STS-2

Crew

Richard H. Truly

Pilot

Status: Retired
11/12/1937 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Richard Harrison Truly is a retired Vice Admiral in the United States Navy, a former fighter pilot, former astronaut for both the United States Air Force and NASA, and was the eighth Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from 1989 to 1992. He was the first former astronaut to head the space agency.

After his departure from NASA, he led the Georgia Tech Research Institute from 1992 to 1997, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory from 1997 to 2005.

Joe Engle

Commander

Status: Retired
8/26/1932 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Joe Henry Engle is an American pilot who served in the United States Air Force, test pilot for the North American X-15 program, aeronautical engineer, and a former NASA astronaut. As of 2018, he is the last living pilot of the X-15 program.

Engle test-flew the joint NASA-Air Force X-15 rocket airplane. During the course of testing, Engle earned his USAF Astronaut Wings, a Distinguished Flying Cross and other awards. Engle was selected by NASA in 1966 for the Apollo program, and was originally scheduled to land on the Moon as Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 17, but was bumped when later flights were cancelled, so that geologist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt could fly.

He subsequently became one of the first astronauts in the Space Shuttle program, having flight tested the Space Shuttle Enterprise in 1977. He was Commander of the second orbital test flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1981.

Mission

STS-2

Type: Test Flight

STS-2 was the second flight of the Space Shuttle program. It flew on Columbia again marking the first time in history that a manned, reusable orbital vehicle returned to orbit for a second time.

Location

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

182 launches have been at this location.

Rocket

Space Shuttle Columbia OV-102

Length: 38.1 meters
Diameter: 8.4 meters
First Launched: April 12, 1981

Space Shuttle Columbia was the first space-rated orbiter in NASA’s Space Shuttle fleet. It launched for the first time on mission STS-1 on April 12, 1981, the first flight of the Space Shuttle program. Over 22 years of service it completed 27 missions before disintegrating during re-entry near the end of its 28th mission, STS-107 on February 1, 2003, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members.

The Space Shuttle Columbia OV-102 rocket has been launched a total of 30 times with 29 successful and 1 failed launches.

Agency

Rockwell International

Type: Commercial
Abbreviation: ROI
Administration:
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Country: USA