Columbia began its second journey into orbit from Florida.
The orbiter lifted off from Launch Pad 39A with Engle commanding and Truly in the pilot’s seat. STS-2 followed the first orbital test earlier in 1981 and made refurbishment and repeat flight central parts of the experiment. [1, 2]
The payload differed from STS-1: the cargo bay now carried OSTA-1 instruments and the Canadian robotic arm. Testing the transport system and using it as a research platform were therefore part of the same flight. [1, 3]
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NASA: STS-2 · NASA: Columbia returns to space on STS-2 · NASA: STS-2 to fly the first Space Shuttle payloads — full list on STS-2