STS-4 was the fourth NASA Space Shuttle mission, and also the fourth for Space Shuttle Columbia. Crewed by Ken Mattingly and Henry Hartsfield, the mission launched on June 27, 1982, and landed a week later on July 4, 1982. Due to parachute malfunctions, the SRBs were not recovered.

STS-4 was the final test flight for the Space Shuttle; it was thereafter officially declared to be operational. Columbia carried numerous scientific payloads during the mission, as well as military missile detection systems.

Crew

STS-4, being the last test flight of the Space Shuttle, was also the last to carry a crew of two astronauts. Commander Ken Mattingly had previously flown as Command Module Pilot on Apollo 16, and was also the original Command Module Pilot for Apollo 13 before being replaced by his backup, Jack Swigert, after being exposed to German measles. Pilot Henry Hartsfield was a rookie astronaut who had transferred to NASA in 1969 after the cancellation of the Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program. He had previously served as a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) on Apollo 16, all three Skylab missions, and STS-1. Both men had graduated from Auburn University, the only time an entire Space Shuttle flight crew were graduates of the same university.

Backup crew

From STS-4 onwards, NASA halted the appointment and training of complete backup flight crews. Instead, individual flight crew members were assigned backups who could take their place within the prime crew. The decision on whether to appoint a reserve crew member was made on a per-flight basis by flight management teams at Johnson Space Center. Consequently, the last NASA flight to have a full-time backup crew was STS-3.

Support crew

  • Roy D. Bridges Jr. (entry CAPCOM)
  • Michael L. Coats
  • S. David Griggs (ascent CAPCOM)
  • George D. Nelson
  • Brewster H. Shaw

Crew seat assignments

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! Seat

! Launch

! Landing

|rowspan=8| 150px<br />Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck.<br />Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck.

|-

! 1

|colspan=2| Mattingly

|-

! 2

|colspan=2| Hartsfield

|-

! 3

|colspan=2 style="background-color:lightgray"| Unused

|-

! 4

|colspan=2 style="background-color:lightgray"| Unused

|-

! 5

|colspan=2 style="background-color:lightgray"| Unused

|-

! 6

|colspan=2 style="background-color:lightgray"| Unused

|-

! 7

|colspan=2 style="background-color:lightgray"| Unused

|}

Mission summary

STS-4 launched from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on June 27, 1982, at 15:00:00UTC, with Ken Mattingly as commander and Henry Hartsfield as pilot. and a classified U.S. Air Force payload. A secret mission control center in Sunnyvale, California participated in monitoring the flight. Mattingly, an active-duty naval officer, later described the classified payload – two sensors for detecting missile launches – as a "rinky-dink collection of minor stuff they wanted to fly". The payload failed to operate. The National Reconnaissance Office intended to fly DAMON, a secret payload intended to replace KH-9 HEXAGON, but it was canceled in December 1980.

In the shuttle's mid-deck, a Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System and the Mono-disperse Latex Reactor flew for the second time. The crew conducted a lightning survey with hand-held cameras, and performed medical experiments on themselves for two student projects. They also operated the Remote Manipulator System (Canadarm) with an instrument called the Induced Environment Contamination Monitor mounted on its end, designed to obtain information on gases or particles being released by the orbiter in flight. Each track is specially chosen, often by the astronauts' families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.