Columbia (OV-102)

      Background

        Columbia, the oldest orbiter in the Shuttle fleet, is named after the Boston, Massachusetts based sloop captained by American Robert Gray. On May 11, 1792, Gray and his crew maneuvered the Columbia past the dangerous sandbar at the mouth of a river extending more than 1,000 miles through what is today south-eastern British Columbia, Canada, and the Washington-Oregon border. The river was later named after the ship. Gray also led Columbia and its crew on the first American circumnavigation of the globe, carrying a cargo of otter skins to Canton, China, and then returning to Boston.

        Other sailing ships have further enhanced the luster of the name Columbia. The first U.S. Navy ship to circle the globe bore that title, as did the command module for Apollo 11, the first lunar landing mission.

        On a more directly patriotic note, "Columbia" is considered to be the feminine personification of the United States. The name is derived from that of another famous explorer, Christopher Columbus.

        The spaceship Columbia has continued the pioneering legacy of its forebears, becoming the first Space Shuttle to fly into Earth orbit in 1981. Four sister ships joined the fleet over the next 10 years: Challenger, arriving in 1982 but destroyed four years later; Discovery, 1983; Atlantis, 1985; and Endeavour, built as a replacement for Challenger, 1991. A test vehicle, the Enterprise, was used for suborbital approach and landing tests and did not fly in space. The names of Columbia's sister ships each boast their own illustrious pedigree.

        In the day-to-day world of Shuttle operations and processing, Space Shuttle orbiters go by a more prosaic designation. Columbia is commonly refered to as OV-102, for Orbiter Vehicle-102. Empty Weight was 158,289 lbs at rollout and 178,000 lbs with main engines installed.

      Upgrades and Features

        Columbia was the first on-line orbiter to undergo the scheduled inspection and retrofit program. It was transported August 10, 1991, after its completion of mission STS-40, to prime Shuttle contractor Rockwell International's Palmdale, California assembly plant. The oldest orbiter in the fleet underwent approximately 50 modifications, including the addition of carbon brakes, drag chute, improved nose wheel steering, removal of development flight instrumentation and an enhancement of its thermal protection system. The orbiter returned to KSC February 9, 1992 to begin processing for mission STS-50 in June of that year.

      Construction Milestones

      07/26/72 Contract Award
      03/27/75 Start long lead fabrication aft fuselage
      11/17/75 Start long-lead fabrication of crew module
      06/28/76 Start assembly of crew module
      09/13/76 Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage
      12/13/76 Start assembly upper forward fuselage
      01/03/77 Start assembly vertical stabilizer
      08/26/77 Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman
      10/28/77 Lower forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale
      11/07/77 Start of Final Assembly
      02/24/78 Body flap on dock, Palmdale
      04/28/78 Forward payload bay doors on dock, Palmdale
      05/26/78 Upper forward fuselage mate
      07/07/78 Complete mate forward and aft payload bay doors
      09/11/78 Complete forward RCS
      02/03/79 Complete combined systems test, Palmdale
      02/16/79 Airlock on dock, Palmdale
      03/05/79 Complete postcheckout
      03/08/79 Closeout inspection, Final Acceptance Palmdale
      03/08/79 Rollout from Palmdale to Dryden (38 miles)
      03/12/79 Overland transport from Palmdale to Edwards
      03/20/79 SCA Ferry Flight from DFRF to Bigs AFB, Texas
      03/22/79 SCA Ferry flight from Bigs AFB to Kelly AFB, Texas
      03/24/79 SCA Ferry flight from Kelly AFB to Eglin AFB, Florida
      03/24/79 SCA Ferry flight from Eglin, AFB to KSC
      11/03/79 Auxiliary Power Unit hot fire tests, OPF KSC
      12/16/79 Orbiter integrated test start, KSC
      01/14/80 Orbiter integrated test complete, KSC
      02/20/81 Flight Readiness Firing
      04/12/81 First Flight (STS-1)

      Columbia's Flights to date:

      01. STS-1 (04/12/81)
      02. STS-2 (11/12/81)
      03. STS-3 (03/22/82)
      04. STS-4 (06/27/82)
      05. STS-5 (11/11/82)
      06. STS-9 (11/28/83)
      07. 61-C (01/12/86)
      08. STS-28 (08/08/89)
      09. STS-32 (01/09/90)
      10. STS-35 (12/02/90)
      11. STS-40 (06/05/91)
      12. STS-50 (06/25/92)
      13. STS-52 (10/22/92)
      14. STS-55 (04/26/93)
      15. STS-58 (10/18/93)
      16. STS-62 (3/4/94)
      17. STS-65 (7/8/94)
      18. STS-73 (10/20/95)
      19. STS-75 (2/22/96)
      20. STS-78 (6/20/96)
      21. STS-80 (11/19/96)
      22. STS-83 (04/04/97)
      23. STS-94 (07/01/97)
      24. STS-87 (11/19/97)
      25. STS-90 (4/13/98)

      26. STS-93 (7/9/99 Estimated)

      To OMDP after STS-93

      Columbia's Completed Flight Logs to date:

      22 flights
      86 Million Miles
      3,286 orbits
      196 days in space

      Click here to return to the SPACE EDUCATORS' HANDBOOK HOME PAGE.