WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - STS-1 arrived at Launch Complex 39A this afternoon at the end of a three-and-a-half mile journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building. The first Space Shuttle assembly will undergo an extensive series of pad validation tests and a dress rehearsal for launch - including a 20-second test firing of the orbiter’s three main engines - before being cleared for flight. The STS-1 mission, known as a shuttle systems test flight, will seek to demonstrate safe launch into orbit and safe return of the orbiter and crew and verify the combined performance of the entire shuttle vehicle -- orbiter, solid rocket boosters and external tank. STS-1 will be launched from Pad A at the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 no earlier than March 1981.