In what state was the March 22 1982 landing of the Space Shuttle Columbia supposed to land in?
STS-3 STS-3 was NASA's third Space Shuttle mission, and was the third mission for the Space Shuttle "Columbia". It launched on 22 March 1982, and landed eight days later on 30 March. The mission involved extensive orbital endurance testing of the "Columbia" itself, as well as numerous scientific experiments. STS-3 was the first shuttle launch with an unpainted external tank, and the only mission to land at the White Sands Space Harbor near Las Cruces, New Mexico. The shuttle was forced to land at White Sands due to flooding at its originally planned landing site, Edwards Air Force Base.
1986 in spaceflight The year 1986 saw the destruction of Space Shuttle Challenger shortly after lift-off, killing all seven aboard, the first in-flight deaths of American astronauts. This accident followed the successful flight of Columbia just weeks earlier, and dealt a major setback to the U.S. manned space program, suspending the Shuttle program for 32 months.