The Majestic Return of Space Shuttle Columbia
The majestic return of Space Shuttle Columbia on her maiden flight STS-1
The dream is alive!
When Space Shuttle Columbia touched down, nobody was aware of just how lucky her crew was to make it home. The orbiter's heat shield was damaged when an overpressure wave from the solid rocket booster caused a forward RCS oxidizer strut to fail.
The same overpressure wave also forced the shuttle's "body flap" that controlled pitch during the reentry phase – more than 5° out of position and into an angle far beyond the point where cracking or rupture of its hydraulic system would have been expected. Had that rupture occurred, a controlled descent would have been impossible.
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Astronaut John Young later admitted that had the crew been aware of this, they would have flown the shuttle up to a safe altitude and ejected, causing Columbia to have been lost on her first flight.
After reaching an orbital altitude of 166 nautical miles, Columbia flew 37 orbits, on a 1 million,74 thousand, 567-mile long flight, lasting 2 days, 6 hours, 20 minutes and 53 seconds.
After reaching an orbital altitude of 166 nautical miles, Columbia flew 37 orbits, on a 1 million,74 thousand, 567-mile long flight, lasting 2 days, 6 hours, 20 minutes and 53 seconds.
Space Shuttle Columbia safely touched down on Runway 23 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, at 10:21 am PST on the 14th of April 1981.
My brother, Lt. Charles E. Gratch, a mission coordinator with the 4950th ARIA test wing out of WPAFB in Dayton, OH, supported the shuttle program. An EC135 was airborne upon Columbia’s re-entry. Charlie was not on that flight, but was supporting the ARIA crew from the base. He got to see the shuttle a week later at Edwards. He was very excited about the key role ARIA played and called his family to tell us all about it. I was just 12, but remember it fondly. Charlie’s career was going to take him to the shuttle program, but alas, he and 20 others aboard ARIA 328 were killed just three weeks later on 05/06/81 when there planed went down in Walkersville, MD. Charlie was so excited about the shuttle program. It wasn’t until after his death that my father had told us where his career was likely headed. At least that was his plan. Our Lord had other plans. Thank you for this story. I remember Charlie speaking of the dangers of re-entry, the inaugural shuttle launch, and how there was no margin for error. When Columbia did got down in 02/2003, the wounds opened back up. God bless you military men/women. You give up so much for us.
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