Space Shuttle
Forgotten Engineering · 1981–2011
Published
NASA’s Space Shuttle paired a reusable winged orbiter with a large external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters. Columbia launched on the programme’s first mission on 12 April 1981 and returned two days later, landing on a runway like an aircraft. Over the next three decades, shuttles carried people, satellites and major components into low Earth orbit.
Why It Mattered
The Shuttle made spacecraft look repeatable, physical and almost familiar: a vehicle could leave vertically, work in orbit and glide home. Across 135 missions it became a flying laboratory, construction platform and symbol of human spaceflight, even as its complexity and risks shaped the programme’s history.
Launch stack
- The flight system comprised the orbiter, an external tank and two solid rocket boosters.
- Every major component was designed for reuse except the external tank, which was expended after launch.
First orbital test
- STS-1 flew Columbia with commander John W. Young and pilot Robert L. Crippen.
- Its stated objectives were safe launch and return and verification of the combined shuttle vehicle.
Programme record
- STS-1 launched on 12 April and landed at Edwards Air Force Base on 14 April 1981.
- STS-135 was NASA's 135th and final Space Shuttle flight.
Associated With
NASA and its programme contractors - creator or operator
Defining Feature
A winged reusable orbiter launched with an external tank and two solid rocket boosters
Status
Discontinued - Retired after the final mission, STS-135, in 2011
Primary Records
Image Sources
- **Columbia launches on STS-1 — Alamy 2NGFYE8**
- **Credit:** Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo. **Original photograph:** NASA, as credited in the Alamy caption.
- **Photograph date:** 12 April 1981.
- **Licence:** Purchased Alamy rights-managed licence for editorial use. Licence terms.
Rights Notice
The photograph is used under a purchased Alamy licence for editorial use. Forgotten Archive's licence does not grant permission for third-party reuse.
Rights holders may contact Forgotten Archive through the publishing account to request a credit correction or removal.
Gallery
Credit
Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
Caption
Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off on 12 April 1981 for the programme's first orbital flight, beginning a new era of reusable American spacecraft.