Apr 14 1981
From The Space Library
The Shuttle orbiter Columbia came to a "flawless" landing on a dry lake bed in the Mojave desert at Edwards Air Force Base, California, at 1:21 p.m. EST before a crowd that included NASA employees, 20,000 VIPs, and about 250,000 spectators who had camped out all night to watch Columbia's return. Millions of people around the world also watched the return on television.
The astronauts got a wakeup call from mission control about 4 a.m. on their 30th orbit, with a special message for Robert Crippen: "You've waited 12 years for this. If you don't wake up, you'll miss the whole thing." Before eating breakfast, the crew took time to check flight systems, guidance and navigation instruments, and the 44 reaction-control thrusters used during reentry. On 36th orbit, the crew received "final go" for deorbit firing. Columbia's payload-bay doors were closed four hours before the scheduled landing time, and the astronauts put on their pressurized space. suits in case of emergency.
Over the Indian Ocean at 12:22 p.m., an hour before landing and while out of contact with any tracking stations, Commander John W. Young turned Columbia tail-first and fired two on-board maneuvering rockets to brake the spacecraft; then, turned it nose-first again, tilting it slightly to permit full exposure of underside insulation. Reentry into the atmosphere at more than 17,000 mph took place at 12:48 p.m., 400,000 feet over the Pacific at Wake Island. The few tiles missing from tail areas after liftoff did not affect reentry at heats up to 2750 °F. The 80-ton 122-foot long vehicle landed at 215 mph, twice the usual jet speed.
As Columbia's wheels touched down, flight-control chief Don Puddy at Houston told his jubilant team to "Prepare for exhilaration," allowing them about 15 seconds of celebration before resuming their jobs. For the first time, a splashdown or landing did not immediately end a manned spaceflight. "Welcome home, Columbia," Houston greeted the craft landing on the center line of the California runway. "Do you want us to take it up to the hangar, Joe?" Young radioed, and mission control responded "We're going to dust it off first." A NASA official said that Columbia would probably begin its return flight to Cape Canaveral in seven or eight days, riding piggyback on its Boeing 747 carrier. An "optimistic" estimate was that the orbiter would fly again under its own power in less than six months, on a four-day flight from which it might be able to "turn around" and be ready to fly again in four months. (NY Times, Apr 15/81, 1, 21; W Post, Apr 15/81, A-1; W Star, Apr 15/81, A-1; WSJ, Apr 15/81, 2)
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