Hail Columbia (1981)

 

Telephone Support for the White House
STS-1 Mission Patch
Type Of Activity	White House Support
Location
Location	WHCA Signal Board, Washington DC
Date of Activity	April 12, 1981
Coordinates

Columbia, The First of NASA’s Orbiter Fleet

Commonly referred to as OV-102, for Orbiter Vehicle-102, Columbia was delivered to Kennedy Space Center in March 1979. STS-1, Columbia’s maiden voyage, launched on April 12, 1981, and was the inaugural flight in the Space Shuttle Program. It proved the operational concept of a winged, reusable spaceship by successfully completing the Orbital Flight Test Program – missions STS-1 through STS-4. The orbiter weighed 178,000 pounds with its main engines installed. Columbia was also the first orbiter to undergo the scheduled inspection and retrofit program. In 1991, Columbia returned to its birthplace at Rockwell International’s Palmdale, CA, assembly plant for upgrades and improvements. Her last flight was on January 16, 2003.

But back in 1981, none of that was assured. The space shuttle was revolutionary for its time, the first reusable spaceship and the first one designed to land on a runway like an airplane. Young and Crippen's STS-1 flight was also the first test launch of the shuttle. Never before had NASA put astronauts on a spacecraft that hadn't been tested unmanned first. On Columbia's maiden voyage the shuttle only had the 2 brave men for Crew which later increased with payload specialists and robotic arm operator. The Military used the Shuttle for installing new satellites & repairing/updating older satellites.

The WHCA signal board is a 24-hour operation, processing, calls 365 days per year. Most of these calls are routine in nature; however, occasionally you do receive unusual requests.

This is a story of one of those requests handled by Presidential. Communicator Wm. Larry Bethea. Jr.

 Hail Columbia                                                                                                                                                       by Wm. Larry Bethea. Jr.                                                                                                                                                        Sgt U.S. Air Force veteran, 1978-1982.

Published article

President Nixon talked to the Apollo 11 astronauts on the moon in 1969 but that was a scheduled, highly planned and coordinated call.

 Space Shuttle Columbia launched on April 12, 1981