Mission Report STS-4 Test Mission Simulates Operational Flight. President Terms Success Golden Spike in Space

8/7/2019 Mission Report STS-4 Test Mission Simulates Operational Flight. President Terms Success Golden Spike in Space

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STS-4 insignia.

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ReportSTS -4 Test Mission Sim ulates O perational Fligh tP resident Term s Success "G olden Sp ike" in Sp ace

Completion of Columbia s fourth and final test flightachieved preasP ly what NASA engineers and technicianshad in r . ,. , , I ts un-time launch. near-flawless completionof all ass.: ,jrr tasks, and perfect landing ushered in anew era in ti ie nation s exploration of space--a full)operational, reusable spacec raft now set to begin its lob inearnest Columbia's final test mission finished asplanned--as a routine flight.

President Reagan compared the achievement with the"golden spike" that signaled the beginning oftranscontinental railroading in an earlier era

Thomas K (Ken) Mattingly II (commander) and HenryW Hartsfield. Jr., (pilot) brought their spacecraft to aperfect landing on concrete runway 22 at Edwards AirForce Base. California at 12:09 p m EDT. July 4,1982ending a flight of seven days. one hour. and nineminutes that began with a textbook liftoff from KennedySpace Center, Florida at 11 a m EDT, June 27.

Emph^, sizing that the Shuttle and its crew are nL)wready for scheduled, on-time duty, they traveled 3 millionmiles and arrived back on Earth on Americas 206thbirthdayto celebrate the occasion with the President andan estimated half million of their fellow Americans atEdwards plus a world-wide TV audience The confidencethat this would happen was apparent in their selection oftheir mission patch design. showing Columbia streakinginto the future leaving contrails of red, white, and blueReagan Cites Shuttle's Potential

"Now we move forward." President Reagan said. Iocapitalize on the tremendous potentia! offered by theultimate frontier of space.' During the Presidents speech,the second Shuttle orbiter Chal lenger, perched atop its747 carrier aircraft. soared past the reviewing stand aftertaking off from Edwards on its way to Kennedy Space


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Center to be groaned for its first launch into orbit Rolledout from Rockwell Intern3honal s Palmdale. California.plant June 30. Chal lenger is the second of fouroperattona Space Shuttle orbiters Enterpnse, also ondisplay, was used for aerodynamic testing in Eartn'satmosphere and will not be flown on orbital flights.Discovery and Atlantis. scheduled to join to spacemissions to 1Q83 and 1984. respectively, complete thepresently authorized family of orbiters destined for spacedutyChallenger is the first orbite r designed to be fullyoperattonal from tiie outset. ;:s presently equipped.Colum bia is capable of limited operational duty But. afterrefitting. Colum bia w i ll closely resemble Chal lenger andshare the operational workload. The second orbitingspacecraft has more accommodations for crew andpassengers. incorporates engineering changes developedthrough Columbia 's test flights. and is at least 2.000pounds iighter than Columbia because of more advancedstructures and materials.Orbiter Cert i f ied Operat ional

Columbia 's nearly flawless performance on its finaltest mission resulted in certification of the SpaceTransportation System (STS) as a fully operational carrier.James M Beggs, NASA Administrator. said. - We areready to put the Space Transportation System to workand it will earn its way.'

President Reagan referred to using the "nearweightlessness and nearly perfect vacuum of space toproduce special alloys. metals, crystals. and biologicaimaterials impossible to manufacture on Earth."

Reactor which performed successfully on STS-3. Some ofthe STS-3 experiments were used as "seed' items to testwhether larger monodisperse (identically sized)mtcrospheres could be produced in space The size towhich such spheres can be developed on Earth is limitedbecause of Earth s gravity Production in space may resultin mtcr^ :oheres that will be widely used to calibratingrnstrumen,s such as electron microscopes and to carryingprecise amounts of drugs and isotopes directly todiseased or cancerous tissues.Experiments Involve Crew

Mattingly and Hartsfieid participated in two medicalexperiments, both of which were winning entries of theShuttle Student Involvement Project of NASA and theNational Science Teachers Associat i on. Oneexperiment was by Amy Kusske of Wilson High School.Long Beach. Calif.. and the othe r . by Ka.laHauersperger of East Mec t lenberg High School,Charlotte, N.0 Mattingly's and Hartsheld's blood andurine were sampled before and after their flight. Theyrecorded their food intake and exercise periods MissKusske wanted to determine whether pro p er distributionof cholesterol to the body in microgravity requiresstrenuous exercise. Miss Hauersperger sought to knowwhether microgravity reduces chromium levels Achromium deficiency decreases effectiveness of insulinand can produce diabetes-like symptoms. Thebiomedical laboratories at NASA's Johnson SpaceCenter analyzed the blood and urine samples for bothexperimenters.

Appl icat ions Exper iments on ColumbiaThe first experiment by a commercial firm was carved

on STS-4 This was an engineering test of the ContinuousFlow Electror: ioresis System. Unlike other electrophoresisequipment, itprocesses materials in a continuous stream.It was designed by McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co..St Louis. Yissouri, which is conducting the experiment incollaboration with scientists of the Orho PharmaceuticalDivision of Johnson and .Johnson Co. The exp inmentwas flown as part of a joint endeavor agreement in whichNASA and industry become partners in promotingdevelopment of advanced commercial products to space.The companies agree to advance to make the productsderived from such experiments available to the public atreasonable cost

Electrophoresis is a technique used to separatebiological materials in a fluid according to their electricalc` 3rges as they pass through an electrical field Theprocess is used to produce many pharmaceuticals. OnEarth, gravity-induced phenomena in the solution. such assettling and convection. lir -t the output and purity ofmaterials produced by electrophoresis In the near zerogravity of space, such limitations are largely removed OnJune 30. Mattingly and Hartsfield reported that thematerials used had been successfully separated in theContinuous Flow Electrophoresis System. supporting thepotential use of this device in space to produce more,better, and lower cost pharmaceuticals

In another experiment with many medical and scientificapplications. STS-4 carried the Monodisperse Latex STS-4 lift-oft.ORIGINAL PAGEB L A C K A N D W H IT E PH OT OGR A PI -


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First Getaway SpecialSTS-4 also carr ied the f i rst Getaway Special. thepopular namo for the Space Transportation Systems

Small Self-Cor tained Payload Program Customersanywhere in ttw world can purchase a Getaway Specialfor ar little as $3.000 for scientific and technologicalexperiments Reservations are accepted on a first-come.first-served. space-available basis Nearly 350reservations from individuals. organizations andgovernments have already been booked from the ini lw iStates and 14 other countries Getaway Specials mustoperate automatically and require little attention in space

The STS-4 Getaway Special was purchased by Gi l t . ar tMoore of North Ogden, Utah. for $10.000 and donated toUtah State Univeisity Its nine experiments by universitystudents covered such fields of microgravity as growth offruitflies, brine shrimp, duckweed, and algae: testing thethermal conductivity of an oil and water mixture ir anear-weightless environment: soldering alloying: surfacetension. and curing of composite materialsNdefective circuit prevented electrical power from

reaching the Getaway Special After several attempts toturn on the experiment fa,!ed. Mattingly and Hartsfieldfollowed a technique devised by NASA engineers anddescribed as comparable tc "hot wiring" an automobile !ostart it without an ignition key Anxious University of Utahstuden t s lea r ned on June 29 that their experiment hadbeen turned on and exultingly praised the crew.paraphrasing Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong as hefirst set foot on the Moon They radioed: "One smallswitch for NASA. a giant turn-on for us "Lightring Survey

Mattingly and Hartsfield took many still and motionpictures of lightning and thunderstorms viewed fromorbit This Nightime Daylight Optical Survey of Lightningexperiment was first conducted on STE ?, a two - dayf l ight . The photographs wi l l contr ibute to sa te l l i tewe a the r fo re c a s t i ng te c hn ique sShuttle's Environment Measured

The crew employed the huge manipulator arm in thecargo bay twice to lift and swing the InducedEnvironment Contamination Momor ;IECM) around thepayload area to get information about particles,mo-sture, and gases in the bay that could ^,ffeutperimcnts. The bay was facing the Sun during theseexpe r iments to gain maximum release of orbitercontaminants When they first tried to use the arm onJune 29, the crew saw a glowing trouble light. indicatingthat the snare-like end effector of the robot arm wouldnot grasp the IECM This turned out to be a falsealarmRain and Hail Precede Launch

STS-4 was the smoothest and most successful of theorbiter test flights. The flawless countdown wasachieved despite pre-launch torrential rains and a hailstorm which pitted and drenched Columbia's skin tilesBefore launch, technicians applied a hardeningchemical to smooth and strengthen the tiles

Ge ta wa y Spe c ia l i s ins ta l le d i n Columb ia ' s pay load bayfo r STS-4 m i ss ion .Solid Rocket Boosters Lost

The two reusable solid rocket boosters were lostwhen they plunged intn the Atlantic Ocean and sank inabout 3100 feet of water. This was the first time thebooster rockets were not recovered. "The onlyconclusion we can draw." George B. Hardy. SolidRocket Booster Manager said, "is that the mainparachutes failed to function."Thermal Test Program Modified

The test program for the mission exposed parts ofColumbia tot p. olonged periods to extremes of (teat a nc o ld Or ig ina l ly p la nne d e xpos ure s c a l le d fo r ta i l to Su nf o r 6 6 h o u r s : b o t to m t o S u n f o r 3 3 h o u r s : a n d p a y lo a db a y t o S u n e x p o s u r e o f 5 h o u r s .T h e s e p e r io d s w e r e a l te r e d b e c a u s e h a i l h a dd a m a g e d n u m e r o is tiles, allowing them to absorbwater. Engineers viere concerned that the water-soakedtiles migh! freeze aid be further damaged.Consequently they oriented the orbiter allowing itsrain-sc,aked underside to face the Sunto dry the tilesby vaporizing the water Temperature readings frominstrumented tiles WE re used to verity that the affectedtiles had ;fried completely.While keeping the inderside facing the Sun,Mattingly and Hartstield continued their experimentsand opened and closed the payload bay doors on thecold side of Columbia One door failed to close properlyduring this procedure.When a similar problem occurred during STS-3. itwas corrected by rolling the orbiter !o heat it evenly. Byrepeating this maneuver, Mattingly and Hartsfield wereable to open and close the payload bay doors easily.This reassured the crew and engineers on Earth thatstructural warping responsible for the problem was atemporary difficulty and could be solved with relativelysimple procedures.

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Message Beamed to World's FairThrough ^ spec ia l rad io hoo kup on Ju l y 1 , Mat t ing l yand H ar tshe ld addressed c rowds a t the W or lds Fa i r inKnoxv i ll e . Tennessee "W e are ta lk ing to you f romColumbia. ' Ma t ti ng ly sa id as h e des cr ibed the v iew overthe Miss iss ippi Val ley and the coas t of the G ul f o fMe x ico Ha r ts fi e ld sa id , " It s . . f i tt ing tha t we land onJu l y 4 and ce lebra te usher ing i n - i new era l us t as our

fore fa thers ushered i n an era o f democracy o ver 200years ago on that came date . "The i r comm ents were heard throughou t the far : s i teover the pub l ic address sys tem The b roadcas t markedt he open ing o f NA SA s exh ib i t a t the fa i r , wh i ch they w i l lv is i t July 20 in thei r f irst post -mission pub l icappearance."We're Setting Up Shop"

On June 27. after reaching orbit. checking outColumbia, and opening the payload bay doors.Mattingly reported: "Things look pretty nice ... We'resetting up shop."They accomplished all they set out to do in a flightthat had only minor problems Turnaround time for theSTS-4. the shortest to date. was 3 month,,ascompared to four months between STS-2 and 3 andseven months between STS-1 and STS-2 STS-4 wasthe first on-time launchnot only io the second but afraction of a second ahead of schedule-10.59.59 864 7am EDT. June 27

Major systems operated satisfactorily in orbit STS-4carried the h, st commercial, military ar.d GetawaySpecial experimentsSpace Suit Modeled by Mattingly

The crew wz.s kept busy w i th eng ineer ing andnav igat ion tasks as wel l as host ing telev is ion cabintours On J uly 2. Mat t ing ly tr ied on the new Shu t t lespac e sui t for the f i rst t ime in space . Unl ike prev iousspace sui ts i t is not ind iv idual ly ta i lored for e achastronau t Matt ing ly wore the s ui t in the a i r lock leadingto the open pay load bay bu t d id no t open the bay door

The su i t may be used o n STS -5, the f i rs t opera t iona lf li gh t , wh i ch w i ll l aunch two comm erc ia l commu nicat ionssa te l li tes For ST S-5 . Columbia will car ry a c rew of fourVance D . B rand. comm ander : Rober t F . Overm yer .pi lot; and Jo seph P. A l len and t 'Vi li iarn P. Le noi r ,mission special is ts. STS-5 is sct eduled for launch inOct: ,ue , 1982

Columbia Encounters Space TrafficAt 3:02 a.m. EDT. July 3 Columbia sped past thespent upper stage of a rocket used to orbit a Sovietsaiehte :n 1975 Although they came within eight milesof each other. they were never in danger of collisionThe crew didn't sight the other object. "You'd have tobe watching Pxactly the right place at exactl y the righttime and not blink." Harold Draughon, a flight director,explained The Norte American Dc`.^nsc Command(NORAD) which tracks sizat,;Q jbjects n Earth orbitreported there are more !; i a r , 4.500 sa,ellites and otherman-made objects ort, ,ting our planet.fieturn to Earth

Columbia's reentry into the atmosphere and its returnto Earth were planned to be more rigorous than previousflights. 7 his was done to generate more heat to test itsthermal-resistant structure and protective tiles. Thecrew also tested Columbia's ability to stabilize itselfafter rapidly pitching its rose up and down.Columbia landed for the first time on a concreterunway approx i mately 300 feet wide and 15.000 feetl ong "Which " according to Flight Director Draughon'doesn t go on forever the way lakebed runways do."The previous three orbiter mission landings were on drylakebeds."We now feel confident about landing on thehard-surfaced rum. ay at Kennedy Space Center." MajorGeneral James A. Abrahamson, NASA AssociateAdministrator for Space Transportation Systems. saidfollowing the STS-4 landing. Plans call for mostoperational Shuttle missions to land at Kennedy SpaceCenter's concrete landing strip.

View of m iss ion opera t ions cont ro l room . NASA Jo hnson S p , - i c e Cente r . Houston. Texas. dur i ng STS-4GPQ 80 1-036

Mission Report STS-4 Test Mission Simulates Operational Flight. President Terms Success Golden Spike in Space

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