STS-3

Commander Jack Lousma previously flew as Pilot of the second Skylab crew, staying aboard the space station for 59 days from July to September 1973. Lousma had previously been selected in 1978 as Pilot for STS-2, which was then scheduled as a Skylab reboost mission. When delays in the Shuttle's development prevented Columbia from being launched in time to rendezvous with Skylab in 1979, STS-2 Commander Fred Haise retired from NASA and Lousma was then moved up as Commander of STS-3.[2] Lousma also served on the support crews for Apollo 9, 10 and 13; he was the capsule communicator during the time of the latter mission's near-disastrous accident. He was also selected as backup Docking Module Pilot for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

Fullerton was a rookie who transferred to NASA in 1969 after the cancellation of the Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory program. Fullerton had previous experience with the Shuttle as he had flown the shuttle Enterprise as Pilot alongside Fred Haise during the Approach and Landing Tests program in 1977. He also served as part of the support crew for Apollo 14, 15, 16 and 17.

Columbia was launched from Kennedy Space Center at 11:00 am EST, on 22 March 1982, the planned launch date.[4] The launch was delayed by one hour due to the failure of a heater on a nitrogen-gas ground support line. Prior to the launch, Columbia had spent only 70 days in the Orbiter Processing Facility – a record checkout time.

STS-3 lifting off from launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

The Plasma Diagnostics Package (PDP) is grappled by the shuttle's Remote Manipulator System.

The primary objectives of the flight were to continue testing the "Canadarm" Remote Manipulator System (RMS), and to carry out extensive thermal testing of Columbia by exposing its tail, nose and top to the Sun for varying periods of time. The crew found that prolonged exposure to the Sun caused the cargo bay doors to warp slightly, preventing them from closing fully. Rolling the orbiter to balance temperatures around the orbiter resolved the issue.[6]

In addition, in its payload bay, Columbia again carried the DFI package, and OSS-l (named for the NASA Office of Space Science and Applications) which consisted of a number of instruments mounted on a Spacelab pallet, intended to obtain data on the near-Earth environment and the extent of contamination caused by the orbiter itself. A test canister for the Small Self-Contained Payload program – also known as the Getaway Special (GAS) – was mounted on one side of the payload bay.

For the first time, a number of experiments were carried in the shuttle's mid-deck lockers. These included an Electrophoresis Equipment Verification Test experiment to study the separation of biological components, and a Mono-disperse Latex Reactor experiment, to produce uniform micrometer-sized latex particles. The first Shuttle Student Involvement Project (SSIP) – a study of insect motion – also was carried in a mid-deck locker.

A variety of minor problems were experienced during the flight. The orbiter's toilet malfunctioned on first use resulting in, according to Lousma, "eight days of colorful flushing"; one Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) overheated[6] (but worked properly during descent); both crew members experienced some space sickness; and on 26 March, three communications links were lost.

STS-3 was planned as a 7-day flight. The landing was moved to Northrop Strip (later renamed White Sands Space Harbor) at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico since the planned landing site at Edwards Air Force Base had flooded. Lousma and Fullerton chose to land at White Sands instead of the new Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center because they had trained there. A large-scale equipment movement (reportedly "40 train carloads") from Edwards AFB to White Sands was undertaken before and during the mission, to ensure that a landing could be fully supported.[6] Although time-sensitive equipment movements of this nature were originally to be handled by Air Force cargo planes, NASA altered those plans and moved the equipment in two dedicated trains over the 1,000-mile distance via the Santa Fe Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad. The choice to move the support equipment by rail saved NASA approximately $2 million in transportation costs.[7] High winds at White Sands reduced visibility and delayed the landing by a day. As all mission objectives had been accomplished, the crew enjoyed what Lousma described as "an extra day in our world's favorite vacation spot ... We finally had a chance to look out the window and enjoy being there."[6]

The Kuiper Airborne Observatory took an infrared image of the orbiter's heat shield to study its operational temperatures. In this image, Columbia is travelling at Mach 15.6 at an altitude of 56 kilometers (184,000 ft).

As on the previous day's wave off, strong westerly high level winds were in excess of system verification values. As a result, Columbia had to fly a less desirable high "right base" turn onto final approach instead of the more usual and forgiving overhead pattern. At this stage in the test programme the Orbiter had significantly less electronic energy management information available to the crew than on later missions. With the runway visible only on his side Fullerton called the turn in for his commander. Their escorting T-38s were led by astronaut Dick Covey and NASA photographer Pete Stanley. The final approach was in part flown by the shuttle's autopilot, but the autoland software was not complete so it could not include an automatic landing. Rolling out on final approach, the autopilot was reengaged, and responded by closing the speedbrakes (despite the orbiter being on profile), resulting in increased speed. The autopilot then commanded full speedbrakes, and kept oscillating like this for some time. Lousma left the autopilot activated in order to gather data on its behavior, but disconnected it again at a very late stage to touch down manually. The landing was also one of the more dramatic of the program, with the landing gear deploying at an altitude of 150 feet (46 m) at a speed of 275 knots (509 km/h) and locking just five seconds before touchdown. Early automatic speed brake closure had resulted in high speed on the inner glideslope and Lousma opted to touchdown fast rather than excessively long. The nose then began to lower at greater than planned airspeed and raised again right before nose-gear touchdown.[8][6] Touchdown finally took place at 16:04:46 UTC on 30 March 1982, on runway 17 at Northrop Strip.[9]

Former NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden is amongst those with a different take. His version directly contradicts both Lousma and Fullerton, claiming that he "hot stick downmoded" rather than used the glareshield pushbuttons. Consequently, he did not know that the autoland system was still partially engaged until Fullerton warned him, causing Lousma to pitch up; Bolden, who had worked on the autoland system early in his astronaut career prior to his first space flight, stated in 2004 that "he saved the vehicle" by doing so.[10]

STS-3 was the only shuttle mission to land at White Sands. The unexpectedly difficult landing and post flight conditions damaged the shuttle, requiring extensive repair at KSC. So much gypsum dust covered Columbia that Bolden recalled, "I flew it several flights later on my first flight and when we got on orbit, there was still gypsum coming out of everything! They thought they had cleaned it ... but it was just unreal what it had done!" Dust continued to be found in the spacecraft for the rest of its career.[11]

Columbia made 130 orbits and traveled 3,300,000 miles (5,300,000 km) during its 8-day, 4-minute, 45-second flight. A total of 36 thermal protection tiles were lost and 19 were damaged. The orbiter was returned to KSC on 6 April 1982. STS-3 was the last mission for which NASA named a complete backup crew.

While on a post-mission goodwill tour in Beijing, Lousma displayed a photo he had taken from space of a "beautiful emerald-colored lake" in China and was surprised by the audience reaction. He later learned that the picture was likely of a secret atomic test site for the Chinese nuclear weapons program.[6]

STS-3 mission insignia patch

On the mission patch, Columbia is shown emerging from a star, representing the bright aspiration of space exploration. The orbiter is seen grabbing a PDP with the Canadarm, and is shown with many experiments in its payload bay. The three large orange triangular points of the mission patch indicate the flight's numerical designation in the Space Transportation System's mission sequence.

NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the Gemini program, and first used music to wake up a flight crew during Apollo 15.[12] Each track is specially chosen, often by the astronauts' families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.[12]

• List of human spaceflights
• List of Space Shuttle missions

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

• STS-3 mission summary. NASA.
• STS-3 video highlights. NSS.
• Video of STS-3 landing at White Sands. Spaceflight Now.