STS-2: Space Shuttle Columbia Second Flight 1981 NASA Film JSC-818; HQ-324

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'SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA: THE SECOND FLIGHT

JSC 818 - (1982) - 28 1/2 Minutes -

Astronauts: Joe H. Engle and Richard H. Truly

Launch date: November 12, 1981

Covers unprecedented second launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia, the world's first reusable spacecraft. Also includes the events leading up to the second launch, major crew activities on-orbit, and landing.'

Originally a public domain film from NASA, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-2

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

STS-2 was the second Space Shuttle mission conducted by NASA, and the second flight of the orbiter Columbia. The mission launched on 12 November 1981 and landed two days later on 14 November. STS-2 marked the first time that a manned, reusable orbital vehicle returned to space. This mission tested the Shuttle Imaging Radar as part of the OSTA-1 payload, along with a wide range of other experiments including the Shuttle robotic arm, commonly known as Canadarm. Other experiments or tests included Shuttle Multispectral Infrared Radiometer, Feature Identification and Location Experiment, Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellites, Ocean Color Experiment, Night/Day optical Survey of Lightning, Heflex Bioengineering Test, and Aerodynamic Coefficient Identification Package (ACIP). One of the feats accomplished was various tests on the OMS including starting and restarting the engines while in orbit and various adjustments to its orbit. The OMS tests also help adjust the Shuttle's orbit for use of the radar. During the mission, President Reagan called the crew of STS-2 from Mission Control in Houston.

In the early planning stages of the Space Shuttle program, STS-2 was intended to be a reboost mission for the aging Skylab space station. However, such a mission was impeded by delays with the shuttle's development and the deteriorating orbit of Skylab. Skylab ultimately de-orbited on 11 July 1979, two years before the launch of STS-2...

The second Space Shuttle mission launched from Kennedy Space Center on 12 November 1981, with liftoff occurring at 10:10 am EST, 7 months after STS-1. The planned launch time of 7:30 am was delayed while a faulty data transmitting unit on Columbia was replaced with one from new Space Shuttle Challenger, which had been shipped overnight from Palmdale, California where Challenger was still under construction.

Originally, the launch had been set for 9 October, but it was delayed by a nitrogen tetroxide spill during the loading of the forward Reaction Control System tanks. The spill necessitated the removal, decontamination and reapplication of over 300 thermal tiles...

The flight marked the first time an orbital manned space vehicle had been re-flown with a second crew. Prior to launch, Columbia spent 103 days in the Orbiter Processing Facility. It again carried the DFI package, as well as the OSTA-l payload (named for the NASA Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications), which consisted of a number of remote-sensing instruments mounted on a Spacelab pallet in the payload bay. These instruments, including the Shuttle Imaging Radar-A (SIR-A), successfully carried out remote sensing of Earth's resources, environmental quality, and ocean and weather conditions. In addition, the Canadian-built "Canadarm" Remote Manipulator System (RMS) was successfully operated in all its various operating modes for the first time.

During the mission, the Mission Control Center was visited by President Ronald Reagan. He was supposed to visit during STS-1, but was forced to cancel due to an assassination attempt on 30 March 1981.

Although the STS-2 mission had been planned for a duration of five days, with a few hours a day spent testing the Canadarm, the flight was cut short when one of the three fuel cells that produced electricity and drinking water failed. The mission was shortened to two days, and the Canadarm tests were canceled...

STS-2 was the last shuttle flight to have its external fuel tank (ET) painted white. In an effort to reduce the Shuttle's overall weight, STS-3 and all subsequent missions used an unpainted tank, saving approximately 272 kilograms (600 lb) of launch weight...