![]() ![]() Engle answer reporters’ questions during the preflight press conference. On July 29, engineers completed a two-day Orbiter Integrated Test to verify that software and hardware in Columbia and in the payload complement were compatible. STS-2 marked the first shuttle flight to carry science experiments and the first use of the RMS. Workers installed the Spacelab pallet, containing five experiments of the Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications-1, or OSTA-1, payload, and the Canadian-built remote manipulator system (RMS), or robotic arm, into Columbia’s payload bay on June 29. ![]() In the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF), technicians replaced about 1,300 tiles of the orbiter’s thermal protection system. Workers completed assembly of the twin SRBs on the mobile launch platform in early June and mated the ET with the SRBs on June 30. The ET for STS-2 arrived on April 22 to undergo inspection and checkout. Crippen, Columbia returned to Kennedy on April 28, 1981, where ground teams began preparing the reusable vehicle for its return to space on STS-2. Credits: NASAįollowing its highly successful first flight on STS-1 with astronauts John W. Right: In Kennedy’s Orbiter Processing Facility, the OSTA-1 payload and the Canadian-built remote manipulator system installed in Columbia’s payload bay. Middle: The SRBs stacked on the mobile launch platform inside the VAB. Left: The external tank for the STS-2 mission shortly after its arrival in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 31, preparing for a launch then planned for Oct. ![]() “Hank” Hartsfield, participated in integrated tests of the stacked vehicle prior to Columbia’s rollout to Launch Pad 39A on Aug. Following interface tests between the orbiter and its payloads, workers towed the vehicle to join it with its external tank (ET) and solid rocket boosters (SRBs) in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ground crews had installed the payload in Columbia’s cargo bay, including the Canadian-built robotic arm for its first test in space. In August 1981, NASA was busy preparing Space Shuttle Columbia for its first return to space on the STS-2 mission. ![]()
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