March 1982

STS-3 was NASA's third Space Shuttle mission and the third mission for the Space Shuttle Columbia. It launched on March 22, 1982 and landed eight days later on March 30, 1982. The mission, crewed by Jack R. Lousma and C. Gordon Fullerton, involved extensive orbital endurance testing of 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 Alamogordo, New Mexico. The orbiter was forced to land at White Sands due to flooding at its origin