Editing STS-1 (section)

== Crew ==
{{Spaceflight crew
| terminology = Astronaut

| position1   = Commander
| crew1_up    = [[John Young (astronaut)|John Young]]
| flights1_up = Fifth

| position2   = Pilot
| crew2_up    = [[Robert Crippen]]
| flights2_up = First
}}

Commander John Young and pilot Robert Crippen were selected as the STS-1 crew in early 1978. Young stated that as the [[Chief of the Astronaut Office]] he recommended himself to command the mission.<ref name="stevens19810406">{{cite news |last1=Stevens |first1=William K. |date=April 6, 1981 |title=New Generation of Astronauts Poised for Shuttle Era |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/06/us/new-generation-of-astronauts-poised-for-shuttle-era.html |access-date=July 14, 2020 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=A1 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Young, with four previous missions, was the most experienced astronaut in NASA at the time and was also the only member of [[NASA Astronaut Group 2]] still in service. He flew twice on [[Project Gemini]] and twice on the [[Apollo program]], walked on the Moon in 1972 as the Commander of [[Apollo 16]], and became Chief of the Astronaut Office in 1974. Crippen, part of [[NASA Astronaut Group 7]] after the cancellation of the [[Manned Orbiting Laboratory]] (MOL), was a rookie and would become the first of his astronaut group to fly in space. Prior to his selection on STS-1, Crippen participated in the [[Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test]] (SMEAT) and also served as a [[capsule communicator]] (capcom) for all three [[Skylab]] missions and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP).

''Columbia'' carried [[Extravehicular Mobility Unit]]s (EMU) for both Young and Crippen in the event of an emergency spacewalk. If such an event occurred, Crippen would go outside the orbiter, with Young standing by in case Crippen required assistance.<ref>{{cite web|title=STS-1 Press Kit|url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/shuttle_pk/pk/Flight_001_STS-001_Press_Kit.pdf|publisher=NASA|access-date=November 28, 2012|page=36|year=1981|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305005843/http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/shuttle_pk/pk/Flight_001_STS-001_Press_Kit.pdf|archive-date=March 5, 2016|url-status=dead}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>

{{as of|1981|04}} Young and Crippen trained the longest for a space mission before flying in NASA history. If STS-1 had launched in March 1979 as originally scheduled "We'd have been launched about halftrained", Young said. As no one had flown the shuttle before, they helped design the craft's controls, including 2,214 switches and displays in the cockpit — about three times as many on the [[Apollo command module]] — and many contingency procedures. STS-1 carried 22 manuals, each three inches thick and together weighing {{cvt|29|kg}}; the procedure for an electronics failure from a cooling system malfunction had 255 steps.{{r|stevens19810406}}

=== Backup crew ===
{{Spaceflight crew
| terminology = Astronaut

| position1   = Commander
| crew1_up    = [[Joe Engle|Joe H. Engle]]

| position2   = Pilot
| crew2_up    = [[Richard H. Truly]]

| notes       = This crew flew on [[STS-2]].
}}

=== Support crew ===
* [[Daniel Brandenstein|Daniel C. Brandenstein]] (ascent CAPCOM)<ref name="sts1transcript">{{Citation |last= |title=STS-1 Transcript |url=http://archive.org/details/STS-1 |access-date=October 19, 2012 |publisher=NASA |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
* [[Henry W. Hartsfield]]<ref name="sts1transcript"/>
* [[Joseph P. Allen]] (entry CAPCOM)<ref name="sts1transcript"/>