mission report sts-3 - busiest and most successful test mission

8/7/2019 Mission Report STS-3 - Busiest and Most Successful Test Mission

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WASANational Aeronautics and

Space Administration

M I S S I O N R E P O R T : STS-3 - E A S I E S T A N D K C S I

S U C C E S S F U L T E S T M I S S I O N (Nat ional

Aeronautics and Space Administration) 4 p

C S C L 2 2 A

H2/16

N82-3

Uncias

32995

Mission ReMR-003

STS-3—Busiest and Most Successful TestMission

Manipulator arm swings Plasma Diagnostics Package over side of Columbia.

At 11:05 a.m. EST, March 30, 1982, NASA astronautsJack R. Lousma (commander) and C. Gordon Fullerton

(pilot) landed their Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia on

Northrup Air Strip at the White Sands Test Facility, Ne wMexico. This was Columbia's third orbital test flight.

STS-3 lasted more than eight days, made 129 Earth

orbits, and covered a distance of 6.24 million kilometers

(3.9 million miles). It was not only the longest but alsothe busiest and most demanding of the Space Shuttle

test missions. Lousma and Fullerton accomplished

ORIGINAL PAGEBLACK AN D WHITE PHOTOGRAPH

nearly everything they set out to do. The third mission

of NASA's Space Transportation System (STS) proveda major stride toward an operational spacecraft.

Why Columbia Landed at White Sands

Rogers Dry Lake bed in California's Mojave Desert(Edwards Air Force Base) is the primary landing field

for the shuttle orbital flight tests. STS-1 and STS-2missions landed there. But heavy rains had drenched

the dry lake. Nobody could predict how long it would



take the Edwards runway surface to be dry enough tosupport Columbia's landing.

The best alternate landing site—Northrup Air Strip atWhite Sands, Ne w Mexico—was chosen for the STS-3landing. Like Edwards, Northrup Air Strip is a hard-packed desert floor.

The Northrup strip was sufficiently long and wide toprovide the margin of safety needed until thecharacteristics of Columbia's aerodynamics and its new

computer-based automatic landing system are fullytested.

Plans called for the STS-3 landing at 2:27 p.m. EST,March 29, 1982. But as Lousma and Fullerton werepreparing their spacecraft for entry into the atmosphereon March 29, wind velocities rose sharply at WhiteSands. John W. Young, commander ofSTS-1—Columbia's maiden flight—piloted a jet aircraftover the landing area. He measured winds much toohigh for Columbia and observed that a severe sandstorm had cut visibility at the landing site to near zero.He radioed Mission Control: "I think we ought to knockthis off." "W e concur," Mission Control replied.

Just 39 minutes minutes before they were scheduledto fire their braking rockets to descend f rom orbit,Lousma and Fullerton were "wave d off." Lousma landedColumbia the next morning under clear skies andacceptable wind conditions.

Moving the landing site from Edwards to WhiteSands meant that facilities for processing Columbiaafter landing had to be set up at Wh ite Sands.Equipment and technicians needed for the landing weretransported from Edwards to White Sands in 38 railroadcars forming two spe cial trains.

Preparations for Launch Nearly Perfect

Columbia's third mission into space began about fourmonths after completion of its second mission—substantially less than the seven months betweenSTS-1 and STS-2. The STS-3 launch was on the dayoriginally scheduled, March 22 , 1982—a first for theShuttle. It was delayed just one hour from the planned10 a.m.—to 11 a.m. EST. This slippage wasoccasioned by the failure of a heater on a nitrogen gaspurge

line.

Columbia Put Through Exacting Tests

A major STS-3 goal was thermal testing of Columbia.First the tail was pointed toward the Sun for 28 hours;later the nose for 80 hours; and finally, the top of theship with cargo bay doors open, for 28 hours. Betweenthese exp osures in various flight attitudes, Lousma andFullerton rolled the craft for periods of from 3 to 10hours' duration to equalize external temperatures. Whilesubjecting Columbia to thermal stresses, they openedand closed the payload bay doors. Following prolongedexposure of the open bay doors to intense cold away

from the Sun, the doors wouldn't latch properly afterclosing. Latching was completed normally after Sunexposure heated the top of the cargo bay.

The crew started and restarted Columbia's orbitalmaneuvering engines and operated the hugemechanical arm called the Rem ote Manipulator System .They developed considerable expertise in using themanipulator arm to grasp an expe riment called aPlasma Diagnostic Package. They moved this unitaround outside and inside the payload bay and returnedit to its stowed position.

', PASSIVE

THERMAL CONTROL

(THREE 10 HOUR PERIODS)

TAIL T O S U N

(Payload Bay to S p a c e )

(ONE 30 HOUR P ERIOD)

PAYLOAD BAY

T O SUN

(ONE 26 HOUR P E R I OD )

STS-3 Thermal Test Attitudes ORIGINAL PAGi iS

OF POOR QUALITY

N O S E TO SUN

(ONE 80 HOUR PERIOD)



These m aneuvers were accomplished despite a shortcircuit which blacked ou t the manipulator arm'stelevision wrist camera. They guided the 15-meter(50-foot) arm using only its elbow camera. This markedthe first time the arm had taken cargo out of thespacecraft.

Lousma and Fullerton also fired their attitude-controlrockets to roll and pitch Columbia while they used themanipulator arm. These movements caused no

noticeable arm tremors or loss of grip. As they berthedthe arm for the last time, Fullerton called it a "fantasticpiece of machinery."

Space Science Mission Successful

The mission's space science segment, called OSS-1,provided abundant data for scientists. This project wasconsidered a "pathfinder" effort because many of theexperiments were designed to gather information aboutColumbia's interactions with the space environment—toset guidelines for future experiments. The PlasmaDiagnostic Package was designed to find out how themovement and the electrical and magnetic fieldsgenerated by Columbia affected plasma (ionized gases)and magnetic field lines in space.

Other experiments were designed to indicate howoutgassing of Orbiter attitude-control propellants andwater dumps could affect measurements of celestialand terrestrial objects.

Another experiment wa s carried to provideinformation about buildup of condensation oninstruments, from volatile materials expended byColumbia. Tests of the dynamic, acoustic, and thermalproperties of Columbia's environment also were made.

On this mission Columbia carried experiments tomonitor X-rays emitted by solar flares; to gain moreinformation about formation of lignin (the stiffeningsubstance in plant stems) in the nearly gravity-freeenvironment of space; to study the relationship of plantheight in space to initial soil moisture content; to gatherinformation about the frequency, mass, and chemistryof micrometeorites; and to find how flying insectsbehave in a nearly gravity-free environment.

Among the insects that Lousma and Fullertonphotgraphed with a motion picture camera werehoneybees and velvet bean caterpillar moths. Thisexperiment was submitted by Todd E. Nelson, astudent at Southland High School in Adams, Minnesota.

His experiment was one of 10 national winners from1,500 proposed experiments submitted in the1980-1981 NASA/National Science TeachersAssociation Shuttle Student Involvement Projectcompetition. Th e NASA/NSTA project wa s designed tostimulate the study of science and technology in thenation's secondary schools.

To prepare for future low cost science experiments inspace, a payload canister for small, self-containedexperiments called "getaway specials" was checkedout. Getaway specials are experiments developed byindustry, schools, individuals, and other organizationsand are scheduled for flight on a space-available basis.

Medical and Materials-ProcessingExperiments

One experiment f lown on the STS-3 mission employedelectrophoresis to separate kidney and blood cells.E lectrophoresis uses a small electric charge to separatea solution containing different types of cells. On Earth,the electrophoresis process produces undesirableconvection currents in fluids. These currents tend toprevent separation of cells closely resembling one

another. The electrophoresis expe riment could lead tocommercial processing of chemicals andPharmaceuticals in space.

A materials-processing experiment of STS-3 involvedthe development of uniform-sized latex spheres.Experimenters wanted to determine whetherweightlessness can help produce uniform latex spheresof 20-micron diameter, from molten latex suspended inan emulsifier. These spheres are used to measurepores in the intestines and for eye research. They mayalso be used to convey drugs and isotopes fortreatment of cancerous tumors.

Mission's Problems Relatively MinorSTS-3 was the third of four planned orbital test flights,designed to eliminate as many difficulties as possiblebefore the Shuttle goes operational. In STS-3 someproblems proved bothersome but most turned out to beof minor concern. About seven minutes after launch, asensor f lashed a message that one of the threeAuxiliary Power Units (APUs) on Columbia wasoverheating. Th e APUs swivel the rocket enginesduring the launch phase and operate the rudder andelevens during the return through the atmosphere whenthe Shuttle flies as an aircraft.

The Shuttle Orbiter can operate adequately using

only two of its three AP Us during the ascent andre-entry modes. They are not used in orbit. Duringreturn to Earth on this mission all three units operatedproperly.

On March 23 Lousma and Fullerton discovered thatColumbia had lost more than 35 of its 31,000heat-protection tiles. Loss of the tiles did not endangerthe spacecraft during re-entry, when tempe raturesreached more than 2,000 degrees F. The tiles becamedetached during launch. Engineers will continuereplacement procedures designed to prevent tileseparation during the fourth test mission. An inspectionof Columbia after it landed reve aled that it had lost 36full tiles and parts of 19 others.

Adjustments Ease Crew's Problems

Early in the mission the crew encountered spacesickness, a balky toilet, and temperature control andradio static problems that interfered with sleep. Athermostat difficulty kept the cabin either too warm ortoo chilly. Whenever Columbia passed over a certainarea of Asia, the crew's radio headsets crackled withstatic, waking the astronauts if they we re attempting tosleep. The static has been attributed to a powerfulradar station. Most troubles were corrected by the thirdday and the astronauts went about their tasks in good



health and high spirits for the remainder of theeight-day mission.

On March 26, three of the communications linksbetween Columbia and Earth were lost due totransponder malfunctions. Besides the remaining highpower communications link, a backup FM radio andUHF voice circuit were still available. Loss of the radiolinks reduced data transmission from Columbia to theground but did not threaten safety.

All personnel connected with the flight felt the STS-3mission performed its assigned tasks admirably,achieving an important step toward making Shuttleoperational. Lousma and Fullerton agreed in summingup Columbia's third flight:

Columbia "performed magnificently."—Lousma

"It's an unbelievably beautiful flyingmachine."—Fullerton

Launch of STS-3.

ORIGINAL PAGE

BUVCK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPH"

mission report sts-3 - busiest and most successful test mission

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