November 1981 - November 13, 1981 (Friday)

November 13, 1981 (Friday)

• The Canadarm, officially the Remote Manipulator System, was used for the first time on the second day of the Columbia mission. Astronaut Richard Truly began the successful test of the robotic arm at 1400 UTC "Flight History of Canadarm", Canadian Space Agency. With a reach of 15 meters, the robotic arm was used in space shuttle missions to bring satellites out of orbit and into the cargo bay for repair, and then redeployment. Designed with a grant from the National Research Council of Canada, and built in Toronto at the Spar Aerospace factory, the device was famous as "Canada's contribution to the US space shuttle program".
• The Tokyo daily newspaper Mainichi Shimbun reported that U.S. National Security Adviser Richard Allen had accepted a $1,000 payment from the Japanese women's magazine Shufunotomo, in return for arranging an interview with Nancy Reagan, on January 21 . Allen confirmed the story, but said that he had forgotten that the cash was in his office safe. Though Allen was cleared of wrongdoing, he was asked by President Reagan to resign on January 4, 1982.