Editing STS-1 (section)

== Pad fatalities ==
{{quote box|width=22em|quote=I think it is only right that we mention a couple of guys that gave their lives a few weeks ago in our countdown demonstration test: John Bjornstad and Forrest Cole. They believed in the space program, and it meant a lot to them. I am sure they would be thrilled to see where we have the vehicle now.|source=STS-1 Pilot Robert Crippen, tribute given on-orbit to the victims of the accident.<ref name="White"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gZLQxB8J81U|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/gZLQxB8J81U|archive-date=2021-12-11|url-status=live|title=The Greatest Test Flight STS-1 (Full Mission 06, 37 minutes+)|date=April 28, 2014 |via=YouTube "lunarmodule5"|access-date=28 February 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="baen.com">{{cite web|last1=Burlison|first1=Terry |title=Columbia's First Victims|url=http://www.baen.com/columbia|website=baen.com|publisher=Baen Books|access-date=January 27, 2017}}</ref>}}

An accident occurred on March 19, 1981, that led to the deaths of three people. During a countdown test for STS-1, a pure [[nitrogen]] atmosphere was introduced in the aft engine compartment of Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' to reduce the danger of an explosion from the many other potentially dangerous gases on board the orbiter.<ref name="baen.com"/><ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/20/us/shuttle-passes-test-a-worker-is-killed.html|title=SHUTTLE PASSES TEST; A WORKER IS KILLED|last=Wilford|first=John Noble|date=March 20, 1981|newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331|access-date=January 10, 2017}}</ref> At the conclusion of the test, pad workers were given clearance to return to work on the orbiter, even though the nitrogen had not yet been purged due to a recent procedural change. Three technicians, John Bjornstad, Forrest Cole, and Nick Mullon, entered the compartment without air packs, unaware of the danger since nitrogen gas is odorless and colorless, and lost consciousnesses due to [[Hypoxia (medical)|lack of oxygen]].<ref name="wired.com"/> Several minutes later, another worker saw them and tried to help, but passed out himself.<ref name="White"/> The fourth did not alert anyone, but was himself seen by two other people.<ref name="White"/> Of those two, one alerted a security guard and another went to help the unconscious group.<ref name="White"/> The security guard entered the compartment with an air pack and removed the five men from the compartment.<ref name="wired.com"/>

Security procedures delayed ambulances from arriving on the scene by several minutes.<ref name="wired.com">{{cite magazine|last1=Long|first1=Tony|title=March 19, 1981: Shuttle Columbia's First Fatalities |url=https://www.wired.com/2009/03/march-19-1981-shuttle-columbias-first-fatalities/|access-date=January 27, 2017|magazine=WIRED|date=March 19, 2009}}</ref> Bjornstad died at the scene; Cole died on April 1 without ever regaining consciousness, and Mullon suffered permanent brain damage and died on April 11, 1995, from complications of his injuries.<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=NASA – 1981 KSC Chronology Part 1 – pages 84, 85, 100; Part 2 – pages 181, 194, 195 |url=http://www-lib.ksc.nasa.gov/lib/chrono.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010406093326/http://www-lib.ksc.nasa.gov/lib/chrono.html |archive-date=2001-04-06 |access-date= |website=}}{{PD-notice}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kean |first=Sam |author-link=Sam Kean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v_70nQEACAAJ |title=The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements |date=2010-07-12 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0-316-05164-4 |pages=188}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=March 20, 1981 |title=One Dead In Shuttle Accident |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7T4sAAAAIBAJ&sjid=s80EAAAAIBAJ&dq=shuttle%20accident&pg=3967,4335362 |access-date= |work=Spartanburg Herald-Journal |place=Spartanburg, South Carolina}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=March 14, 2011 |title=Space shuttle worker dies in fall at launch pad |url=http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42072452/ns/today-today_tech/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929222852/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42072452/ns/today-today_tech/ |archive-date=2012-09-29 |access-date= |work=MSNBC |quote=And another fatal accident occurred in March 1981, just before the very first launch of the space shuttle Columbia in April 1981. Rockwell technician John Bjornstad died on the pad after being exposed to gaseous nitrogen inside the aft compartment of Columbia, Pearlman said. Two of his co-workers, Forrest Cole and Nick Mullon, later died from complications related to the same exposure.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=April 13, 1995 |title=Obituaries |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/233002105/ |website=Orlando Sentinel |place=Orlando, Florida |page=192}}</ref> These were the first launchpad deaths at Cape Canaveral since the [[Apollo 1]] fire, which killed three astronauts during preparations for the [[Apollo Moon landings|crewed Moon landing]] missions.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>

The incident did not delay the launch of STS-1 less than a month later, but pilot Robert Crippen gave an on-orbit tribute to Bjornstad and Cole.<ref name="baen.com"/> A three-month inquiry determined a combination of a recent change in safety procedures and a miscommunication during the operations were the cause of the accident.<ref name="wired.com"/> A report called ''LC-39A Mishap Investigation Board Final Report'' was released with the findings.<ref name="baen.com"/> The names of John Bjornstad, Forrest Cole and Nicholas Mullon are engraved on a monument at the [[American Space Museum|US Space Walk of Fame]] in Florida.<ref name="baen.com"/>

{{Further|List of spaceflight-related accidents and incidents#Other non-astronaut fatalities}}