March 16, 2016 - The space shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), began its flight career with Columbia’s lift off from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 12, 1981. This first mission verified the combined performance of the orbiter vehicle its twin solid rocket boosters, giant external fuel tank and three space shuttle main engines. The orbiter is the only part of the shuttle “stack” that makes it into orbit. The boosters fall into the Atlantic Ocean and are retrieved and reused. The external tank is the only part of the stack not used again. Instead, it burns up as it re-enters the atmosphere about nine minutes after launch. When the shuttle returns to Earth, it returns by gliding back on a pair of wings to a runway on Earth. The world’s first reusable spacecraft to carry humans into orbit, the shuttle possessed a 60-foot-long payload bay and robotic arm that carried several satellites into low Earth orbit on one flight, service them and even bring them back for future use. The shuttle fleet, which was designed to reach orbits ranging from about 115 to 400 miles high, routinely carried whole laboratories into orbit for unique experiments. Columbia, OV-102, was named after Robert Gray. Columbia was the first shuttle to fly into orbit on mission STS-1. Its first four missions were test flights to show that the shuttle design was sound. The Space shuttle orbiter was 184 feet long and her weight varied depending on its cargo. Columbia traveled a total of 121,696,993 miles beginning with Mission STS-1 through Mission STS-107. Columbia made a total of 4,808 earth orbits during her travels.
Come out today to learn more about space shuttle Columbia. Contact the museum to make arrangements to have your classroom participate in our Digital Learning Network or for any questions or concerns you might have. We can be reached at (409) 787-4827.
The hours of operation for the Patricia Huffman Smith NASA “Remembering Columbia” Museum are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. We are closed on Sundays and Mondays, however, tours will be given by appointment only on these days.
The Patricia Huffman Smith NASA “Remembering Columbia” Museum is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization. We appreciate your support.
