The thunder of manned space flight returned to the Kennedy Space
Center in Florida on April 12, 1981 as Space Shuttle Columbia
launched from Pad 39A on STS-1, the first shuttle orbital test
flight. The early-morning launch of Columbia, the first reusable
spacecraft, carried astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen on
a 54-hour mission that ended with unpowered landing at Edwards
Air Force Base in California. (NASA photo) › View Larger Image
Dryden Observes 31st Anniversary of STS-1 Mission On April 12,
1981, the liftoff of Space Shuttle Columbia on the STS-1 mission
ushered in NASA’s space shuttle era. Astronauts John Young and
Bob Crippen made 37 orbits on the two-day mission that
successfully tested all major systems of the new Space
Transportation System orbiter before returning to Earth with a
landing on the bed of Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base
in Southern California, home of NASA's Dryden Flight Research
Center. The anniversary came just a few days before the now-
retired shuttle Discovery was