STS-3

Key takeaways

STS-3 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect STS-3 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of STS-3 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

STS-3 was NASA's third Space Shuttle mission and the third mission for the Space Shuttle Columbia. It launched on March 22, 1982 and landed eight days later on March 30, 1982. The mission, crewed by Jack R. Lousma and C. Gordon Fullerton, involved extensive orbital endurance testing of Columbia itself, as well as numerous scientific experiments. STS-3 was the first shuttle launch with an unpainted external tank and the only mission to land at the White Sands Space Harbor near Alamogordo, New Mexico. The orbiter was forced to land at White Sands due to flooding at its originally planned landing site, Edwards Air Force Base.

Crew

Commander Jack R. Lousma previously flew as pilot of the second Skylab crew (Skylab 3), staying aboard the space station for 59 days from July to September 1973. Lousma had previously been selected in 1978 as Pilot for STS-2, which was then scheduled as a Skylab reboost mission. When delays in the Shuttle's development prevented Columbia from being launched in time to rendezvous with Skylab in 1979, STS-2 Commander Fred W. Haise Jr. retired from NASA, and Lousma was then moved up as Commander of STS-3. Lousma also served on the support crews for Apollo 9, 10 and 13; he was the CAPCOM during the time of the latter mission's near-disastrous accident. He was also selected as backup Docking Module Pilot for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) in 1975. Fullerton was a rookie who transferred to NASA in 1969 after the cancellation of the U.S. Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program. Fullerton had previous experience with the Shuttle, as he had flown the shuttle Enterprise as Pilot alongside Haise during the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) program in 1977. He also served as part of the support crew for Apollo 14, 15, 16 and 17.

Backup crew

Support crew Terry J. Hart (ascent CAPCOM) Steven R. Nagel (entry CAPCOM) George D. Nelson Sally K. Ride Brewster H. Shaw David M. Walker

Crew seat assignments

Mission summary Columbia was launched from Kennedy Space Center at 16:00 UTC, on March 22, 1982, the planned launch date. This was the first launch with an unpainted external tank (ET). The launch was delayed by one hour due to the failure of a heater on a nitrogen-gas ground support line. Prior to the launch, Columbia had spent only 70 days in the Orbiter Processing Facility – a record checkout time.

The primary objectives of the flight were to continue testing the Remote Manipulator System (Canadarm) and to carry out extensive thermal testing of Columbia by exposing its tail, nose and top to sunlight for varying periods of time. The crew found that prolonged exposure caused the cargo bay doors to warp slightly, preventing them from closing fully. Rolling the orbiter to balance temperatures around the orbiter resolved the issue. In addition, in its payload bay, Columbia again carried the Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI) package and OSS-1 (named for the NASA Office of Space Science and Applications), which consisted of a number of instruments mounted on a Spacelab pallet, intended to obtain data on the near-Earth environment and the extent of contamination caused by the orbiter itself. Among other experiments, the OSS pallet contained an X-ray detector for measuring the polarization of X-rays emitted by solar flares. A test canister for the Small Self-Contained Payload program – also known as the Getaway Special (GAS) – was mounted on one side of the payload bay. For the first time, a number of experiments were carried in the shuttle's mid-deck lockers. These included an Electrophoresis Equipment Verification Test experiment to study the separation of biological components, and a Mono-disperse Latex Reactor experiment, to produce uniform micrometer-sized latex particles. The first Shuttle Student Involvement Project (SSIP) – a study of insect motion – also was carried in a mid-deck locker. A variety of minor problems were experienced during the flight. The orbiter's toilet malfunctioned on first use, resulting in, according to Lousma, "eight days of colorful flushing"; one Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) overheated (but worked properly during descent); both crew members experienced some space sickness; and on March 26, 1982, three communications links were lost.

STS-3 was planned as a 7-day flight. The landing was moved to Northrop Strip (later renamed White Sands Space Harbor) at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, since the planned landing site at Edwards Air Force Base had flooded. Lousma and Fullerton chose to land at White Sands instead of the new Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) because they had trained there. A large-scale equipment movement (reportedly "40 train carloads") from Edwards Air Force Base to White Sands was undertaken before and during the mission, to ensure that a landing could be fully supported. Although time-sensitive equipment movements of this nature were originally to be handled by Air Force cargo planes, NASA altered those plans and moved the equipment in two dedicated trains over the 1,600 km (990 mi) distance via the Santa Fe Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad. The choice to move the support equipment by rail saved NASA approximately US$2 million in transportation costs. High winds at White Sands reduced visibility and delayed the landing by a day. As all mission objectives had been accomplished, the crew enjoyed what Lousma described as "an extra day in our world's favorite vacation spot ... We finally had a chance to look out the window and enjoy being there".

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with STS-3

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what STS-3 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to STS-3 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about STS-3 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of STS-3

In research: STS-3 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses STS-3 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: STS-3 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1982 in Florida, 1982 in New Mexico, March 1982, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for STS-3 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study STS-3 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what STS-3 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain STS-3 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is STS-3 in simple terms?

STS-3 was NASA's third Space Shuttle mission and the third mission for the Space Shuttle Columbia. It launched on March 22, 1982 and landed eight days later on March 30, 1982.

Why does STS-3 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study STS-3?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on STS-3.