SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA - STS - 3 CREW - COMMEMORATIVE ENVELOPE SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: COLONEL JACK LOUSMA, COLONEL C. GORDON FULLERTON - HFSID 296004

STS-3 CREW: JACK LOUSMA and GORDON FULLERTON
The crew of the third orbital flight by space shuttle Columbia signs an envelope commemorating the shuttle.
Commemorative Envelope signed: "Jack Lousma" and "Gordon Fullerton", 6½x3¾, commemorating the space shuttle Columbia, postmarked Kennedy Space Center, Florida, March 22, 1982, 12 and 18-cent U.S. stamps affixed. The third orbital flight of the first operational US space shuttle (Columbia) took place from March 22 to 30, 1982, with Jack Lousma as Mission Commander and Gordon Fullerton as Pilot. The mission (STS-3) conducted thermal testing of the shuttle, and carried instruments to gather data on the near-earth environment. Due to flooding at the intended landing site, Edwards Air Force Base, California, this flight landed for the first and only time at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, since renamed the White Sands Space Harbor. JACK LOUSMA (b. 1936), an aeronautical engineer and Marine recon pilot, became an astronaut in 1966. He was scheduled to land on the moon with Apollo 20, which was cancelled, but he was the pilot of Skylab-3 (1973), performing 11 hours of space walk on that mission. In March 1982, Lousma flew the space shuttle on its final orbital test flight. In 1984 Lousma, a Republican, narrowly lost a bid for a US Senate seat from Michigan. GORDON FULLERTON (1936-2013) was a research pilot at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards AFB, California, piloting B-52 launch aircraft, Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and other multi-engine and high performance aircraft. A NASA astronaut from September 1969-November 1986, Fullerton logged 380 hours in space. He piloted the STS-3 space shuttle Columbia on its eight-day test mission (March 22-30, 1982) and was Commander of the STS-51F Spacelab 2 mission (launched from Kennedy Space Center on July 29, 1985 and landing at Dryden on August 6, 1985) in addition to serving on the support crew of Apollo 14, 15, 16 and 17. In 1977, Fullerton piloted the Space Shuttle Enterprise prototype for the Approach and Landing Test Program at Dryden. Fine condition.