“People are not scurrying around thinking doomsday things.” “There Is no reason to believe we have more serious problems anywhere else,” said flight director Neil Hutchinson. The tiles protect the shuttle from Intense heat when it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere.ĭownplaying the damage, NASA officials said none of the tiles was in a critical area and would not prevent the Columbia from landing safely. (AP Photo/NASA) (AP)Īt Mission Control, experts theorized that a sonic shock wave shook the tiles loose shortly after launch. Crippen, pilot, of the first orbital space flight of the space shuttle Columbia which launched on April 12, 1981. This 1979 picture shows astronauts John W. Scanning the far end of the 60-foot bay, television cameras aboard the spacecraft revealed 13 to 15 tile cavities atop the maneuvering engine pods that power the shuttle in space. But no sooner was the shuttle up than Mission Control discovered the potential problem with the tiles, which they noticed missing 90 minutes after launch as Crippen and Young opened the Columbia’s cargo bay doors for the first time. In the launch firing room, 150 engineers waved American flags and cheered. George Page, NASA director of shuttle operations, called it a “picture book” launch, and agreed that it went much better than launch crews expected. “It sure hasn’t changed any,” Young said. “That was one fantastic ride I highly recommend it,” Crippen said as he entered space for the first time. Crippen’s heartbeat pulsed at 130 beats per minute during the 43-year-old astronaut’s first minutes in space.
Eileen Collins.Young, 50, who set a human record with his fifth blastoff into space, had a heartbeat of 75 to 80 beats a minute during liftoff. STS-93, launched on July 23, 1999, was commanded by Lt. In the aftermath NASA's shuttle timetable was disrupted, and Columbia was not flown again until 1989 on STS-28, after which it resumed normal service as part of the shuttle fleet. The mission ended in Space Shuttle Challenger shortly after launch. It was launched on January 28, 1986, ten days after STS-61-C had landed. Challenger The next shuttle mission was undertaken by Challenger. Chang-Diaz, as well as the first sitting member of the United States House of Representatives| to venture into space, Bill Nelson. Columbia was not used for the next three years, during which time the shuttle fleet was expanded to include Space Shuttle Discovery and Space Shuttle Atlantis.Ĭolumbia returned to space on January 12, 1986, with the launch of STS-61-C. At this point Columbia was joined by Space Shuttle Challenger, which performed the next three shuttle missions.Ĭolumbia undertook its second operational mission STS-9, this time with six astronauts, including the first non-American astronaut on a space shuttle, Ulf Merbold. Its first operational mission, with a four-man crew, was STS-5, which launched on November 11, 1982. Columbia then undertook three further research missions to test its technical characteristics and performance. It launched on April 12, 1981, the 20th anniversary of human spaceflight, and returned on April 14, 1981, after orbiting the Earth 36 times. The first flight of Columbia STS-1 was commanded by John Young (a space veteran from the Project Gemini and Project Apollo and piloted by Robert Crippen, who had never been in space before, but who served as a support crew member for the Skylab missions and Apollo-Soyuz. On March 19, 1981, during preparations for a ground test,two workers were asphyxiated during a nitrogen purge, resulting in two deaths.
Kennedy Space Center on March 25, 1979, to prepare for its first launch. After construction, the orbiter arrived at John F. The name also honored Columbia, the Apollo Command/Service Module of Apollo 11. Columbia was named after the Boston, Massachusetts based sloop. History Construction Construction began on Columbia in 1975 primarily in palmdale, California.
0 kommentar(er)
