communications range of Hawaii. During this pass, Allen informed the astronauts of the impending plans to try to get data during entry with the troublesome recorder. The astronauts had been far too busy earlier to worry about it, and they sounded genuinely relieved when Allen told Young that they believed enough tape was available to “cover every S-turn you’re going to make.”

Before leaving contact with Hawaii, the crew pushed in the recorder’s circuit breaker to start it up, and then began strapping themselves into their ejection seats. They put on their helmets and, during their final pass across the United States, conducted a good communication check through the suit loop. On completion, Joe Allen gave them a preliminary GO for the deorbit burn and told them that “Columbia is in super shape.”

Deorbit Manoeuvre

Deorbit, the manoeuvre that would slow Columbia down enough to drop it out of orbit, was to be done using the two 6,000 lbf (26,700 N) Orbital Maneuvering System engines in the Orbiter’s tail. As a result, the vehicle had to be manoeuvred so that these engines would be pointing into the direction of flight.

By the time Columbia reached Ascension Island at 16:54, the astronauts were in the process of turning to deorbit burn attitude. With all spacecraft systems looking excellent, Allen gave them a GO for the burn, which was to take place out of communications range.

As the seconds ticked off toward the crucial firing Young and Crippen checked and re-checked their ship’s systems. If anything appeared abnormal, they could delay the firing. But, as had been the case throughout the flight, there were no problems. They re-verified that the Orbiter was in the proper attitude and, at exactly 17:21:30, the two engines flared to life, starting Columbia on its long.glide to California.

During the 159.5 second burn, Crippen kept a close watch on the engine pressures while Young monitored the error needles on his Attitude Direction Indicator to ensure that Columbia was holding steady.

The burn went perfectly. When the engines shut down, Columbia had been slowed by 297.6 feet per second (90.7 mps) and was on her way back to Earth.

Four minutes after shutdown, the Orbiter came within range of the Yarragadee tracking station. The astronauts told Houston that the burn had gone well and that they had Auxiliary Power Units 2 and 3 running. The earlier temperature problems with APU 2 had caused no problems in starting up, and both it and unit 3 were looking good. The third APU was to be started five minutes before entry.

Chase Planes Take Off

Once it was known that Columbia was indeed on her way down, four T-38 chase planes took off from Edwards Air Force Base. Before moving out of range of Yarragadee, Allen told the crew and Young said, “Yeah, we ought to be there in about 45 minutes.”

The T-38s were to fly in a five minute rectangular pattern carefully synchronised to allow them to intercept Columbia at about 40,000 ft (12,200 m) and stick with it all the way to touchdown. Their purpose was to provide the Shuttle pilots with additional altitude and velocity information during the final descent as well as providing photographic coverage of the landing. The four planes were actually two two-plane teams as insurance that the difficult rendezvous could be achieved by at least one of the teams.

Flying Chase-1, the plane that would call out altitudes and velocities to Young during descent, were astronauts Jon McBride and George Nelson. The backup plane was piloted by astronauts Dave Walker and Mike Mullane.

Chase-2, flown by Johnson Space Center pilot Dick Gray, with NASA photographer Pete Stanley in the back, had the job of providing live television and film of the descent. The backup was piloted by JSC Pilot Robert Walker with photographer Bobby Gray handling the cameras.

Also in the air over Edwards was one of the modified Gulfstream-2 Shuttle Training Aircraft, being flown by NASA pilots Ed Mendenhall and Charlie Hayes. Their job was to check on the weather at Edwards and make recommendations on which runway would be best to use as regards wind and visibility conditions. The weather was superb, and there appeared to be nothing against the use of lakebed runway 23, the preferred strip for this mission.

With so many aircraft in the air, the Crimson team had a second capcom, astronaut Rick Hauck, whose job it was to manage all the radio traffic between Houston and the five craft. Hopefully, this would make the rendezvous with Columbia easier.

As Columbia intercepted the approach circle at 35,000 ft (10,700 m), astronauts McBride and Nelson were in position in the primary Chase 1 aircraft. Chase 2, with Dick Gray and Pete Stanley aboard, was right behind, and soon spectacular closeups of the descending Orbiter appeared on the television screens in mission control. Chase 1 pilot Jon McBride moved his aircraft beneath Columbia to have a look at her underside. None of the tiles were missing, and McBride told the astronauts, “You look real good underneath.” From what he could see, the spacecraft seemed to be in good condition all over.

As Columbia came around the circle, Young maintained a 35° left bank and an airspeed of 280 knots (520 km/hr). He was finally lined up with Runway 23 as he passed 12,000 ft (3,700 m) altitude about 90 seconds from touchdown. From this point, he was able to fly straight in, using the speed brakes to maintain a 280 kt (520 km/hr) airspeed.

The craft was dropping rapidly, its steep glideslope making the descent look particularly alarming to the many onlookers at Edwards. Everything was under control, however, as the skilled hands of John Young brought the space bird in as if it were an everyday event. At 1,750 ft (533 m), just after crossing the threshold of the lake bed, Young raised Columbia's nose to bleed the airspeed off to 190 kt (352 km/hr) and, moments later, a scant 400 ft (122 m) off the ground, he lowered the landing gear.

The crowd at Edwards cheered as the gear lowered and, as Jon McBride called off altitudes to Young and Crippen, everything looked perfect. One TV reporter told his viewers, “It’s incredible! It looks like Los Angeles Airport, and he’s coming back from space!”

All eyes were riveted on Columbia as McBride called out the final few feet. “Six feet,” he said, “five, four, three, two, one, touchdown!”. The time was 18:20:52 GMT, 14 April 1981 as the Orbiter’s two main landing gear made contact with the lake bed surface. Young lowered the nose wheel smoothly to the ground, and the vehicle began a 9,000 ft (2,700 m) rollout across the lakebed, leaving billowing clouds of dust in its wake.

"Welcome home,Columbia," Allen said in congratulations, “beautiful, beautiful!”

“Do I have to take it up to the hangar, Joe?” Young asked in jest.

“We’re going to dust it off first,” Allen replied.

”This is the world’s greatest all-electric flying machine, I’ll tell you that,” Young said enthusiastically, “it worked super!”

A minute after touchdown, Columbia had slowed to a stop. The glistening black and white spacecraft, looking little the worse for wear, sat majestically on the baked clay lakebed surface. The flight was over.

Post-Landing Operations

As soon as the Orbiter’s wheels stopped, a recovery convoy of about 20 vehicles started speeding across the lakebed towards it. Timing was very critical, for Columbia was still hot after its blazing reentry of just a few minutes before. It was imperative that air conditioning units and other ground support equipment were attached within 15 minutes to prevent residual heat from soaking through the thermal tiles into the spacecraft structure and possibly damaging electronic components.

Before this could be done, technicians wearing special Self-Contained Atmosphere Protective Ensemble suits (“Scape suits”) sampled the air around the Orbiter, in particular the thruster nozzles, to ensure that no toxic propellant fumes were lingering. Assured that all was safe, two large tractor-trailer rigs were backed up to the rear end. One carried a large air conditioning unit to blow cool air through the vehicle, while the other had a freon cooling system to pump liquid coolant to the Orbiter’s electronics. Both were successfully connected within the required time limit.

In Columbia's cockpit, Young and Crippen rapidly completed the powerdown and safing of the Orbiter’s many systems, and they soon were expressing an eagerness to get out. The post-landing plans called them to stay aboard for 45 minutes but as the time inched up towards one hour, Young began to get a little impatient.

“John doesn’t think the passengers should have to wait this long to de plane,”. Crippen jokingly complained as the time wore on. Houston countered by reminding them that they would not have much of a wait for their luggage inside the terminal. The Hatch Access Vehicle was soon positioned alongside the Orbiter and, before long, the hatch was opened. Various people went up and down the airline-like stairs of the unit before John Young appeared shortly before 19:24.

Wearing his ejection suit, the Commander bounded down the stairs, shook hands heartily with Flight Operations Director George Abbey, and then proceeded to inspect his ship. Young was extremely excited. There was no way for him to contain himself as he enthusiastically strutted around the Orbiter, motioning with his hands, talking about the flight to anyone who would listen.

Crippen was, still inside completing a few tasks and, after several minutes, Young clambered back up the stairs - two at a time - to see what was keeping him. Both men were finally outside by 19:29, receiving the congratulations of the engineers and technicians.

The flight had gone beautifully. The sight of the white spacecraft parked on the tan-coloured desert surface, her first crew safely home, was one that few people will forget. America's return to manned space flight had been a triumphant one indeed. The flightworthiness of the Space Shuttle had been proven, and America’s future in space looked secure.