First Space Shuttle Mission Started America ‘Dreaming Again’

April 14, 2023

An early morning scene during March 1981 at the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A with the Space Shuttle Columbia poised for liftoff. — *An early morning scene during March 1981 at the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A with the Space Shuttle Columbia poised for liftoff. Photo credit: NASA*

Maiden Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia – Part 1

By Bob Granath

The Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off from Launch Complex 39A just past 7 a.m. EDT on April 12, 1981 with astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen aboard. It began a new era in space transportation. Photo credit: NASA

“Six, five, four, we’ve gone for main engine start and we have liftoff of America’s first Space Shuttle,” said NASA launch commentator Hugh Harris as more than a decade of development culminated with the dawn of a new era of spaceflight. John Young and Bob Crippen lifted off aboard Columbia on April 12, 1981. Incidentally, the date was exactly 20 years after Yuri Gagarin opened the age of human space travel.

The Space Shuttle was an idea born in the closing days of the 1960s race to the Moon. The concept had many technological hurdles to overcome. After numerous delays, it became a triumph of American technology and engineering.

In remarks to a joint session of Congress on April 28, 1981, President Ronald Reagan spoke of the highly successful maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia.

“With the Space Shuttle, we tested our ingenuity once again moving beyond the accomplishments of the past into the promise and uncertainties of the future,” he said. “We also intended to make it maneuverable and return it to Earth — landing 98 tons of exotic metals delicately on a remote dry lake bed. The Space Shuttle did more than prove our technological abilities. It raised our expectations once more. It started us dreaming again.”

Birth of an Idea

Studies of a winged, reusable spacecraft began about the time of the first crewed Apollo mission in October 1968. The primary goal of a space shuttle was to transport crews of four, deliver about 20,000-pound payloads to Earth orbit, support assembly of a space station and be routinely turned around for future missions.

*STS-1 astronauts John Young, left, and Bob Crippen are at the controls of a simulator as they spent three years preparing for the maiden flight of the Columbia. Photo credit: NASA*

On Jan. 5, 1972, President Richard Nixon expressed support for the Space Shuttle. Afterwards, NASA Administrator James Fletcher explained the value of a Space Transportation System.

The Space Shuttle “will change the nature of what man could be in space,” he said. “By the end of the decade the nation will have the means of getting men and equipment to and from space routinely.”

Three months later, Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charlie Duke were setting up the American flag at the Moon’s Descartes Highlands on April 21, 1972. Fellow astronaut Tony England, the spacecraft communicator, known as capcom, passed along news that the U.S. Congress also supported the new program.

“This looks like a good time for some good news here,” he said. “The House passed the space budget yesterday, which includes the vote for the (Space) Shuttle.”

“The country needs that shuttle mighty bad,” Young responded. “You’ll see.”

What will the shuttle look like?

Many designs were considered for America’s first reusable spacecraft. One proposal, seen on the left, had a winged orbiter launching atop a modified Saturn V rocket. Others involved an orbiter being sent to space on the back of a piloted fly-back booster. Photo credit: NASA

Early in the process, two designs appeared to be the front runners. Various designs went from a winged orbiter mounted atop a modified Saturn V rocket, to versions in which a winged orbiter was mounted atop a much larger winged, piloted booster that, after reaching near orbital velocity, returned to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Dr. George Mueller, the agency’s associate administrator for Manned Space Flight, supported a design developed by engineers at NASA’s Manned Spaceflight Center (now Johnson Space Center). It was the two-stage system with a delta-winged spacecraft considered by many to be highly complex.

Max Faget, director of Engineering and Development at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, shows the model of an early Space Shuttle design that he used in a 1969 demonstration of a vehicle that “is going to launch like a spacecraft. It’s going to land like a plane.” — *Max Faget, director of Engineering and Development at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, shows the model of an early Space Shuttle design. Photo credit: NASA*

An attempt to simplify the approach made with a vehicle similar to the DC-3, was developed by NASA engineer Max Faget (pronounced: fah-ZHAY). He designed the Mercury capsule and was a key contributor to plans for spacecraft flown during NASA’s Gemini, Apollo and the Space Shuttle programs.

As various versions for a completely reusable Space Shuttle were compared and debated, it was clear that development costs might exceed expected budget allocations from Congress. Dr. Wernher von Braun, then deputy associate administrator for Planning at NASA Headquarters, developed a proposal in his last effort before leaving the agency.

While serving as Deputy Associate Administrator for Planning at NASA Headquarters, Dr. Wernher von Braun proposed a winged orbiter with three engines fueled by an expendable external fuel tank with two powerful strap-on solid propellant boosters to support liftoff thrust, separate then parachute into the sea for retrieval and reuse. Photo credit: NASA

Von Braun’s design included a reusable winged orbiter with three engines fueled by an expendable external fuel tank. Two powerful strap-on solid propellant boosters would support liftoff thrust, separate, then parachute into the sea for retrieval and reuse. The orbiter was to be a spacecraft with a crew of from two to eight. It had a cargo bay that was 60 feet long and 15 feet wide, large enough to carry payloads the size of an average school bus.

When von Braun retired from NASA in 1972, the agency’s deputy administrator, George Low, thanked the rocket pioneer for his input advocating the smaller, simpler Space Shuttle over the “grandiose concept” favored by many.

Ideas Become Hardware

A Space Shuttle Main Engine undergoing a full power test firing on May 21, 1981 at the National Space Technology Laboratories (now the Stennis Space Center) in Mississippi. In addition to being used mission after mission, a key design requirement was for the engine to be throttled through the eight-minute launch phase. Photo credit: NASA

After being awarded the contract for the Space Shuttle orbiter on June 4, 1974, Rockwell International of in Palmdale, California began construction on what would later be the test vehicle, named Enterprise.

The primary technological challenges in developing the Space Shuttle were reuse of hardware that, traditionally, were discarded. Rocket engines on launch vehicle stages dropped into the ocean after liftoff. The shuttle would require power plants that could be used repeatedly.

Heat shields that protected astronauts from the searing heat of re-entry in Mercury, Gemini and Apollo were ablative. That means the shield dissipated heat by burning away layer after layer. A new concept was required for a thermal protection system that could be reusable.

The contract for the Space Shuttle Main Engines was awarded to Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, California. A key design requirement was for the engine to be throttled through the eight-minute launch phase. During development, 27 ground tests resulted in failures of sufficient severity to be termed a “major incident.” Of the failures, 18 occurred during constant power level operation.

The Space Shuttle prototype orbiter Enterprise flies free of NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft during the first of five free flights at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards Air Force Base, California on Aug. 12, 1977. — The Space Shuttle prototype orbiter Enterprise flies free of NASA’s 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft during the first of five free flights at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards Air Force Base, California on Aug. 12, 1977. Photo credit: NASA

Some of these included explosions during static firings. Most were a result of design deficiencies stemming from inadequate understanding of the dynamic loads involved. However, by the late 1970s, the engine designs were complete with attention turning to flight tests.

In early 1977, Enterprise was mounted atop a modified Boeing 747 known as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Two crews, Fred Haise and Gordon Fullerton, along with Joe Engle and Dick Truly, conducted five approach and landing tests at Edwards Air Force Base confirming the shuttle flew and landed as designed.

Taking the Heat

On March 24, 1978, the Space Shuttle Columbia arrives at NASA Kennedy Space Center mated atop its 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Accompanying the shuttle’s touchdown is a T-38 chase plane piloted by Deke Slayton, manager for the Orbital Flight Training Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. When Columbia landed at the Shuttle Landing Facility, 7,800 of its thermal protection system tiles had fallen off during flight. Photo credit: NASA

Protecting the Space Shuttle crews from the 2,300 degree Fahrenheit heat of re-entry were over 31,000 thermal protection system tiles on Columbia and 25,000 silica tiles on later orbiters. Developed by Lockheed Missiles & Space Company in Sunnyvale, California, each tile was a different shape, size and thickness, covering each orbiter to provide thermal protection for the vehicle and astronauts.

Designing the tiles was one thing, gluing them on was another.

From the beginning, the tiles were an area of concern during shuttle development, mainly concerning adhesion reliability. Some engineers thought a failure mode could exist whereby one tile could detach resulting in aerodynamic pressure creating a “zipper effect” stripping off other tiles. Whether during ascent or re-entry, the result could be disastrous.

*A Rockwell technician prepares an area for replacing a thermal protections system tile on the Space Shuttle Columbia. Photo credit: NASA*

The first orbiter to fly, Columbia, was transported atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft to Kennedy, arriving on March 24, 1979. When it touched down at the Shuttle Landing Facility, 7,800 of its tiles had fallen off during flight. A new formula was needed for glue that could stand up to the Central Florida heat and humidity.

During a NASA Oral History Project interview in 2006, Crippen spoke of the concern that the tiles had become.

“Initially, when they put the tiles on, they weren’t adhering to the vehicle like they should,” he said. “In fact, when they brought Columbia to the Kennedy Space Center the first time, it didn’t arrive with as many tiles as it had when it left California. People started working very diligently to try to correct that problem.”

Part of the issue was the “glue” called RTV for room temperature vulcanization. The RTV cement required 16 hours to cure. After the tile was cemented, a jack held it in place for another 16 hours in Bay 1 of the shuttle hangar known as the Orbiter Processing Facility, or OPF.

Mark Barnes, who in 2011 was an Orbiter Operations manager for United Space Alliance, explained that the team in the Orbiter Processing Facility helped solve some of the tile problems by a densification process making the tiles more dense. Photo credit. NASA

Thousands of tiles also failed stress, or “pull,” tests and had to be replaced. It took each worker 40 hours to install one tile. By the fall of 1979, NASA and Rockwell realized that the speed of testing and replacing tiles would result in a launch delay.

Rockwell needed a small army of TPS, or Thermal Protection System, mechanics to take on the massive task ahead. Some tile workers were hired right out of local high schools. One woman quit her job at a Titusville, Florida, car wash. Another man who owned a pet shop in nearby Cocoa Beach sold the business to join the TPS team.

While most were told the well-paying jobs would only last six to nine months, many stayed through the entire 30-year Space Shuttle Program. By the time of the last shuttle flight in 2011, many of those who remained served as supervisors and managers for later Space Shuttle contractors Lockheed Space Operations Company and United Space Alliance.

One such employee was Mark Barnes, who in 2011 was an Orbiter Operations manager for United Space Alliance. He explained that the team at Kennedy helped solve some of the tile problems by a densification process making the tiles more dense.

*Accessing some of the thermal protection tiles was awkward. Two Rockwell technicians repair tiles along the edge of the Space Shuttle pilot’s window on Columbia. Photo credit: NASA*

“In (OPF) Bay 2, we had what was called the back shop setup,” he said looking back on his first job in shuttle processing. “So, what we were doing in Bay 1 was, we were taking the thermal tiles off of Columbia that were installed at the (Rockwell) plant and we were bringing them into Bay 2 and running them through the back shop densification process and then reapplying them.

“Nobody (originally) planned on pulling those tiles off after the orbiter arrived,” Barnes said. “There were a lot of people on that project because it was an overwhelming amount of work.”

At a pre-launch news conference, Young expressed confidence in the technicians’ extensive efforts.

“The tiles are in good shape,” he said. “We’re not going to have a problem with the tiles. There isn’t going to be a zipper effect. Each of those tiles was put on individually.”

*Technicians prepare Columbia’s payload bay inside the Space Shuttle’s “hangar” known as the Orbiter Processing Facility. Photo credit: NASA*

Following the extensive rework of the thermal protection tiles and completion of assembly of the orbiter, Columbia rolled out of the Orbiter Processing Facility on the evening of Nov. 24, 1980.

“It looks like a whole new bird,” exclaimed a Kennedy technician.

Columbia was transported into the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, to be mated to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters. A thorough checkout followed for its maiden voyage. Things began to move quickly. Early on Dec. 29, 1980, the first full Space Shuttle “stack” rolled out of the VAB, and by the end of the day, it stood atop Launch Complex 39A.

Getting Fired Up

Following 610 days of work inside the Orbiter Processing Facility, Columbia was transported into the Vehicle Assembly Building on the evening of Nov. 24, 1980. Inside, the orbiter would be mated to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters. Photo credit: NASA

After two months of checkouts at the launch pad, NASA was ready for a major milestone that would clear the way for launching the first Space Shuttle. Plans called for a full countdown followed by a Flight Readiness Firing – a 20-second static test of Columbia’s three main engines. Everything would happen except liftoff.

At 8:45 a.m. on Feb. 20, 1981, Columbia’s three main engines roared to life as smoke and steam billowed into the air. The crucial test received nation-wide media coverage, signaling that America was ready to return to human spaceflight for the first time since the Apollo-Soyuz Test project in July 1975.

During a post-firing news conference, Kennedy’s Director, Richard Smith, and Shuttle Operations Director George Page expressed confidence that Columbia would launch in April.

The Space Shuttle Columbia arrives at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on Dec. 29, 1980. The vehicle is mounted atop a mobile launcher platform transported by a crawler transporter. Photo credit: NASA

“We got through on the first try and we’re extremely pleased,” Smith said. “I congratulate George and all the people who work for him in getting this done.”

The first launch was scheduled for April 10, 1981. Mission commander Young and pilot Crippen were ready. Selected as the STS-1 crew in early 1978, they trained longer for a space mission than any previous astronaut crew.

Young stated that as the chief of the Astronaut Office he recommended himself to command the mission. With four previous missions, he was the most experienced NASA astronaut and was the only member of the agency’s second astronaut group still active.

Crippen explained that he learned of his selection while checking out the prototype orbiter.

A crucial test took place on Feb. 20, 1981, as Columbia's three main engines roared to life in a Flight Reediness Firing. The successful test cleared the way for the first Space Shuttle launch. — A crucial test took place on Feb. 20, 1981, as Columbia’s three main engines roared to life in a Flight Reediness Firing. The successful test cleared the way for the first Space Shuttle launch. Photo credit: NASA

“Enterprise landed out at Ellington (Field near the Johnson Space Center),” he said. “I happened to go out there with George Abbey, who at that time was the director of Flight Crew Operations. As we were strolling around the vehicle, looking at the Enterprise up there on the 747 (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft), George said something to the effect of, ‘Crip, would you like to fly the first one?’ It was a thrill. It was one of the high points of my life.”

The first launch was originally scheduled for 1979, but was delayed due to the tremendous technical obstacles. Young was glad to have the additional time.

“If STS-1 had launched in March 1979 as originally scheduled, we’d have launched about half trained,” Young said.

An article in The New York Times published April 6, 1981 compared the complexity of the new spacecraft to those going before.

On April 6, 1981, STS-1 prime and backup crews participate in one of many meetings with engineers. Seated at the table at NASA's Johnson Space Center are, from the left, John Young, Bob Crippen, Joe Engle and Dick Truly. STS-2 would be flown by Engle and Truly later in 1981. — On April 6, 1981, STS-1 prime and backup crews participate in one of many meetings with engineers. Seated at the table at NASA’s Johnson Space Center are, from the left, John Young, Bob Crippen, Joe Engle and Dick Truly. STS-2 would be flown by Engle and Truly later in 1981. Photo credit: NASA

“In terms of sheer technology, Columbia makes the Apollo command module seem almost primitive,” William K. Stevens wrote.

Young and Crippen were among those who helped design the spacecraft’s controls, including 2,214 switches and displays in the cockpit — about three times as many on the Apollo command module — and there were many contingency procedures.

“The vehicle is so complicated, I fully anticipated that we would go through many countdowns before we ever got off,” Crippen said.

As the NASA/contractor launch team counted down for the first launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia on April 10, 1981, a computer problem required a postponement. Software engineers sorted out the problem with the general-purpose computers, seen in this photograph of the orbiter’s instrument panel. All would be ready for another try two days later. — As the NASA/contractor launch team counted down for the first launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia on April 10, 1981, a computer problem required a postponement. Software engineers sorted out the problem with the general-purpose computers, seen in this photograph of the orbiter’s instrument panel. Photo credit. NASA

In fact, a computer problem kept Columbia and its crew on the ground during the first launch attempt. In the final minutes of countdown, the spacecraft’s four primary general-purpose computers, or GPCs, failed to provide correct timing to the backup flight system when the GPCs were scheduled to transition from vehicle checkout to flight configuration mode. The problem forced a postponement so software engineers could sort out the problem.

“I was surprised,” Crippen said. “I had never heard of that (anomaly) happening. It was where the backup computer couldn’t ‘hear’ what the primary computers were saying. We considered the backup absolutely essential.”

The next launch attempt was set for April 12, 1981, a date on which NASA would make history.

Editor’s Note: Check back on April 21, 2023 for Part 2 of the Maiden Voyage of Columbia and see how the Space Shuttle team overcame difficulties and launched a new era of space transportation.

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