Lousma and Fullerton lifted off from Florida for another stage of shuttle testing.
Launch from Pad 39A took place at 16:00 UTC on 22 March. A ground-system problem involving a nitrogen-line heater had delayed liftoff by an hour, after which Columbia proceeded into orbit. [1]
The flight combined an engineering programme with OSS-1 experiments. Its objectives included thermal-response measurements in different solar attitudes and further evaluation of the Remote Manipulator System. [1, 3]
Back to STS-3
NASA: STS-3 · NASA: Columbia’s third mission to space · NASA: C. Gordon Fullerton — full list on STS-3