Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-9) launches from LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, 16:00:00 UTC, 28 November 1983. (NASA)
28 November 1983, 16:00:00.84 UTC, T minus Zero: Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-9) lifted of from Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Florida on its sixth space flight.
On board was the largest flight crew for a manned space mission up to that time: Mission Commander John W. Young (Captain, United States Navy, Retired), Pilot; Lieutenant Colonel Brewster H. Shaw, Jr., United States Air Force; Mission Specialists Owen K. Garriott, Ph.D., and Robert A.R. Parker, Ph.D.; and Payload Specialists Ulf Dietrich Merbold, Dr. rer. nat, of the European Space Agency (ESA); and Lieutenant Colonel Byron K. Lichtenberg, D.Sc., USAF (Massachusetts Air National Guard).
The flight crew of Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-9), left to right, Owen K. Garriott, Ph.D., NASA; LCOL Byron K. Lichtenberg, D.Sc., USAF; LCOL Brewster H. Shaw, Jr., USAF; CAPT John Watts Young, USN (Ret.); Dr. Ulf D. Merbold, ESA; Robert A.R. Parker, Ph.D., NASA.
Columbia carried the NASA/ESA Spacelab module in the cargo bay. The mission was primarily to carry out 72 scientific experiments in astronomy, physics, biology, as well as to make observations of the Earth.
Columbia landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California at 23:47:24 UTC (3:47 p.m., PST), 8 December 1983. At 10 days, 7 hours, 47 minutes, 24 seconds, STS-9 was the longest space shuttle mission up to that time.
Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-9) lands at Edwards Air Force Base, California. (NASA)
Major Michael J. Adams, United States Air Force, with a North American Aviation X-15 hypersonic research rocketplane, 56-6670, on Rogers Dry Lake, after his third flight in the program, 22 March 1967. (NASA)
15 November 1967: Major Michael James Adams, United States Air Force, was killed in the crash of the number three North American Aviation X-15 hypersonic research rocketplane, 56-6672.
Flight 191 of the X-15 program was Mike Adams’ seventh flight in the rocketplane. It was the 56-6672’s 65th flight. The flight plan called for 79 seconds of engine burn, accelerating the X-15 to Mach 5.10 while climbing to 250,000 feet (76,200 meters). Adams’ wife, Freida, and his mother, Georgia Adams, were visiting in the NASA control room at Edwards Air Force Base.
Balls 8, the Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress, 52-008, flown by Colonel Joe Cotton, took off from Edwards at 9:12 a.m., carrying -672 on a pylon under its right wing, and headed north toward the drop point over Delamar Dry Lake in Nevada. The drop ship climbed to the launch altitude of 45,000 feet (13,716 meters).
The X-15 launch was delayed while waiting for the Lockheed C-130 Hercules rescue aircraft to arrive on station. This required Adams to reset the Honeywell MH-96 Automatic Flight Control System to compensate for the changing position of the sun in the sky.
North American Aviation X-15A-3 56-6672 immediately after launch over Delamar Lake, Nevada. Date unknown. (U.S. Air Force)
56-6672 was launched by Balls 8 at 10:30:07.4 a.m., Pacific Standard Time. As it dropped clear of the bomber, the rocketplane rolled 20° to the right, a normal reaction. Within one second, Mike Adams had started the XLR99-RM-1 rocket engine while bringing the wings level. The engine ignited within one-half second and was up to its full 57,000 pounds of thrust (253.549 kilonewtons) one second later. The engine ran for 82.3 seconds, 3.3 seconds longer than planned, causing the X-15 to reach Mach 5.20 (3,617 miles per hour/5,821 kilometers per hour) and to overshoot the planned altitude to peak at 266,000 feet (81,077 meters).
A North American Aviation X-15 hypersonic research rocketplane leaves a contrail as it climbs toward the edge of space. (NASA)
With the X-15 climbing through 140,000 feet (42,672 meters), the Inertial Flight Data System computer malfunctioned. Adams radioed ground controllers that the system’s malfunction lights had come on.
The flight plan called for a wing-rocking maneuver at peak altitude so that a camera on board could scan from horizon to horizon. During this maneuver, the Reaction Control System thrusters did not respond properly to Adams’ control inputs. The X-15 began to yaw to the right.
As it reached its peak altitude, 56-6672 yawed 15° to the left. Going over the top, the nose yawed right, then went to the left again. By the time the aircraft had descended to 230,000 feet (70,104 meters), it had pitched 40° nose up and yawed 90° to the right its flight path. The X-15 was also rolling at 20° per second. The rocketplane went into a spin at Mach 5.
10:33:37 Chase 1: “Dampers still on, Mike?”
10:33:39 Adams: “Yeah, and it seems squirrelly.”
10:34:02 Adams: “I’m in a spin, Pete.” [Major William J. “Pete” Knight, another X-15 pilot, was the flight controller, NASA 1]
10:34:05 NASA 1: “Let’s get your experiment in and the cameras on.”
10:34:13 NASA 1: “Let’s watch your theta, Mike.”
10:34:16 Adams: “I’m in a spin.”
10:34:18 NASA 1: “Say again.”
10:34:19 Adams: “I’m in a spin.”
Adams fought to recover, and at 118,000 feet (35,967 meters) came out of the spin, but he was in an inverted 45° dive at Mach 4.7. The X-15’s MH-96 Automatic Flight Control System entered a series of diverging oscillations in the pitch and roll axes, with accelerations up to 15 gs. Dynamic pressures on the airframe rapidly increased from 200 pounds per square foot (9.576 kilopascals) to 1,300 pounds per square foot (62.244 kilopascals).
At 62,000 feet (18,898 meters), still at Mach 3.93, the aircraft structure failed and it broke apart.
10:34:59 X-15 telemetry failed. Last data indicated it was oscillating +/- 13 g. Radar altitude was 62,000 feet (18,898 meters). The aircraft was descending at 2,500 feet per second (762 meters per second) and broke into many pieces at this time.
10:35:42 NASA 1: “Chase 4, do you have anything on him?”
10:35:44 Chase 4: “Chase 4, negative.”
10:35:47 NASA 1: “OK, Mike, do you read?”
10:35:52 Chase 4: “Pete, I got dust on the lake down there.”
North American Aviation X-15A-3 56-6672 crashed in a remote area, approximately 5½ miles (9 kilometers) north-northeast of Randsburg, California, a small village along U.S. Highway 395.
Major Michael James Adams was killed. This was the only pilot fatality of the entire 199-flight X-15 program.
North American Aviation X-15A-3 56-6672 on Rogers Dry Lake. (NASA)
An investigation by NASA’s Engineering and Safety Center determined that,
“. . . the root cause of the accident was an electrical disturbance originating from an experiment package using a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) component that had not been properly qualified for the X-15 environment. . .” and that there is “. . . no conclusive evidence to support the hypothesis that SD [spatial disorientation] was a causal factor. On the contrary, the evidence suggests that poor design of the pilot-aircraft interface and ineffective operational procedures prevented the pilot and ground control from recognizing and isolating the numerous failures before the aircraft’s departure from controlled flight was inevitable.”
—A Comprehensive Analysis of the X-15 Flight 3-65 Accident, NASA/TM—2014-218538 (Corrected Copy)
Crushed forward fuselage of North American Aviation X-15A-3 56-6672. (NASA)
Michael James Adams was born at Sacramento, California, 5 May 1930. He was the first of two sons of Michael Louis Adams, a telephone company technician, and Georgia E. Domingos Adams.
Michael Adams throws a javelin at Sacramento J.C. (1949 Pioneer)
After high school, Mike Adams attended Sacramento Junior College, graduating in 1949. He was an outfielder for the college baseball team, and threw the javelin in track & field.
Adams enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1950. He completed basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. In October 1951, he was selected as an aviation cadet and sent to Spence Air Force Base, near Moultrie, Georgia, for primary flight training. Cadet Adams completed flight training at Webb Air Force Base, Big Spring, Texas. He graduated 25 October 1952. Adams was one of two distinguished graduates in his class and received a commission as an officer in the regular Air Force.
Second Lieutenant Adams was assigned to advanced flight training at Nellis Air Force Base, where he flew the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star and North American Aviation F-86 Sabre.
In April 1953, Lieutenant Adams joined the 80th Fighter-Bomber Squadron at K-13, Suwon, Republic of Korea. He flew 49 combat missions.
Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Adams, 15 January 1955. (Freida Adams Collection)
Following the Korean War, Lieutenant Adams was assigned to the 613th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 401st Fighter-Bomber Group, at England Air Force Base, Alexandria, Louisiana. The Squadron initially flew the F-86F Sabre and then transitioned to the Republic F-84F Thunderstreak. Adams deployed to Chaumont Air Base, France, for a six-month temporary assignment.
While stationed at England AFB, Lieutenant Adams met Miss Freida Beard. They were married in a ceremony at the Homewood Baptist Church in Alexandria, 15 January 1955. They would have three children, Michael James, Jr., Brent, and Liese Faye Adams.
Michael J. Adams, 1958
In 1958, Adams graduated from the University of Oklahoma at Norman, with a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering. He was a member of the university’s Institute of Aeronautical Sciences. Adams was next assigned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he studied astronautics.
Adams’ next military assignment was as a maintenance officer course instructor at Chanute Air Force Base, Rantoul, Illinois.
In 1962, Captain Adams entered an eight-month training program at the Air Force Test Pilot School, Class 62C, at Edwards Air Force Base in the high desert of southern California. He was awarded the A.B. Honts Trophy as the class’s outstanding graduate.
Captain Michael J. Adams with a Northrop F-5A. (NASA)
On 17 June 1963, Captain Adams entered the Aerospace Research Pilots School, which was also at Edwards. This was a seven-month course that taught flying skills in advanced vehicles, with an aim to prepare the graduates for space flight, and to create a pool of qualified military test pilots to be selected as astronauts. The Air Force estimated a need for 20 pilots a year for the upcoming X-20 Dyna-Soar and Manned Orbiting Laboratory (M.O.L.) programs. Adams graduated with the second of the four ARPS classes.
Adams then became an operational test pilot, conducting stability and control tests for the Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter. That was followed by an assignment as a project pilot for the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory.
On 13 November 1963, it was announced that Michael Adams was on of the selectees for the M.O.L. program. As a designated Air Force astronaut, Adams was involved in lunar landing simulations during the development of the Apollo Program lunar lander.
Artists conception of the U.S. Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory (M.O.L.)
Major Adams was selected as a pilot of the NASA/Air Force X-15 Hypersonic Research Flight Program. (He was the twelfth and final pilot to be accepted into the project.) He made his first X-15 flight on 6 October 1966. He flew the first X-15, 56-6770. A ruptured fuel tank forced him to make an emergency landing at Cuddeback Dry Lake, one of several pre-selected emergency landing sites, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of Edwards. The duration of the flight was 8 minutes, 26.4 seconds. The X-15 had only reached an altitude of 75,400 feet (22,982 meters) and Mach 3.00.
A North American Aviation X-15 at Cuddeback Lake after an emergency landing. A Piasceki HH-21C is standing by. (U.S. Air Force)
His second flight took place on 29 November 1966. On this flight, he took the # 3 ship, 56-6672, to 92,100 feet (28,072 meters) and Mach 4.65. The flight lasted 7 minutes, 55.9 seconds.
For his third flight, Mike Adams was back in 56-6670, which had been repaired. He flew to an altitude of 133,100 feet (40,569 meters) and reached Mach 5.59 (3,822 miles per hour/6,151 kilometers per hour). This was Adams fastest flight. He landed at Edwards after 9 minutes, 27.9 seconds.
Flight number four for Adams took place on 28 April 1967. Again he flew the # 1 X-15. On this flight, he reached 167,200 feet (50,963 meters) and Mach 5.44. Elapsed time was 9 minutes, 16.0 seconds.
On 15 June 1967, Adams flew # 1 to 229,300 feet (69,891 meters) and Mach 5.14. Duration 9 minutes, 11.0 seconds.
On 25 August 1967, Adams made his sixth flight, his second in the third X-15, 56-6672. The rocket engine shut down after sixteen seconds and had to be restarted. The maximum altitude was 84,400 feet (25,725 meters) and Mach 4.63. The duration of this flight was 7 minutes. 37.0 seconds.
Mike Adams’ seventh flight in an X-15 took place 15 November 1967. This was the 191st X-15 flight, and the 65th for X-15 56-6672. Tests to be conducted were an ultraviolet study of the rocketplane’s exhaust plume; solar spectrum measurements; micrometeorite collection, and a test of ablative material for the Saturn rocket.
Adams reached 266,000 feet (81,077 meters) and Mach 5.20.
Having met the U.S. Air Force qualification for flight in excess of 50 miles (80.47 kilometers), Michael Adams was posthumously awarded the wings of an astronaut.
Major Michael James Adams, United States Air Force, was buried at Mulhearn Memorial Park, in Monroe, Louisiana.
William Harvey Dana was born 3 November 1930 at Pasadena, California, the first of two children of Harvey Drexler Dana, a geologist, and Rose Frances Jourdan Dana. Dana grew up in Bakersfield, California. He graduated from Bakersfield High School in 1948.
Bill Dana received an appointment as a cadet at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York. He graduated 1952 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. Lieutenant Dana served until 1956.
In 1958, Dana earned a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, California.
On 1 October 1958, Dana began his 40-year career at the NASA High-Speed Flight Station, Edwards Air Force Base, California, as an Aeronautical Research Engineer. (This was the day that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was established, making Dana the first new employee to be hired by NASA.) He was assigned to work on an X-15 performance simulator, and also to the North American XF-107 stability research program.
In September 1959, Bill Dana transferred to the Flight Operations Branch. One of his early projects was the North American Aviation JF-100C variable stability research aircraft.
NASA JF-100C Variable Stability Research Aircraft
IN 1962 Bill Dana married Miss Judi Miller. They would have four children, Sidney, Matt, Janet, and Leslie.
Dana made his first flight in the North American Aviation X-15 hypersonic research rocketplane on 4 November 1965. He reached a maximum speed of Mach 4.22, and a peak altitude of 80,200 feet (24,445 meters). He made a total of sixteen flights in the X-15s. Dana’s highest speed was Mach 5.34, 4 August 1966, and his highest altitude, 306,900 feet, (93,543 meters), on 1 November 1966. On 24 October 1968, Dana flew the final X-15 flight of the NASA X-15 Hypersonic Research Program.
NASA Research Pilot William H. Dana with North American X-15A 56-6672 on Rogers Dry Lake. (NASA)
Bill Dana also flew NASA’s experimental “lifting body” aircraft. On 27 February 1970, he flew the Northrop HL-10 lifting body to 90,030 feet (27,441 meters), the highest altitude reached during its flight test program.
Bill Dana with the HL-10 lifting body, NASA 804. (NASA E-20168)Dana watches the NB-52B fly over Rogers Dry Lake after HL-10 lifting-body flight, 30 November 1968. (NASA ECN-2203)
He made the first flight of the Northrop M2-F3, 2 June 1970. The M2-F3 was built from the M2-F2, which had been heavily damaged in a dramatic landing accident, 10 May 1967, resulting in severe injuries to the pilot, Bruce Peterson.
Wreck of NASA 803, 10 May 1967. (NASA E-16731)
On 23 September 1975, Bill Dana made the final powered flight of the Martin Marietta X-24B lifting body aircraft.
NASA Research Pilot William H. Dana with the X-24B lifting body, 1975. (NASA)
Bill Dana was assigned as the Chief Pilot of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, and in 1986, became the Assistant Chief Flight Operations Division at Dryden.
Bill Dana was the project pilot for NASA 835, the experimental F-15 HIDEC (Highly Integrated Digital Electronic Control) and NASA 840, the F/A-18 Hornet HARV (High Alpha Research Vehicle).
Bill Dana was the project pilot for NASA 835, the experimental F-15 HIDEC (Highly Integrated Digital Electronic Control), and NASA 840, the F/A-18 Hornet HARV (High Alpha Research Vehicle). (NASA)
Dana stopped test flying after 1993, when he was appointed Chief Engineer, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. In 1997, he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. He retired from NASA in 1998.
Bill Dana flew more than 8,000 hours in over 60 different aircraft types.
In 2000, NASA awarded Dana its Milton O. Thompson Lifetime Achievement Award, and on 23 August 2005, he was presented NASA’s Civilian Astronaut wings for his two X-15 flights above 50 miles.
William Harvey Dana died at Phoenix, Arizona, 6 May 2014, at the age of 83 years. He was buried at the Joshua Memorial Park in Lancaster, California.
Pioneer 1 is readied for launch aboard a Thor Able I at Launch Complex 17A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (NASA Image Number 73-H-787)
11 October 1958: At 08:42:13 UTC (3:42:13 a.m., Eastern Standard Time), Able 2 (later renamed Pioneer 1) was launched from Launch Complex 17A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the east coast of Florida., on a mission to orbit The Moon. The launch vehicle was Thor Number 130, DM-1812-6. The mission was carried out by the U.S. Air Force Ballistic Missile Division, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), and the newly established National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The Thor second stage shut down approximately 10 seconds earlier than planned. An accelerometer had cut off the engine because of an incorrect valve setting. As a result, the space probe did not achieve sufficient velocity to escape Earth’s gravity. It reached a maximum altitude of 71,303 miles (114,751 kilometers) at 11:42 UTC.
An attempt to insert the space probe into a 79,970 × 20,000 mile (128,699 × 32,187 kilometers) orbit failed. The internal temperatures were too cold for the stage’s batteries to ignite the solid fuel rocket engine. 43 hours after launch, Able 2 reentered the atmosphere at 03:46 UTC, 13 October 1958, over the South Pacific Ocean.
The Able 2 space probe is today designated Pioneer 1. It was built by the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation’s Space Technology Laboratory (STL) in Redondo Beach, California.
The Thor Able was a two-stage orbital launch vehicle which was developed from the Douglas Aircraft Company’s SM-75 Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile.
Designated Thor DM-19, the first stage was 60.43 feet (18.42 meters) long and 8 feet (2.44 meters) in diameter. Fully fueled, the first stage had a gross weight of 108,770 pounds (49,337 kilograms). It was powered by a Rocketdyne LR-79-7 engine which burned liquid oxygen and RP-1 (a highly-refined kerosene rocket fuel) and produced 170,565 pounds of thrust (758.711 kilonewtons). This stage had a burn time of 2 minutes, 45 seconds.
The second stage was an Aerojet General Corporation-built Able, a second stage for the U.S. Navy’s Vanguard rocket. It was 21 feet, 6.6 inches (6.57 meters) long with a maximum diameter of 2 feet, 9 inches (0.84 meters), and had a gross weight of 5,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms). It used an Aerojet AJ10-101 rocket engine which burned a hypergolic mixture of nitric acid and UDMH. The second stage produced 7,711 pounds of thrust (34.300 kilonewtons) and burned for 1 minutes, 55 seconds.
The Altair X248 third stage was developed by the Alleghany Ballistics Laboratory for the U.S. Navy’s Vanguard rocket. It was 4 feet, 11 inches (1.499 meters) long, 2 feet, 7 inches (0.787 meters) in diameter, and weighed 505 pounds (229 kilograms). It was powered by a solid fuel rocket engine producing 2,300 pounds (10.231 kilonewtons) of thrust. Its burn time was 38 seconds.
Arrangement of equipment with the Pioneer lunar orbiter. (Drew ex Machina)A Pioneer lunar orbiter attached to the third stage of the Thor-Able launch vehicle. (U.S. Air Force)
The lunar probe was the fourth stage of the Thor-Able launch vehicle. It was 74 centimeters (2 feet, 5.13 inches) in diameter, 76 centimeters (2 feet, 5.9 inches) long, and weighed 38.1 kilograms (83.996 pounds). The probe’s external shell was constructed of metal and fiberglass. It carried 11.3 kilograms (24.9 pounds) of instruments designed to measure magnetic fields, radiation and micrometeorites. It also carried an infrared camera system intended to obtain close-up images of The Moon’s surface. Pioneer 1 was spin-stabilized, turning 108 r.p.m.
The probe was equipped with a Thiokol TX-8-6 solid rocket engine to decelerate it for entry into lunar orbit. The rocket engine was the main structural component of the probe. There were 8 vernier rockets to correct its trajectory. The Thiokol TX-8 was produced at the U.S. Army’s Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant near Karnack, Texas. It was designed to power the GAR-1 Falcon radar-homing air-to-air guided missile (later designated AIM-4 Falcon). The rocket motor weighed 11 kilograms (24.3 pounds).
9 October 1999: At a Saturday air show at Edwards Air Force Base, California, NASA Research Pilot Rogers E. Smith and Flight Test Engineer Robert R. Meyer, Jr., flew Lockheed SR-71A-LO 61-7980, NASA 844, on what would be the very last flight of a Blackbird. Although it was scheduled to fly again for the Sunday air show, a serious fuel leak prevented that flight.
61-7980 (Lockheed serial number 2031) was the final SR-71A to be built.
NASA 844 was retired after the final flight and placed in flyable storage, but in 2002, it was placed on static display at the Dryden Flight Research Center,¹ Edwards Air Force Base, California.
¹ In 2014, DFRC was renamed the NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC).
