STS-3

STS-3 was NASA's third Space Shuttle mission, and was the third mission for the Space Shuttle Columbia. It launched on 22 March 1982, and landed eight days later on 30 March. The mission involved extensive orbital endurance testing of the Columbia itself, as well as numerous scientific experiments. STS-3 was the first shuttle launch with an unpainted external tank, and the only mission to land at the White Sands Space Harbor near Las Cruces, New Mexico. The shuttle was forced to land at White Sands due to flooding at its originally planned landing site, Edwards Air Force Base.

Crew

Commander Jack Lousma previously flew as Pilot of the second Skylab crew, staying aboard the space station for 59 days from July to September 1973. Lousma had previously been selected in 1978 as Pilot for STS-2, which was then scheduled as a Skylab reboost mission. When delays in the Shuttle's development prevented Columbia from being launched in time to rendezvous with Skylab in 1979, STS-2 Commander Fred Haise retired from NASA and Lousma was then moved up as Commander of STS-3. Lousma also served on the support crews for Apollo 9, 10 and 13; he was the capsule communicator during the time of the latter mission's near-disastrous accident. He was also selected as backup Docking Module Pilot for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.