Garriott

Lichtenberg

Merbold

Parker

Shaw

Young

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STS-9 Credit - NASA

28 November 1983 16:00 GMT. Landing Date: 1983-12-08 23:47:23. Flight Time: 10.32 days. Flight Up: STS-9. Flight Back: STS-9. Call Sign: Columbia. Crew: Garriott, Lichtenberg, Merbold, Parker, Shaw, Young. Program: Spacelab.

Of note: First West German to fly in space. First Spacelab mission. Record crew size (six) in a single spacecraft.

On the lighter side: Young, on STS-9, when two of Columbia's computers had failed in orbit, meaning the astronauts might be stranded in space "This is what they pay us the big bucks for" (at that time he was earning $70,000 a year from NASA).

What went wrong: Suspect exhaust nozzle on right solid rocket booster only noticed on pad. Landing delayed when general purpose computers one and two failed and inertial measurement unit one failed. Columbia landed on fire. One of the hydraulic pumps sprang a leak that pooled hydrazine in the aft engine compartment. The fire spread, disabling the second hydraulic system after shutdown. If the fire had begun seconds earlier, all three hydraulic systems would have failed, the shuttle would have been uncontrollable, and crashed in the desert. Carried ESA Spacelab. Payloads: Payload: Spacelab-1 experiments, habitable Spacelab and pallet, carried 71 experiments. The six-man crew was divided into two 12-hour-day red and blue teams to operate experiments. First high-inclination orbit of 57 degrees.

STS-9 Credit- www.spacefacts.de

Orbits of Earth: 166. Distance traveled: 6,913,505 km. Orbiter Liftoff Mass: 112,318 kg. Orbiter Mass at Landing: 99,800 kg. Payload to Orbit: 15,088 kg. Payload Returned: 15,088 kg. Landed at: Runway 17 dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, . Landing Speed: 342 kph. Touchdown miss distance: 502 m. Landing Rollout: 2,577 m.

Mission Name: STS-9 (9)
COLUMBIA (6)
Pad 39-A (21)
9th Shuttle mission
6th Flight OV-102
1st rollback
Extended mission

Crew:
John W. Young (6), Commander
Brewster H. Shaw (1), Jr., Pilot
Owen K. Garriott (2), Mission Specialist
Dr. Robert A. Parker (1), Mission Specialist
Dr. Byron K. Lichtenberg (1), Payload Specialist
Dr. Ulf Merbold (1), Payload Specialist (ESA)

Milestones:
Flow A:
OPF - Nov. 23, 1982
VAB - Sept. 24, 1983
PAD - Sept. 28, 1983
Flow B:
OPF - Oct. 20, 1983
VAB - Nov. 3, 1983
PAD - Nov. 8,1983

Payload:
SPACELAB-1
Mission Objectives:

Launch:
November 28, 1983, 11:00:00 a.m. EST. Launch set for Sept. 30 delayed 28 days due to suspect exhaust nozzle on right solid rocket booster. Problem discovered while Shuttle was on pad. Shuttle returned to VAB and demated. Suspect nozzle replaced and vehicle restacked. Countdown Nov. 28 proceeded as scheduled. Launch Weight: 247,619 lbs.
Orbit:
Altitude: 155nm
Inclination: 57.0 degrees
Orbits: 167
Duration: 10 days, seven hours, 47 minutes, 24 seconds.
Distance: 4,295,853 miles

Hardware:
SRB: BI-009
SRM: 009SW(HPM)
ET : 11/LWT-4
MLP : 1
SSME-1: SN-2011
SSME-2: SN-2018
SSME-3: SN-2019

Landing:
December 8, 1983, 3:47:24 p.m. PST, Runway 17, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Rollout distance: 8,456 feet. Rollout time: 53 seconds. Landing 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. Orbiter returned to KSC Dec. 15, 1983. Landing Weight: 220,027 lbs.

Mission Highlights:
Flight carried first Spacelab mission and first astronaut to represent European Space Agency (ESA), Ulf Merbold of Germany. ESA and NASA jointly sponsored Spacelab-1 and conducted investigations which demonstrated capability for advanced research in space. Spacelab is an orbital laboratory and observations platform composed of cylindrical pressurized modules and U-shaped unpressurized pallets which remain in orbiter's cargo bay during flight. Altogether 73 separate investigations carried out in astronomy and physics, atmospheric physics, Earth observations, life sciences, materials sciences, space plasma physics and technology. First time six persons carried into space on a single vehicle.

• 1983 Nov 28 - STS-9  Crew: Garriott, Lichtenberg, Merbold, Parker, Shaw, Young. Spacecraft: Columbia. Payload: Columbia F06 / Spacelab 1 Pallet. Mass: 15,088 kg (33,263 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Duration: 10.32 days. Perigee: 241 km (149 mi). Apogee: 254 km (157 mi). Inclination: 57.00 deg. Period: 89.50 min.

  Carried ESA Spacelab. Payloads: Payload: Spacelab-1 experiments, habitable Spacelab and pallet, carried 71 experiments. The six-man crew was divided into two 12-hour-day red and blue teams to operate experiments. First high-inclination orbit of 57 degrees.

• 1983 Dec 8 - Landing of STS-9 

  STS-9 landed at 23:47 GMT.