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)
Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-113) lifts off from LC-39A, 7:49:47 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, 23 November 2002. (NASA)
23 November 2002, 00:49:47 UTC, T minus Zero: Space Shuttle Endeavour (OV-105) lifted off from Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, on mission STS-113.
The mission commander, Captain James D. Wetherbee, United States Navy, was on his sixth space flight and shuttle pilot Lieutenant Colonel Paul S. Lockhart, United States Air Force, was on his second. Mission Specialist Captain Miguel López-Alegría, USN, was on his third space flight while Commander John B. Harrington, USN, was on his first.
Flight crew of Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-113), left to right, LCOL Paul S. Lockhart, USAF; CAPT Michael E. López-Alegría, USN; CDR John B. Herrington, USN; CAPT James D. Wetherbee, USN. (NASA)
STS-113 delivered the P1 truss (the Port Side Thermal Radiator Truss), a major structural component of the International Space Station, into orbit, while also carrying the three members of Expedition 6, who were to spend the next four months on board the space station: Captain Kenneth D. Bowersox, USN, was on his fifth space flight; Test Cosmonaut Nikolai Mikhailovich Budarin (Николай Михайлович Бударин), Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA), on his third flight; and Donald R. Pettit, Ph.D., NASA, was on his first. ISS Expedition 5 members Colonel Valery Grigoryevich Korzun (Валерий Григорьевич Корзун), Soviet Air Force, Peggy Annette Whitson, Ph.D., NASA, and Sergei Yevgenyevich Treshchov (Сергей Евгеньевич Трещёв), RSC Energia, having completed their assignments to the ISS, were returned to Earth aboard Endeavour.
Endeavour landed at the Shuttle Landing Facility (LSF), Kennedy Space Center, at 19:38:25 UTC, 7 December 2002. The duration of mission STS-113 was 13 days, 18 hours, 48 minutes, 38 seconds. Endeavour remained docked with the ISS for 6 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes, 00 seconds. While in orbit, NASA astronauts López-Alegría and Herrington performed three EVAs (Extravehicular Activity, of “space walks”).
Space Shuttle Endeavour (OV-105) in Earth orbit, photographed from the International Space Station, 25 November 2002. The P1 Truss is in the open cargo bay. (NASA)
Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-87) lifts of from Launch Complex 39B, 19:46:00 UTC, 19 November 1997. (NASA)
19 November 1997, 19:46:00 UTC, T minus Zero: Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, on mission STS-87. This was the 88th flight of the space shuttle program, and the 24th flight for Columbia.
The flight crew was led by mission commander, Colonel Kevin R. Kregel, U.S. Air Force, on his third space flight, with shuttle pilot Colonel Steven W. Lindsey, U.S. Air Force, on his first. Mission Specialist Captain Winston E. Scott, U.S. Navy, was on his second flight; Kalpana Chwala, Ph.D., was on her first; Takao Doi, Ph.D., Japanese Aerospace Explosration Agency (JAXA), was on his first; Payload Specialist Colonel Leonid K. Kandeniuk, Ukraine Air Force, and National Space Agency of Ukraine (NSAU), was on his only flight.
STS-87 carried a number of scientific research experiments which required Captain Scott and Doctor Doi to perform two “space walks”, the first EVAs conducted from Columbia.
Columbia landed at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), Kennedy Space Center, at 12:20 UTC, 5 December 1997. The duration of the mission was 15 days, 16 hours, 35 minutes, 01 seconds.
The flight crew of Columbia (STS-87): left to right, in orange: Dr. Kalapana Chawla; Colonel Steven W. Lindsey, USAF; Colonel Kevin R. Kregel, USAF; Colonel Leonid K. Kadeniuk, UAF. In white, Captain Winston E. Scott, USN; Dr. Takao Doi, JAXA. (NASA)
Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off from LC 39B, 2:55:47 p.m. EST, 19 November 1996. (NASA)
19 November 1996, 19:55:47 UTC, T minus Zero: Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, on mission STS-80. The veteran flight crew was led by mission commander, Captain Kenneth D. Cockrell, U.S. Navy, on his third space flight, with shuttle pilot Captain Kent V. Rominger, U.S. Navy, on his second. Mission Specialist Story Musgrave, M.D., was on his sixth flight; Thomas D. Jones, Ph.D., (formerly Captain, USAF, a B-52 aircraft commander) was on his third; Tamara E. Jernigan, Ph.D. was on her fourth.
On STS-80, Story Musgrave became the only person to have flown on all five space shuttles. At 61, he was the oldest person to have flown into space at the time.
STS-80 was the longest mission of any space shuttle flight, with a duration of 17 days, 15 hours, 53 minutes, 18 seconds. Columbia landed at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at Kennedy Space Center, 11:49:05 UTC, 7 December 1996.
The flight crew of Columbia STS-80, seated, left to right: Captain Kent V. Rominger, USN, and Captain Kenneth D. Cockrell, USN; standing, Tamara E. Jernigan, Ph.D.; Franklin Story Musgrave, M.D.; and Thomas D. Jones, Ph.D. (NASA)
Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-74) lifts off from Pad 39A, 7:30:43 a.m., EST, 12 November 1995. (NASA)
12 November 1995, 12:30:43.071 UTC, T minus Zero: Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-74) is launched from Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The mission commander was Colonel Kenneth Donald Cameron, United States Marine Corps, and Colonel James Donald Halsell, Jr., United States Air Force, was the shuttle pilot.
There were three mission specialists on this flight: Colonel Chris Austin Hadfield, Royal Canadian Air Force; Colonel Jerry Lynn Ross, U.S. Air Force; and Colonel William Suries McArthur, Jr., United States Army. Colonels Cameron, Halsell, Hadfield and McArthur had all been military test pilots before joining the space program. Colonel Ross was a flight test engineer.
Left to right: Colonel William S. McArthur, Jr., U.S. Army; Colonel James D. Halsell, Jr., U.S. Air Force (seated); Colonel Jerry L. Ross, U.S. Air Force; Colonel Kenneth D. Cameron, USMC (seated); Colonel Chris A. Hadfield, Royal Canadian Air Force/Canadian Space Agency. (NASA)
Mission STS-74 was the second orbital docking with the Russian space station Mir. The astronauts installed a docking module which had been carried in Atlantis‘ cargo bay. This allowed the shuttle to dock with the space station, and supplies and equipment were transferred during the three days the two spacecraft were docked.
Space Station Mir, photographed from Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-74. (NASA)
Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center 12:01:27 p.m., EST, on 20 November. The duration of the mission was 8 days, 4 hours, 30 minutes, 44 seconds.
Space Shuttle Atlantis (OV-104) lands at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, at the end of Mission STS-74, 12:01:27 p.m., EST, 20 November 1995.. (NASA)
