June-September 1981:STS-1 preparations

At the time of going to press, Space Shuttle Columbia is standing on pad 39A at Cape Canaveral undergoing its final preparations for the first American manned space flight in almost 6 years: soon, we shall know if mission STS-1, flown by veteran astronaut John Young and rookie Robert Crippen, has opened a new era in space transportation or if the immense complexity of this new spacecraft has proved to be greater than expected. NASA has rarely been as wary about announcing a manned launch date - never mind the time! - because any one of a myriad of faults could cause further delays. Even the Apollo lunar flights were more certain, but then they had launch window deadlines to meet whereas this first Shuttle test flight has fewer restrictions.

STS-1 was rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building on 29 December last year to make the 3 mile trip out to the pad to begin an extensive series of tests and simulations. The journey took some 6.2 hours (an average speed of 3 mph!), nearly 4 hours longer than planned because of problems with a propellant fuel line on the launch platform.

The launcher and its mobile platform were connected to the ground services (power, water, etc.) for Pad Validation Tests to begin on 2 January. NASA announced on 2 February that the launch was being postponed from 17 March to “the week of 5 April at the earliest”. Problems had arisen during a cryogenic propellant loading test with the External Tank when it appeared that the stresses caused by the super-cold liquids had been too much for insulation on the Tank’s exterior. An area of about 50 ft came loose and Martin-Marietta began a 13 day in-situ repair on 7 February.

On 10 February, the 11 day Wet Countdown Demonstration Test/Flight Readiness Firing check began, a major hurdle to overcome if the launch was to occur in early-to-mid-April. The exercise included loading cryogenic propellants aboard the Orbiter and its External Tank in readiness for a 20 second static firing of the three main engines on 13 February, However,delays pushed this back to the 16th and then the 20th. The entire Shuttle system was put under scrutiny - computers,effects of engine ignition and firing on the pad and the Shuttle structure itself, engine control systems (gimballing took place while thrust varied between 94 and 100% of normal) and propellant tanking and detanking procedures. The Shuttle is unoccupied during this latter phase for safety reasons;the crew would normally go aboard soon after completion of ET loading.

A final 2 day dry-countdown demonstration test, the last major hurdle, was completed on 19 March and judged to have been very successful.

Flight programme

The flight itself was planned to be as simple as possible. Launch weight was kept down to 1.9 million kg instead of 2.04 million kg. and the launch profile was designed to avoid stressing Columbia's structure and thermal tiles. The crew quarters below Young and Crippen’s seats were also mostly unequipped.

In-orbit tests were, again, simple. Perhaps the most important is the opening of the cargo bay doors. Without the radiators on the doors’ insides removing waste heat from Columbia, the six tanks of cooling water would be used up in six Earth revolutions. Closing the doors could cause problems if they warped out of shape - Crippen was trained to go on an EVA to see what he could do if that happened. Other activities scheduled included firing the Reaction Control System, guidance checks and testing the hydraulic control surfaces used during re-entry and landing.

In the words of pilot Bob Crippen, “As far as John and I are concerned, if we get up and get back down, that is a successful mission.”

John Young, the most experienced active astronaut (selected in 1962; flew Gemini 3 in 1965, Gemini 10 in 1966,Apollo 10 in 1969 and Apollo 16 in 1972), has perhaps himself reflected on an interesting coincidence going back 9 years to his trip to the Moon in Casper and Orion. He and Lunar Module Pilot Charlie Duke were on one of their EVAs when news was radioed up that the House of Representatives had approved funding for the Shuttle. Young commented, “The country needs that Shuttle mighty bad." Almost a decade later he would be responsible for commanding the first, vitally important, mission.