"6_2_2_3_5.TXT" (1534 bytes) was created on 01-02-89

STS-4

        This mission marked the first time the Space Shuttle was launched
precisely at its scheduled launch time.  It also was the last
research and development flight in the program.  Liftoff took place
on June 27, l982, at ll:00 a.m. EST, with Thomas K. Mattingly as
commander, and Henry W. Hartsfield as pilot.  Its cargo consisted of
the first Getaway Special payloads which included nine scientific
experiments provided by students from Utah State University, and a
classified Air Force payload.

        In the middeck, a Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System and the
Monodisperse Latex Reactor were flown for the second time.  The crew
conducted a lightning survey with handheld cameras, and performed
medical experiments on themselves for two student projects.  They
also operated the RMS 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.

STS-4 was a planned 7-day mission and landing occurred on July 4,
l982, at 9:10 a.m. PDT, on the 15,000-ft. concrete Runway 22 at
Edwards AFB -- the first Shuttle landing on a concrete runway.

        The flight lasted 7 days, 1 hour, 9 minutes, 40 seconds.  Distance
traveled was 2.9 million miles in 112 complete orbits.  All mission
objectives were achieved, although the two SRBs were lost when their
main parachutes failed causing the empty casings to hit the water at
high speeds and sink.  The Columbia was returned to KSC on July 15.