Author Topic: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots  (Read 74508 times)

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #120 on: 12/27/2011 05:13 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #121 on: 12/27/2011 05:19 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #122 on: 12/27/2011 05:24 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #123 on: 12/27/2011 05:32 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #124 on: 12/27/2011 05:38 pm »
Hydrogen gas bubbles in your coffee? One of the dangers of spaceflight... ;D

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #125 on: 12/27/2011 05:42 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #126 on: 12/27/2011 06:10 pm »
December 8, 1983 - Landing Day

STS-9 became the first shuttle mission to receive an additional flight day while already in orbit, because mission planers saw a chance to get more data (STS-3 had stayed in orbit an additional day because of a landing delay).

Overcoming the failure of a data acquisition unit, short circuits in heating facilities used for materials sciences experiments, a jammed film magazine in the Metric Camera and scheduling conflicts during the earlier part of the mission, the astronauts got into a good work routine for the rest of the mission. And so they put the extra day to good use.

But all good things have come to an end - and so the airlock leading to Spacelab was closed for a final time on this mission.

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #127 on: 12/27/2011 06:22 pm »
But then the astronauts did get another mission extension - one nobody had asked for...


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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #128 on: 12/27/2011 06:40 pm »
Targeting an early morning Edwards landing at 7:58 am PST (4:58 pm CET), John Young fired RCS thrusters in order to get into the right attitude for the OMS deorbit burn. At this moment the crew noticed an unusual jolt - and GPC #1 was down.

Houston gave a "go ahead" for the landing preparations, and a few minutes later GPC #2 also gave up!

"My knees started shaking. When the next computer failed I turned to jelly. Our eyes opened a lot wider than they were before. And it's hard to get them closed again", Young admitted later.

« Last Edit: 12/27/2011 06:41 pm by Ares67 »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #129 on: 12/27/2011 07:03 pm »
The early morning landing opportunity was cancelled. John Young and Brewster Shaw started troubleshooting and after about 40 minutes were able to revive GPC #2. GPC #1 didn't come back to life. And while they had already enough on their hands, one of three redundant IMU failed, too.

Obviously it was time to come home. Another preliminary landing attempt at 2:14 pm PST (11:14 pm CET) did get waived off for another orbit. Columbia now was to return at 3:47 pm PST.

As that meant 12:47 am on December 9 in Central Europe, I personally got really worried. I was 16 years old and had to go to school early in the morning. But luckily I did get a "special dispensation" by my parents and was allowed to stay up until after the shuttle had landed. ;D
« Last Edit: 12/27/2011 07:04 pm by Ares67 »

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #130 on: 12/27/2011 07:08 pm »
Here they come...

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #131 on: 12/27/2011 07:15 pm »
PAO: Columbia approximately prefinal at 17,000 feet, coming down at 128 feet per second, ten miles from the runway. Flight Dynamics Officer reports it looks very good coming around the heading alignment circle… very large turnaround heading alignment circle… 309 degrees.

Young: We are through the HAC, Houston.

CapCom (John Blaha): Roger, surface winds are calm.

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #132 on: 12/27/2011 07:21 pm »
PAO: 10,000 feet, dropping 170 feet per second, 7 miles from the runway. Columbia is on centerline, on glide slope. Columbia on it’s final approach to the runway, five miles out. 5000 feet. Approximately 285 knots. Still in manual flight control mode. Commander John Young controlling the vehicle.

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #133 on: 12/27/2011 07:26 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #134 on: 12/27/2011 07:33 pm »
PAO: Coming into the flare… gear coming down…  gear down and locked. And we have touchdown. Unofficial touchdown time for the main gear 10:07:47:23… nose gear coming down… and gear contact. Nose down at 10:07:47:41. And STS-9 is home from the longest shuttle mission to date.

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #135 on: 12/27/2011 07:37 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #136 on: 12/27/2011 07:43 pm »
Young: Wheels stop on the Columbia.

CapCom: Roger that, Columbia, welcome home. Beautiful landing.
« Last Edit: 12/27/2011 07:48 pm by Ares67 »

Offline Ares67

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #137 on: 12/27/2011 07:45 pm »

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #138 on: 12/27/2011 07:59 pm »
At nosewheel touchdown GPC #2 had crashed again... but who cared now?
What nobody knew or saw at that time: The birds tail was on fire!

"John was on fire when he landed; of course, he didn't know it at the time. He didn't find out about it until about a day later. But that's the best time to find those kinds of things out...", Director of Flight Crew Operations George Abbey described how they learned about this incident.

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Re: Columbia STS-9 / Spacelab 1 - Screenshots
« Reply #139 on: 12/27/2011 08:04 pm »
Here an excerpt from "Wings in Space"

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