OTD in space - April 14: 1st space shuttle mission lands

On April 14, 1981, the first space shuttle mission returned to Earth after a two-day flight in space. The space shuttle ...
Space Coast Daily

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: Space Shuttle Columbia Lifts Off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in 1981

Forty years ago, on , NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia, attached to an external tank and twin solid rocket boosters, lifted off ...
National Academies of Sciences%2c Engineering%2c and Medicine

Upgrading the Space Shuttle

The space shuttle system has been modified many times since the first launch of space shuttle Columbia in 1981. During the 1980s, major upgrade programs were established to respond to problems and ...
Time

How the Inspiration4 Mission Fits Into the Long History of Civilian Space Travel

Payload specialists in training for STS-51L take a break in shuttle emergency egress training in 1986. Left to right: Gregory Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe and Barbara Morgan. McAuliffe was selected as ...

Artemis II’s long countdown – a space historian explains why it has taken over 50 years to return to the Moon

While I was leading a tour of the National Air and Space Museum in January 2026, a visitor posed this insightful question: ...