Shuttle Orbiter Columbia (NASA Designation: OV-102) was the first space shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet, first flying mission STS-1 from April 12 to April 14, 1981. It was lost with all crew when it disintegrated during re-entry on its 28th mission, STS-107, which lasted from January 16 to February 1, 2003.

Table of contents

1 History 2 Final Mission 3 Cultural Reaction 4 Missions 5 Related articles 6 External links

History

After being constructed, the orbiter arrived at John F. Kennedy Space Center on March 25, 1979 to be prepared for its first launch. However, before its first mission three workers were killed and five injured during a ground test of the orbiter on March 19, 1981.

The first flight of Columbia was commanded by John Young (a space veteran from the Gemini and Apollo eras) and piloted by Robert Crippen a rookie who had never been in space before, but who served as support crew for the Skylab missions and Apollo-Soyuz.

In 1983 Columbia launched the first mission (STS-9) with 6 astronauts, including the first non-American astronaut on a space shuttle, Ulf Merbold. On January 12, 1986 Columbia took off with the first Hispanic-American astronaut, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz. Another first was announced on March 5, 1998 when NASA named their choice of United States Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins as commander of a future Columbia mission making Collins the first woman commander of a space shuttle mission.

Final Mission

On its final mission the craft was carrying the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon and the first woman astronaut of Indian birth, Kalpana Chawla. Other crew members on the final flight included Rick Husband (commander), Willie McCool (pilot), Michael P. Anderson, Laurel Clark, and David M. Brown.

On the morning of February 1, 2003, the shuttle re-entered the atmosphere after a 16-day scientific mission. NASA lost radio contact at about 9 a.m. EST, only minutes before the expected 09:16 landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Video recordings show the craft breaking up in flames over Texas, at an altitude of approximately 39 miles (63 km) and a speed of 12,500 mph (5.6 km/s). (See Space Shuttle Columbia disaster).

Cultural Reaction

A 1999 anime series, Cowboy Bebop, included an episode with an accurate, animated depiction of Space Shuttle Columbia. When Columbia was lost, Cartoon Network removed the episode from the air for a few weeks, as a mark of respect.

Missions

  28 total flights

• Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
• Space Shuttle
• Space Shuttle Challenger
• Space Shuttle Enterprise
• Space Shuttle Discovery
• Space Shuttle Atlantis
• Space Shuttle Endeavour

• Orbiter Vehicles
• Shuttle Orbiter Columbia (OV-102)
• New York Times coverage of the shuttle
• Scripting News' roundup of links about the shuttle