Forty Years Ago: Preparations for STS-1

Space Shuttle Columbia arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center from its North American Rockwell Corporation manufacturing facility in Palmdale, California, on March 24, 1979. Bolted atop its Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), the orbiter completed a four-day transcontinental ferry flight, making three overnight stops along the way in Texas and Florida. The next day, after removing the orbiter from the back of the SCA, workers towed it into the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF), where Columbia spent the next 19 months preparing for its first flight. 

In parallel, engineers readied the other components of the space shuttle system, such as the external tank and Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), while the crew members and mission controllers held simulations to rehearse various phases of the mission designated STS-1, for Space Transportation System. In February 1980, mission managers planned for a launch in November of that year, but anticipated that it might slip into early 1981. 

Columbia arrived at Kennedy with many tiles missing from its Thermal Protection System (TPS). Temporary tiles installed for the ferry flight had to be replaced with permanent ones. The TPS tiles represented one of the most complex new technologies developed for the shuttle, and continued to be the leading challenge in getting Columbia ready for its first flight. All in all, roughly 30,000 tiles, each one individually sized for its specific location, needed to be installed on the vehicle and tested for adequate strength and bonding.

The external tank for STS-1 arrived at Kennedy in July 1979 after a barge trip from the Michoud assembly plant outside New Orleans, and workers installed it in a test stand in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to await stacking with the SRBs and Columbia.   

Left: Engineer applying a tile to Columbia’s left wing. Middle: The external tank for STS-1 arrives at Kennedy. Image Credits: NASA 

Three views of the stacking of STS-1 SRBs in the VAB. Image Credits: NASA

All the components of the two SRBs for STS-1 had arrived in the VAB by September 1979, and workers began the stacking process. By early January 1980, they had completed stacking the two rockets on the Mobile Launch Platform, where the boosters awaited the external tank and Columbia. To qualify the SRBs for flight, workers conducted four demonstration and three qualification static firings of the booster’s motor at Thiokol’s Wasatch Facility near Brigham City, Utah. With the successful completion of the final test on Feb. 13, 1980, managers qualified the booster for flight. 

Left: SRB in place for the final qualification static firing. Right: SRB during the final qualification static firing in Utah. Image Credits: NASA

All three of Columbia’s space shuttle main engines passed flight qualification, and engineers installed them on the vehicle in August 1979. Workers at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s National Space Transportation Laboratory at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, conducted a series of three-engine tests using non-flight qualified main engines. The first full-duration test on Dec. 17, 1979, lasted 554 seconds. A second test on Feb. 1, 1980, ended after just 4.6 seconds due to one of the engines starting late. A repeat of the test on Feb. 28, the second of a planned series of seven, concluded successfully after 560 seconds.

Left: Workers install one of Columbia’s main engines. Right: View of the Dec. 17, 1979, three-engine test at National Space Transportation Laboratory. Image Credits: NASA

To demonstrate selected orbiter hardware and software subsystems during a mission timeline, several hundred NASA and contractor engineers at Kennedy, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and Rockwell’s facility in Downey, California, conducted a series of Orbiter Integrated Tests (OIT). The first OIT took place between Dec. 16 and 20, 1979. The prime crew for STS-1, John W. Young and Robert L. Crippen, as well as their backups Joe H. Engle and Richard F. Truly, participated in the five-day test that included Columbia’s first simulated launch and flight into orbit. The crewmates took part in the OIT from inside Columbia, powered up in the OPF. A second 11-day OIT that put Columbia through all phases of its mission, including five simulated launches and a full 54-hour simulated flight, concluded successfully on Jan. 18, 1980.

Crippen said of the test, “The shuttle is a really spectacular machine, which will do a lot for this country,” while Young said that Columbia performed “like a champ.”  

NASA Administrator Robert A. Frosch described the test as a major milestone toward achieving the first flight of shuttle.

Left: STS-1 prime crew Robert Crippen (left) and John Young arrive at the OPF for the OIT. Middle: Young about to enter Columbia. Right: Crippen about to enter Columbia. Image Credits: NASA

To prepare for Columbia’s first mission, flight controllers and astronauts conducted a 30-hour simulation led from mission control at Johnson. The exercise began on Jan. 24 with a simulated launch and orbital insertion, concluding the next day with a simulated landing. The prime and backup crews participated in the simulation.

Three flight controller teams, led by Flight Directors Neil B. Hutchinson, Charles R. “Chuck” Lewis and Donald R. Puddy — along with astronauts Edward G. Gibson, Frederick H. “Rick” Hauck and Daniel C. Brandenstein acting as capsule communicators (Capcoms) — and about 500 NASA and contractor personnel, rounded out the simulation. The purpose of the mock flight was to evaluate operations and procedures over an extended period of the mission. Flight directors, with their teams of flight controllers, monitored the orbiter’s systems, performed navigation and targeting tasks, and supported crew performance of the mission timeline. Additional simulations were held at regular intervals to prepare ground controllers and the crew for the first shuttle mission.

Left: Flight Director Neil Hutchinson (left) confers with Director of Flight Operations Eugene F. “Gene” Kranz and Flight Director M.P. “Pete” Frank during the January 1980 STS-1 30-hour simulation. Middle: Flight Directors Donald Puddy (left) and Chuck Lewis during the January 1980 STS-1 30-hour simulation. Right: Hutchinson (left) with astronauts Edward Gibson, Rick Hauck and Daniel Brandenstein during the January 1980 STS-1 30-hour simulation. Image Credits: NASA

Left: STS-1 prime crew of Crippen (left) and Young. Right: STS-1 backup crew members Richard Truly (left) and Joe Engle. Image Credits: NASA