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Apr 12, 2024, 09:04 PM IST
All You Need To Know About The First Space Shuttle Launch
43 years ago on April 12, 1981, NASA launched the first space shuttle, Columbia, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
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It carried two crew members, John Young and rookie pilot Robert Crippen to space.
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It ushered in a new era of flying in which humans may travel to space several times in the same spacecraft.
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The shuttle flew into space for over 20 years, circling Earth about 5,000 times and spending more than 300 days outside of Earth's gravity.
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Columbia transported 160 astronauts away from Earth; the vessel holds the record for the shortest and longest space shuttle flights of 2 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes, and 12 seconds and 17 days, 15 hours, 53 minutes, and 18 seconds, respectively.
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Space Shuttle Columbia's final mission ended in catastrophe. The shuttle and its seven crew including Indian-origin astronaut Kalpana Chawla were lost over Texas when Columbia burnt up during reentry on February 1, 2003.
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