Thursday, April 12, 2001

STS-1 (Columbia)

 1981-034A


OV-102 was launched on mission STS-1 at 1200:04 UT on 1981 Apr 12 from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The SRBs separated at 1202:15, and by 1202:44 the Shuttle stack was at 72 km altitude. By 1206:00 the Shuttle was at 141 km and began to dive back toward Earth, picking up speed. The SSMEs throttled back at 1207:34 as the altitude dropped to 124 km. At 1208:38 came MECO (Main Engine Cutoff), with Columbia now in orbit, with international designation 1981-34A. The initial orbit was only 24 x 140 km x 40 deg. The External Tank separated at 1208:56 and at 1209:11 the RCS jets were fired to clear Columbia from its path. The crucial OMS engines were fired for the first time at 1210:38 for the 86s long OMS 1 burn, shutdown of which at 1212:08 left Columbia in a 105.6 x 244.6 km x 40.3 deg orbit. The Auxiliary Power Units were shut down and the ET umbilical doors were closed. At 1244:06 the 75s long OMS 2 burn circularized the orbit. At 1331 the process of opening the payload bay doors began; this was completed at 1352. The radiators inside the doors were deployed at 1420 UT.

On orbit tests now began, with a single left hand engine OMS burn, the 30s OMS 3, at 1820:49 raising the orbit to 244 x 273 km, and a right hand engine 33s OMS 4 burn at 1905:35 putting it in a 266 x 272 km orbit. Three test burns of the RCS were made, the third at 1213 on Apr 13. The payload bay doors were successfully closed at 1448 on Apr 13, and opened again at 1647. This was followed by further RCS tests. At 1430 on Apr 14, the doors were once again closed and latched, and at 1721 the OMS engines began the 155s deorbit burn, from a final orbit of 259 x 271 km. Entry interface at 120 km altitude came at 1750 UT on Apr 14. Reentry mass was 89930 kg. Reentry and hypersonic winged flight was flawless with main gear touchdown on runway 23 at Edwards AFB at 1820:51. The nose gear touched down at 1821:11 and Columbia rolled out to a triumphant wheels stop at 1821:57.


STS-1 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1980 Nov 24   STS-1 rollover to VAB/3 
1980 Dec 22   ET mate 
1980 Dec 29  1300  Rollout  LC39A 
1981 Feb 20  1345  FRF  LC39A 
1981 Apr 12  1200:04  Launch  LC39A  
 1202:15  SRB sep  -6280 x 83 x 40  
 1208:38  MECO  
 1208:56  ET sep  24 x 148 x 40.4 (MOR)  
   86.30 31 x 149 x 40.4 (dV) 
 1210:38  OMS 1 86s 50.1m/s  105 x 241 x 40.4 (MOR) 
   87.97 109 x 238 x 40.4 (dV) 
 1221  ET apogee 
 1244:06  OMS 2 75s 41.7m/s 
 1244:44  ET at 91.4 km 
 1247  ET breakup 
  ET impact at 88.20E 28.40S 
 1331  PLBD open  89.39 238 x 250 x 40.35 
 1621   89.35 238 x 246 x 40.35 
 1820:49  OMS 3 (LH, 30s) 7.8m/s 244 x 273 
 1905:35  OMS 4 (RH 33s) 9.0m/s 89.92 267 x 273 x 40.3 
1981 Apr 13  0418   89.89 266 x 271 x 40.3 
 1213  RCS 
 1448  PLBD closed 
 1647  PLBD open  89.88 265 x 271 x 40.3 
1981 Apr 14  1430  PLBD closed  89.83 260 x 272 x 40.3 
 1721:34  OMS DO (155s) 90.7m/s 
 1724:09  OMS DO CO 
   7 x 273 x 44.2 (CR-3561) 
   4 x 276 x 40.3 (MOR) 
 1750  Entry  
 1820:51  Landing  RW23 EAFB 
 1821:11  NGTD   
 1821:57  Wheels stop 
1981 Apr 27  1716  SCA ferry  EAFB to Tinker AFB, OK 
1981 Apr 28  1159  SCA ferry  Tinker to KSC SLF 
 1500  SCA arr KSC 
1981 Apr 29  1535  OPF/1 

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