STS-3

Jack R. Lousma

• Birthday: 02/29/1936
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 07/28/1973
• Last Flight: 03/22/1982

Jack Robert Lousma is an American aeronautical engineer, retired United States Marine Corps officer, former naval aviator, NASA astronaut, and politician. He was a member of the second manned crew on the Skylab space station in 1973. In 1982, he commanded STS-3, the third Space Shuttle mission.

C. Gordon Fullerton

• Birthday: 10/11/1936
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 03/22/1982
• Last Flight: 07/29/1985

Charles Gordon Fullerton was a United States Air Force colonel, a USAF and NASA astronaut, and a research pilot at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, California.[1] His assignments included a variety of flight research and support activities piloting NASA’s B-52 launch aircraft, the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), and other multi-engine and high performance aircraft. Fullerton, who logged more than 380 hours in space flight, was a NASA astronaut from September 1969 until November 1986 when he joined the research pilot office at Dryden. In July 1988, he completed a 30-year career with the U.S. Air Force and retired as a colonel. He continued in his position of NASA research pilot as a civilian. Fullerton and his wife and their two children lived in Lancaster, California.

STS-3

• Type: Test Flight
• Orbit: Low Earth Orbit
• Launch Cost: $450,000,000

STS-3 was the third flight of the Space Shuttle program. It flew in orbit for 8 days. This mission involved extensive orbital endurance testing of Columbia and also included multiple scientific experiments.

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A has witnessed the launch of 174 rockets, including 173 orbital launch attempts, while Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA, has been the site for 232 rocket launches.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.