July-August 1982:STS-1 mission report, part 2

Getting Organised

After getting a “GO" for on-orbit from Mission Control
Center-Houston (MCC-H), astronauts John Young and Robert
Crippen began turning their spacecraft into a home for the
next two days. Their first order of business was to get out of
the cumbersome Emergency Ejection Suits (EES’s). They put
on lightweight blue flight coveralls, and began the task of
shutting off many of the systems used to fly Columbia, while
at the same time activating those which made it a habitable
space dwelling.

While the astronauts were getting organised, engineers at
MCC-H were studying a problem that had cropped up some
2 hours earlier. As the crew opened the Payload Bay Doors
(PLBD’s), MCC-H received indications that one of Columbia’s
three Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI) recorders
was stuck in the running position. The malfunctioning recorder
was specifically known as the Pulse-Code Modulation (PCM)
recorder. Its job was to record engineering data throughout the
flight in one of three operating modes:

1. Continuous record - the continuous recording of data
with the tape running constantly;

2. Hi-sample - a ten-second sample of data taken every five
minutes with the recorder stopping automatically
between data takes;

3. Lo-sample - identical to Hi-sample only the ten-second
data samples were taken every ten minutes.

There were six hours of tape available, and to ensure that
the PCM recorder had enough to cover the entire mission, it
was planned to operate it in the Lo-sample mode for most of
the flight. The problem was that the recorder was stuck in the
Continuous record mode, and the only way to avoid using all
the tape was to pull the DFI PCM circuit breaker and shut
the recorder down altogether. Since then, 2 hours of valuable
data had been lost.

MCC-H had a troubleshooting procedure prepared, and as
Columbia came into contact with Hawaii at 16:26 on 12 April
(all times are in GMT unless otherwise noted), capcom astronaut Daniel Brandenstein took the crew through it. It involved
trying switches and circuit breakers in various combinations.

Meal Period

While passing over the Indian Ocean and Australia on the
fourth orbit. Young and Crippen ate their first meal aboard
Columbia. On the menu were frankfurters, turkey tetrazzini,
freeze-dried bananas, a candy bar and apple drink.
For this flight, Columbia was not equipped with the elaborate
airliner-style galley it will have when it reaches operational
status. Instead, Young and Crippen were provided with portable carry-on food warmers and surplus Skylab-type food. The
astronauts were allotted three meals daily, each consisting of
five or six foods and a drink or two. In addition, there were
so-called “pantry" items, such as coffee, tea and snacks, which
the men could have between meals if they wished.

After lunch, as Columbia began its fifth orbit, capcom astronaut Henry Hartsfield informed Young and Crippen that
the DFI PCM recorder would not be used to collect data
during the two upcoming Orbital Manoeuvering System
(OMS) burns. The two burns, known as OMS-3 and OMS-4,
would be used to raise Columbia’s orbit from its current
133.5x132 nautical miles (nm) to 150nm circular. The burns
would be different from the first two OMS manoeuvres in that
only one engine would be used for each. Normally, OMS burns
are done by firing both engines together, but engineers wanted
to see how well one engine would work by itself in the event of its twin becoming inoperable on a future flight.

The OMS-3 burn took place over the United States, with
the right OMS engine igniting precisely on time at 18:20:48.
The 25.7 foot per second (fps) manoeuvre changed Columbia's
orbit to 148x131.7 nm.
OMS-4, which would be done on the left engine, was due
to take place halfway around the world from OMS-3, as the
Orbiter flew over the Indian Ocean. The engine ignited at
19:05, increasing Columbia's velocity by 37.5 fps. The new
orbit was a good one. Instead of the planned 150-nm circular
path, the orbit was 149.3X147.6 nm. This was well within
allowable tolerances.

RCS Jet Tests

Between 20:00 and 21:00, while Columbia was on its sixth
orbit, Young and Crippen conducted an important test of the
spacecraft's Reaction Control System (RCS). Using the 38
primary RCS thrusters and the six small vernier thrusters, the
astronauts put the Orbiter into various attitudes in order to
determine how well they could hold the attitude steady, and
whether the jets consumed propellant at the predicted rates.

The 870 lbf primary RCS jets left a memorable impression
on the astronauts. Whenever one of the thrusters fired, the
men could see a 30 ft long plume of flame accompanied by a
loud boom. They said later that it sounded like “muffled
howitzers” firing just outside.

The RCS was remarkably efficient in attitude control, using
3 per cent less fuel than expected. The astronauts felt, however,
that the racket from the primary RCS jets was so annoying
that using them to hold attitude during sleep periods would
make adequate rest nearly impossible. After the flight, Young
and Crippen strongly recommended wider use of the more
quiet verniers for attitude control, particularly during sleep
periods.

Television Broadcast

During a nine minute pass over the United States on orbit
7, the astronauts transmitted more television from orbit, this
time featuring views of themselves inside Columbia. At 21:22, when the picture flashed onto the screens in MCC-H, Young
was seen in his seat on the flight deck giving a brief account
of his ship’s performance:

“Okay, the flight so far has gone as smooth as it can possibly
go. We’ve done every test that we’re supposed to do, and
we’re up on the timeline, and the vehicle is iust performing
beautifully, much better than anyone ever expected it to do
on a first flight, and no systems are out of shape ... the vehicle
is just performing like a champ. Real beautiful.”

The view then shifted from the forward flight deck camera to the aft camera, giving a picture of Crippen floating weightlessly up near the ceiling. The rookie space traveller said that
he “had a thrill from the moment of liftoff all the way up to
what we are doing now,” and that “it has really been super.”

After the telecast ended, capcom Hartsfield
asked the men about mobility in the Orbiter in zero-G..Crippen
said that it was much easier to get from the flight deck to the
middeck than in the Shuttle Mission Simulator (SMS). "I can
dash down there and back real quick,” he said.

From the television show and the enthusiasm of their comments throughout the day, it appeared that Young and Crippen
were thoroughly pleased with Columbia and that they themselves were having a good time.

First Sleep Period

According to the flight plan, the astronauts were due to start
their first sleep period in space at 01:00 on 13 April. During
the 7 hours and 50 minutes allotted for sleep, the men were to
be strapped into their ejection seats on the flight deck. Since
Columbia was a very noisy vehicle, Young and Crippen had
acoustic blankets that they put on the floor to deaden the
racket. They also had ear plugs that they could use if they
wanted, although at least one of them was required to sleep
with a communications headset on.

The astronauts found it difficult to get to sleep. They had
been awake for over 18 hours, but their excitement was still
high. The men spent some time relaxing by looking outt)f the
windows, the first real opportunity they had had to do so. They
had been so busy earlier that they had only caught fleeting
glimpses of the spectacular sights outside.
Eventually they turned out the lights, put up the window
covers and tried to get some rest.. It was not easy. Young
estimated that he slept for only three or four hours and Crippen
did only slightly better.

Second Day in Orbit

The astronauts received the first call of their first complete
day in orbit at 08:43 while over Quito, Ecuador. Capcom Dan
Brandenstein played some rousing wakeup music; a
country/western tune called “Blastoff Columbia!” which had
been supplied by astronaut Dick Truly and Flight Operations
Director George Abbey.
Young and Crippen reported that the cabin had chilled
down considerably during the night. Crippen said at one point
that he was nearly “ready to break out the long undies.”

For much of the morning of their second day in space, the
astronauts performed an extensive series of tests of their RCS
thrusters. These were much like the attitude control tests of
the day before. This time, however, the translational capability
of the jets was being checked out. All told, there were five
major burns of the primary RCS thrusters over a little more
than seven hours. Interspersed with the tests were other
activities, one of which was a gravity gradient drift exercise to
examine how well Columbia could hold a steady attitude
without using the RCS.

The gravity gradient exercise itself was fairly simple. At
about 10:30, Young manoeuvred Columbia into a nose-down
attitude using the RCS, and then left it there for just over
three hours. During that time, there were no RCS firings to
hold the craft steady. The astronauts were surprised at how
well the scheme worked; Columbia kept remarkably stable.
This type of gravity-assisted attitude hold is being investigated as a possible means of keeping Orbiters stable on future
long-duration missions in which RCS propellant would have
to be conserved.

As Columbia drifted effortlessly around the world, Young
and Crippen took time off for breakfast and some banter with
capcom astronaut Joe Allen.

Flight Control System Checkout

After breakfast, the astronauts conducted a check-out of
their Flight Control System (FCS). The purpose of this was
to test the operation of the aerodynamic control surfaces on
the Orbiter and the associated avionics in the cockpit. Live
television of the two men on the flight deck during the test
was also planned as Columbia came across the United States
on orbit 17.

The TV picture appeared on the screens in MCC-H at
12:00, exactly 24 hours into the mission. Young was visible in
his seat in the cockpit, wearing his half-frame reading glasses,
and writing in his flight plan. Notebooks, seat belts and communications cables were floating everywhere, giving an
unearthly quality to the scene.
Before the broadcast ended, the Orbiter flew right over the
Kennedy Space Centre where it had started its mission one
day before: The astronauts were able to see the centre easily
and they quickly spotted the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)
and the 15,000 ft Shuttle runway.

At 12:14, as Columbia came within range of the Madrid
tracking site, there was more television, this time showing the
Earth. The spacecraft’s nose-down attitude provided an excellent view out of the forward windows. The astronauts had
turned off all of the cockpit lights and aimed the camera
outside. The view was spectacular, with the blue and white
Earth framed by the dark outlines of the windows.

PLBD Closing

After Columbia came out of her gravity gradient drift, Young
and Crippen continued with the RCS translation tests and
other tasks. One of their assignments was to close the Payload
Bay Doors, an important exercise. The doors had not been
closed since they were opened over 24 hours before and
engineers were anxious to see whether they would line up
properly and close tightly after being open that long. There
were fears that the doors could warp if left open for lengthy
periods. The doors closed as easily this time as they had in the
tests the day before. The flight plan called for them to remain
closed for just under two hours before being opened again.

The astronauts were rapidly acquiring the knack of working
aboard Columbia in weightlessness. Having so much room was
not only new to space "rookie” Crippen, but also to veteran
John Young. Although he had over 22 days of spaceflight time
logged before this mission, the cramped confines of Gemini
and Apollo had not allowed him anything like the roominess
provided by the Shuttle Orbiter. The astronauts could easily turn weightless somersaults in the middeck area and they were
able to effortlessly push off one wall and glide smoothly across
the room to another.

“I’ll tell you,” Crippen told MCC-H at 15:40 while over
Africa, "it’s going to be tough to go back to work in the SMS
(Shuttle Mission Simulator) one-g trainer after finding out how
really easy it is to move around in this vehicle.”

“I think you may be spoiled now,” capcom Joe Allen said.

“You got it,” Crippen shot back.

Vice-Presidential Chat

As Columbia arced across the Pacific Ocean at the start of
its 21st orbit, the astronauts had lunch. Their meal included
corned beef sandwiches, and Young received some of the
expected good-natured ribbing from Allen and Crippen.
They finished their meal quickly since, during the next pass
across the United States, they were scheduled to have a
televised chat with the Vice-President of the United States,
George Bush. When Columbia came within range at 18:04,
the TV camera was on, providing a picture of Young and
Crippen floating around down in the middeck.

“John and Crip,” Allen told them, “we have a telephone
call coming into the space network from the White House for
the crew members of the spaceship Columbia ... if you would
please, Mr. Vice-President, go ahead.”

After opening greetings, Bush told the astronauts that their
flight “is just going to ignite the excitement and the forward
thinking for this country.” He closed by telling the men that
“we’ll all be watching that reentry and landing with great
interest.”

The astronauts thanked the Vice-President for his good
wishes, and then Joe Allen came back on the line. The incredibly clear views of Young and Crippen floating around doing
acrobatics in the middeck prompted Allen to ask, “Crip, all of
us very much rookies down here are wondering how you are
enjoying zero-gravity flight. You look like you’re enjoying it.”

EES Donning

The next item on the flight plan called for the astronauts to
put on their Emergency Ejection Suits and climb into their
ejection seats in a rehearsal for the reentry and landing. Young
got suited first. He strapped himself into his seat, performed
a communications check, then got out of the seat and the suit.
Crippen then followed the same procedure, except that
MCC-H had added a short procedure that they wanted him
to try before he left his seat. It involved the troublesome PCM
recorder, which was still not operating.

By this time, engineers at MCC-H had pretty well given up
hope of getting the recorder to operate during the on-orbit
phase of the mission. However, they still desperately wanted
to have it running during reentry. It had been planned all along
to run the recorder in the Continuous record mode during the
descent, so the fact that it was stuck in that mode posed no
problem. What had to be solved was how to turn it on.

The controls were located within easy reach of both pilots
between the ejection seats. As mentioned previously, however,
the controls had been ineffective in stopping the recorder, so
it had to be deactivated at its circuit breaker. That circuit
breaker was located behind Crippen's seat and to his right.
Just before deorbit, when the recorder would have to be turned
on, both astronauts would be suited up and strapped in; the
breaker would be out of reach.
Crippen’s backup pilot, astronaut Dick Truly, had spent
much of the previous afternoon in the Shuttle Mission Simulator studying the problem and various ways of overcoming it.
He finally came up with using a “swizzle stick” reach extender
that the astronauts had on board to push the breaker in from
Crippen’s seat. He was able to do it quite easily, but he was
in shirtsleeves at the time. MCC-H wanted Crippen to try it
in his EES, which was expected to be more difficult.
Crippen gave it a try, but he reported that it was “extremely
difficult” to do it in the suit. He was barely able to lay the end
of the stick on the breaker, but there appeared to be no way
he could put enough pressure on it to push the breaker in. He
tried several times, but with the same result. It did not look
like the "swizzle stick trick” was going to work.

Recorder Change

After the astronauts got out of their suits, Columbia flew for
almost the entire 22nd orbit without any contact with a ground
station. During this lapse of over an hour and a quarter,
Johnson Space Center management and engineers met to
decide what to do about the DFI PCM recorder; acquiring
data during reentry was vitally important. Since it now
appeared that the astronauts had exhausted all other means of
getting the malfunctioning recorder to operate properly, the
engineers came up with a bolder plan: replacement of the
recorder itself. The crew did have a spare recorder and the
proper tools on board with them.

At 21:17, when Columbia came back into contact over the
US west coast on the 23rd orbit, capcom Henry Hartsfield
informed the astronauts of the new plans. He said that the
change would take about 90 minutes and that, to accommodate
it, some low-priority items would be deleted from the flight
plan.
To get to the recorder, the astronauts had to remove two
floor panels from the middeck. Each panel was secured by 12
tightly torqued screws and this proved to be the main source
of difficulty. It was difficult to get enough leverage in zero-g
to turn the screws.

When Columbia came up on Hawaii at 22:45, Young and
Crippen had the television camera running, giving MCC-H a
picture of them hard at work trying to remove the panels.
“Okay,Hank,” Crippen said, “we’ve got a small problem, or
a big problem, depending on how bad you want DFI.”

‘Okay, go ahead,” Hartsfield said.

Crippen then gave the details: “Well, both John and I have
been working pretty solid since the last time 1 talked to you
and we don’t have out half the fasteners yet, and I’m afraid I’m
just not going to be able to get them ... They’re just torqued
in there so darn hard that we just can’t get enough leverage to
break them. I’m not even sure if I was in one-g I could break
them. I’m just not sure this is going to be productive because
we are going to end up spending at least four or five hours
trying to do it.”

After a quick discussion in MCC-H, flight director Chuck
Lewis instructed Hartsfield to have Young and Crippen abandon the effort. It had been a noble try, but some other means
had to be found to get the existing recorder to operate properly.

The remainder of the evening was very quiet. The astronauts
had supper, performed some housekeeping jobs and prepared
to turn in for the night.

At 00:46 on 14 April, Columbia came within range of the
Santiago (Chile) tracking station. This was the last scheduled
communications pass of the day, and would also be the last
one of the flight for the “Bronze” flight control team. They
were not scheduled to come back on duty again before the
landing.

"On behalf of the Bronze team,” Hartsfield said, “it’s sure
been a pleasure working with you troops. You’ve done a super
job, we think it’s been a tremendous effort on your part and
we all look forward to seeing you (back in'Houston) tomorrow.
In fact, we’re excited about it, as we understand you’re buying.”

“Well, you may be right,” Crippen said, “and we’re sure
sorry we couldn’t fix that recorder for those guys. We’ll be
willing to consider not strapping all the way in (during reentry),
and doing something like that if we can help them.”

The final goodnight call to the crew came at 00:52 as the
Columbia moved out of range of Santiago. Young and Crippen
had had a busy second day in flight, and they would need a
good night’s rest for the even more demanding final day ahead.