Mission Insignia
Mission Statistics
Mission:	STS-3
Shuttle:	Columbia
Launch Pad:	39-A
Launch:	March 22, 1982 11:00:00 a.m. EST
Landing:	March 30, 1982 9:04:46 a.m. MST
Duration:	8 d 0 h 4 min 46 s
Orbit Altitude:	147 nautical miles (272 km)
Orbit Inclination:	38.0 degrees
Distance Traveled:	3,334,904 miles (5,367,008 km)
Crew photo
Lousma (left) and Fullerton

STS-3 was the third space shuttle mission, and was the third mission for the Space Shuttle Columbia. It was the first launch with an unpainted external tank, and the only landing at White Sands, New Mexico.

Crew

• Commander: Jack R. Lousma (2)
• Pilot: C. Gordon Fullerton (1)

Backup crew

• Backup Commander: Thomas K. Mattingly
• Backup Pilot: Henry W. Hartsfield Jr.

Mission parameters

• Mass:
  • Orbiter Liftoff: 106,782 kg
  • Orbiter Landing: 93,924 kg
  • OSS Payload: 10,301 kg
• Perigee: 241 km
• Apogee: 249 km
• Inclination: 380.0°
• Period: 89.4 min

Mission highlights

Columbia was launched on its third flight at 11:00 a.m. EST, on March 22, 1982, the planned launch date. The launch was delayed 1 hour because of the failure of a heater on a nitrogen gas ground support line. Columbia had spent only 70 days in the Orbiter Processing Facility -- a record checkout time. The two-man crew included Jack R. Lousma, commander, and Charles G. Fullerton, pilot.

Major objectives of the flight were to continue testing the RMS arm, and to carry out extensive thermal testing of the Columbia by exposing its tail, nose and top to the Sun for varying periods of time.

In addition, in its payload bay, Columbia again carried the DFI package, and OSS-l -- named for the NASA Office of Space Science and Applications -- which consisted of a number of instruments mounted on a Spacelab pallet to obtain data on the near-Earth environment and the extent of contamination caused by the orbiter itself. A test cannister for the Small Self-Contained Payload program -- also known as the Getaway Special (GAS) -- was mounted on a side of the payload bay.

For the first time a number of experiments were carried in the middeck lockers. These included a Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System experiment to study separation of biological components and a Monodisperse Latex Reactor experiment to produce uniform micrometre sized latex particles. The first Shuttle Student Involvement Project (SSIP) -- the study of insect motion -- also was carried in a middeck locker.

During the flight, both crew members experienced some space sickness, the toilet malfunctioned, one Auxiliary Pacer Unit overheated (but worked properly during descent), and three communications links were lost on March 26.

STS-3 was planned as a 7 day flight. However, it was extended an extra day because of high winds at the backup landing site, Northrup Strip, White Sands, N.M., since the planned landing site at Edwards AFB was too wet for a safe landing.

Touchdown finally took place at 9:05 a.m. MST, March 30, 1982, at Northrup Strip (later renamed White Sands Space Harbor). STS-3 was the only shuttle mission to land at White Sands Missile Range. The landing demonstrated that the Shuttle could land in the desert, but sand damaged the orbiter.

Columbia made 130 orbits and traveled 3.3 million miles (5,400,000 km), during its 8 day, 4 minute, 45 second flight. A total of 36 tiles were lost and 19 were damaged. It was returned to KSC on April 6, 1982.

This was the last mission for which NASA named a backup crew.

STS-3 speeds away from Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center. Note the bright orange flame from the solid rocket booster combustion of ammonium perchlorate and aluminum compared to the blue and clear flame of hydrogen and oxygen from the Space Shuttle Main Engines.

STS-3 prepares to land at Northrup Strip, White Sands, New Mexico with two T-38 chase planes observing.

Flight dedication

"Just as the Columbia, we think, represents man's finest aspirations in the field of science and technology, so too does the struggle of the Afghan people represent man's highest aspirations for freedom... I am dedicating, on behalf of the American people, the March 22nd launch of the Columbia to the people of Afghanistan." -- President Ronald W. Reagan

Related articles

• Space science
• Space shuttle
• List of space shuttle missions
• List of human spaceflights chronologically

External links

• STS-3 Shuttle Mission
• STS-3 Mission Chronology