STS-9

NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center

Mission: Orbital Laboratory and Observations Platform/First Spacelab MissionFirst Rollback/First 6 Crew Member FlightSpace Shuttle: Columbia Launch Pad: 39A Launch Weight: 247,619 poundsLaunched: November 28, 1983 at 11:00:00 a.m. ESTLanding Site: Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.Landing: December 8, 1983 at 3:47:24 a.m. PSTLanding Weight: 220,027 poundsRunway: 17Rollout Distance: 8,456 feetRollout Time: 53 secondsRevolution: 167Mission Duration: 10 days, 7 hours, 47 minutes and 24 secondsReturned to KSC: December 15, 1983Orbit Altitude: 155 nautical milesOrbit Inclination: 57 degreesMiles Traveled: 4.3 millionThe launch set for Sept. 30 was delayed 28 days due to a suspect exhaust nozzle on the right solid rocket booster. The problem was discovered while the shuttle was on the launch pad. The shuttle returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and was demated. The suspect nozzle was replaced and the vehicle restacked. The countdown on Nov. 28 proceeded as scheduled.The landing was delayed approximately eight hours to analyze problems when general purpose computers one and two failed and inertial measurement unit one failed. During landing, two of three auxiliary power units caught fire.This flight carried first Spacelab mission and first astronaut to represent the European Space Agency (ESA), Ulf Merbold of Germany. ESA and NASA jointly sponsored the Spacelab-1 and conducted investigations which demonstrated the capability for advanced research in space. Spacelab is an orbital laboratory and contains an observations platform composed of cylindrical pressurized modules and U-shaped unpressurized pallets which remain in the orbiter's cargo bay during flight. Altogether 73 separate investigations were carried out in astronomy and physics, atmospheric physics, Earth observations, life sciences, materials sciences, space plasma physics and technology. This was the first time six persons were carried into space on a single vehicle.