Mark Hess Headquarters, Washington, DC April 12, 1995 (Phone: 202/358-1778) Rob Navias Johnson Space Center, Houston (Phone: 713/483-5111) Lisa Malone Kennedy Space Center, FL (Phone: 407/867-2468) Alan Buis Rockwell Space Systems Division, Downey, CA (Phone: 310/922-1856) RELEASE: 95-49 COLUMBIA COMPLETES MAINTENANCE PERIOD The Space Shuttle Columbia, the oldest Space Shuttle in NASA's four- Orbiter fleet, rolled out of Rockwell's modification center, Palmdale, CA, this week completing a six-month Orbiter maintenance period. Today, on the 14th anniversary of the first Space Shuttle launch, the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, with the 100-ton reusable spaceplane bolted on top, is at Ellington Field, near the Johnson Space Center, Houston, en route to the Kennedy Space Center, FL, to be readied for its 18th mission, currently set for September. Astronaut John Young, a veteran pilot who flew Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle missions, commanded the STS-1 flight. Rookie astronaut Robert Crippen, who would go on to command three flights on the Space Shuttle and take over the reins of the program as its director, was the pilot on that first flight. Columbia arrived in Palmdale for its third modification and inspection period in October 1994. Maintenance periods are conducted on each Orbiter every three years. Previous inspection/modification periods were conducted in 1984-85 and 1991-92. While in Palmdale, more than 66 improvements and modifications were made to Columbia. The enhancements were to improve performance, meet mission requirements or reduce turnaround time. Included were wiring changes to allow Shuttle crews to monitor downlink data on laptop computers, installing filters in hydrogen flow control valves to reduce the potential for contamination, and corrosion control measures. Engineers also performed a structural inspection on Columbia. Nearly 488 nondestructive and visual inspections, using boroscopes, ultrasonic devices, eddy currents and X-rays were performed. These inspections showed Columbia to be in excellent condition, and fully capable of meeting its 100-mission lifetime requirement. Rockwell completed construction of Columbia in March 1979. Its 17 missions to date have accumulated more than 62 million miles and over 2,300 orbits. -end- NASA press releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to domo@hq.nasa.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type the words "subscribe press-release" (no quotes). The system will reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. A second automatic message will include additional information on the service. Questions should be directed to (202) 358-4043. Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) Facts Columbia became the first Space Shuttle to fly into Earth orbit when it rocketed Commander John Young and Pilot Robert Crippen into space on April 12, 1981. Columbia's first mission lasted 54 hours, 20 minutes and 32 seconds during which time the world's first reusable spaceplane circled the globe 36 times and traveled over 1 million miles. Columbia has made 17 missions into orbit, including the four-flight Orbital Flight Test program. Columbia deployed the first commercial communications satellites launched from the Shuttle and carried up the first flight of the European-built Spacelab laboratory module. Columbia's next mission will be STS-73, a planned 16-day mission carrying the second United States Microgravity Laboratory. Launch is planned for September. Miles Flown 62,894,846 Astronauts Flown 88 (including 3 from Germany, 1 from Japan and 1 from Canada) Satellites Deployed 4 (SBS, Telesat, Lageos, Satcom KU) Satellites Retrieved 1 (LDEF) Flights of Columbia (OV-102) Flt. Crew Launch Landing Payload Date/Pad Date/Site 1. STS-1 Young, Crippen 4/12/81 4/14/81 DFI 39A Edwards AFB 2. STS-2 Engle, Truly 11/12/81 11/14/81 OSTA-1 39A Edwards AFB 3. STS-3 Lousma, Fullerton 3/22/82 3/30/82 OSS-1 39A White Sands, NM 4. STS-4 Mattingly,Hartsfield 6/27/82 7/4/82DoD 82-1 39A Edwards AFB 5. STS-5 Brand, Overmyer 11/11/82 11/16/82 SBS-C Lenoir, Allen 39A Edwards AFB Anik C-3 6. 51-C Gibson, Bolden 1/12/83 1/18/83 Satcom Ku 1 Chang-Diaz, Hawley 39A Edwards AFB 7. STS-9 Young, Shaw, Parker 11/28/83 12/8/83 Spacelab Garriott, Merbold 39A Edwards AFB Lichtenberg 8. STS-28 Shaw, Richards 8/8/89 8/13/89 DoD Leestma, Adamson 39B Edwards AFB Brown 9.STS-32 Brandenstein, 1/9/90 1/20/90 Syncom IV-5 Wetherbee, Dunbar 39A Edwards AFB LDEF retrieve Ivins, Low 10.STS-35 Brand, Gardner, 12/2/90 12/10/90 Astro-1 Lounge, Hoffman 39B Edwards AFB Parker, Parise 11.STS-40 O'Connor, 6/5/91 6/14/91 SLS-1 Gutierrez, Jernigan,39B Edwards AFB Seddon, Bagian 12.STS-50 Richards, Bowersox 6/25/92 7/9/92 USML-1 Dunbar, Baker, 39A KSC Meade, DeLucas, Trinh 13.STS-52 Wetherbee, Baker 10/22/92 11/1/92 Lageos II Veach, Jernigan 39B KSC USMP-1 Shepherd, MacLean 14.STS-55 Nagel, Hendricks 4/26/93 5/6/93 Spacelab D2 Ross, Precourt 39A KSC Harris, Walter, Schlegel 15.STS-58 Blaha, Searfoss, 10/18/93 11/1/93 SLS-2 Seddon, McArthur 39B Edwards AFB Wolf, Lucid, Fettman 16.STS-62 Casper, Allen, Thuot 3/4/94 3/18/94 OAST-2 Geman, Ivins 39B KSC USMP-2 17.STS-65 Cabana, Halsell, Hieb 7/8/94 7/23/94 IML-2 Walz, Chiao, Thomas 39A KSC Mukai