Space Shuttle Columbia safely returned to Earth on Air Force Base runway 23 after mission STS-1, 1981

by Suspicious-Slip248

4 Comments

  1. Suspicious-Slip248 on

    STS-1 was a bold step forward in human spaceflight. Unlike earlier spacecraft, Columbia carried no prior orbital test flights and launched with a crew on its very first mission. Engineers closely monitored the performance of the orbiter, solid rocket boosters, and external tank to validate the shuttle as an integrated system. Data gathered from this flight directly influenced safety improvements and paved the way for routine shuttle missions that would later build, supply, and service space stations, satellites, and scientific experiments in orbit.

  2. Wild to think the very first shuttle mission stuck the landing talk about setting the bar sky high from day one.

  3. My first job out of university. I was standing on the top of an econoline van watching the landing and got so excited I fell off!

  4. My dad took me and my brother out of school for the day (with permission) to go out to Edward’s and watch the landing. Was definitely cool.