LANDING – STS-3 – NORTHRUP STRIP, NM

S82-28835 (30 March 1982) --- This unique view of the underside of the space shuttle orbiter Columbia was taken with a handheld camera aboard a T-38 chase plane over the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Bad weather here yesterday vanished and the STS-3 crew of astronaut Jack R. Lousma and C. Gordon Fullerton greeted a pleasant climate along with a large crowd of spectators upon their landing. The successful landing was the first attempted in the actual orbiter on New Mexico soil. Photo credit: NASA