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.