on april 12th, 1981, space

shuttle lifted off from the kennedy space enter in florida with two crew members on board launching a new era in manned space. next on reel america space shuttle, a remarkable flying machine, a 30 minute nasa's documentary on the story of the inaugural two day mission 22 years later, after 28 missions, space shuttle columbia and her seven member crew we lost when the craft egratedg reentry on february 1st of 2003. the shuttle program retired in 2011.

sunday, april 12th, 1981. kennedy space center, florida. the space shuttle, 14 stories high, 2000 tons poised on the pad for its maiden flight. this is columbia the spaceship that will orbit the its external tank it holds over 500,000 gallons of fuel. columbia's three main engines and the solid rocket boosters, the largest ever used on any launch vehicle. and the first to be employed in a us manned flight and lift off the solid rocket boosters, together with the three main engines, will more than six and a half million pounds of thrust needed to launch the world's first reusable space craft. never before has a winged vehicle been launched like, a

rocket orbited the earth returned through frictional heating in excess of 2500 degrees and landed still aerodynamic, ugly sound to be launched again and again if it succeeds, the space shuttle will truly be a remarkable flying machine. there are many other goals to reached during the 54 and a half hour mission lies ahead. 144 test objectives are planned for. the flight these could not be achieved without astronaut crew. the commander john young the pilot, robert crippen young has

already been in space times for a total of 533 hours. he is the most experienced astronaut flying today, although crippen has over 4000 hours of jet aircraft flying. this will be his first time in space. the astronaut make their way across the access arm toward the shuttle. in the predawn hours before launch. an american spaceship has never carried a human crew on its voyage at the launch control center three miles from the pad final. steps are being completed in the countdown and until final preparations also being made in the mission control center in houston, where control of the flight will switch once the shuttle the tower. okay now you switch to open until there has not been a manned launch from kennedy space center since the apollo-soyuz test project in july of 1975.

with this one, anthony young and about launch controllers at, the cape and flight controllers, houston will experience the most dynamic, fast paced syriens of launch events ever undertaken in the space program on in less than minutes, with the most ascent profile ever to be flown by a space vehicle. photographers film and television crews, plus newspaper and magazine writers from the world. nearly 2700 of them are here to cover the launch. in addition, approximately 600,000 spectators lined the coastal near the kennedy space center, arriving by every of transportation they have come from every state in the union and many foreign countries. promise of a rebirth.

america's manned space program and the dawn of a new era in space. transportation awaits. 1430. t-minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four. we've got four main engines starting.

back over. man go, roger. all the roll will put shuttle on its precise, heading toward imaginary target in space. program the place roger row complete. get a status final go your go go eagle so good for the gap count columbia houston you're going 40

the shuttle is now 40 seconds into flight. roger columbia on the nice ride lofting a little bit you probably be slightly higher staging. negative stage columbia your negative seats should anything go wrong the shuttle is now too high for the astronauts to use ejection seats for srb sep. the space flight unicef while taking large five year gap galas. tell them all the girls going to be a tad early because of the hot first stage. columbia you're looking a little hard. all your calls will be a little early. i'm off. okay, if that looks good, how? standby for estimate of columbia. standby press kimiko market park

rest for me go right off the shuttle can now continue meco main engine cutoff cutoff. they like you that big hiccup this girls like bounce go standby negative return columbia standby for negative return market park negative return anyway is good that we within their product to use. and engine road to flight and columbia your single engine wrote us us columbia can land at the naval air station and wrote spin even if two of the three main engines should fail. right now, the engines are generating over 42 million horsepower. my call 25 seconds, they were

all up in blood. roger, make that. make in time. make it, roger. i mean right on the money. nominal main engine cutoff. columbia is now in space, traveling over 18,000 miles per hour. okay, we got that. roger. we confirmed at columbia, the external tank is been jettisoned and is now falling from the shuttle back toward earth. the tank will break up as planned over the indian ocean when comes into contact with the atmosphere shortly by firing the ohms orbit or maneuvering system engines, columbia will achieve orbit. then one of the most important tests of the mission will be attempted opening payload bay doors. the doors must be open before the end of the sixth orbit to expose the space cooling system. if the radiators cannot be

exposed. it collected from the onboard electronics cannot be released and the astronauts will have to return. the burns are successful. columbia is now in orbit, circling the earth at an altitude of approximately 150 miles. the bay doors will now be opened. hey, the forecast coming up now. roger, copy. your missing warrant site. oh that is really beautiful out there. now, we appreciate those updates. both doors have been open. the radiators can be deployed to begin dissipating the heat colors. all opened up and hunky dory.

classic right on time. and the radiators good. okay we want to show you all right here. we do have a tile missing off of both of them. off of the starboard pod, three tile and some smaller pieces and all support pod looks like i see the whole square and looks like a few little triangular seats that are missing and we're kind of put that on tv right now roger grip we can see that good. from what we can see both wings top that. there matches all the of all of her fully intact within minutes an assessment is completed on the impact these missing tiles could have on the remainder of. the mission figure how critical.

at a news conference later in the day, flight director hutcheson answers questions from reporters for you. ask me? if i knew where there were any other tiles might be loose, the answer is no. and quite frankly, we're not worried about any other tiles loose at this rate. is there anything anything at all that would lead you say you might not go for a full mission? nothing. columbia, houston, you guys did so good. we're going to let you stay up there for a couple of your go for on orbit. aircraft. let's go for an orbit. this thing is just for fun. we just stay. roger, we agree with that. and columbia, houston, just for your information, you dropped those srb right on target and they were floating just the way they ought to be. and the boats were getting ready to fishermen and bring them back.

okay. they arrived that they gave was pretty neat. the solid rocket boosters which separated the columbia as planned, 2 minutes, 11 seconds into the flight, landed target in the atlantic ocean, 151 miles downrange. the launch site, after being towed back to kennedy center. both boosters will be refurbished and used again in a future shuttle flight flight. the third and fourth arms burns are also successful raising columbia's orbit to an altitude of approximately 172 miles for the television transmission from inside the spacecraft. the will give a status report on the mission's the flight for higher as and possibly go for not every test that we're to do and we're up on the timeline and a vehicle and performing before

we positively much better than anyone ever expect it to do on a hard flight and. no systems are out of shape and it's delightful. there in zero gravity by that course we all just a lot of people and we certainly want to thank everyone has helped get this thing i want to take great pride at doing so well right now okay we're switching over do the camera here. i'd like to echo john's words as i usually do i guess being the so-called on this flight, i had a thrill from from the moment i left off all the way up to what we're doing now and with really been super the spacecraft has worked as advertised the way along. i think we've got something that's really going to mean something to the country and the world. the vehicle is performing like a champ like of us that have worked so long on you knew that you would. okay so we appreciate those comments. i guess that doesn't have a good

time. and i think you must have practiced. we're just about to lose your girls. so to start for them, just accidents. as robert none of the other events the day have been accidental. every test lift off is our separation and recovery et separation and impact for oms burns payload bay, door latch, opening and closing radiator latch and stowing tests have all been successful. i guess we all guys one super attaboy for today this is fantastic. you worked through a pretty long, hard day and you're essentially on schedule, which i guess is going to be close to being a first sort of spaceflight live. i think of our first day activities. it's been fun working with you today. we look forward to see you in the morning i hope you get a good night's rest. okay, you guys, the board today you're marianna thank you to mark mark kass.

we'll meet in our went into this thing the job well done by the shuttle's based team we can say to leave but i'll tell you right now she's mean she's good columbia not looking small this here is a bird she good morning columbia welcome day to all of. appreciate that people like that music this morning i was sure astronaut that's on a good breakfast today the astronauts will test on board systems and also review procedures for tomorrow's landing. a test of the flight control system conducted by john young. it's an excellent time. the flight control system operates. columbia's herald surfaces the

eleven's body flaps rudder and speed brake. these surfaces are useless in the vacuum of space, but will be essential tomorrow when the shuttle lands. this will require precision maneuverability which aero surfaces provide. payload bay door cycling tests help ensure that latching and closing procedures can also be done before entry tomorrow. as with every mission, many pictures of the earth are taken by the astronauts over 500 on this first shuttle flight. active volcanoes. cloud formations, alluvial. and giant whirlpools over 15 miles in diameter. sand dunes, 1500 feet high, running for hundreds of miles.

the high himalayas where mountain peaks reach 24,000 feet. and one of the most remarkable photographs ever taken of the earth an area in iran expose to wind erosion, which has resulted in these breathtaking silt and, sandstone formations that look more like a painting than a desert. after lunch on the second day, the astronauts receive, a phone call from the vice president of, the united states, george bush. how's it going up there? everything rocking long. our ride, jeff, as if performing this well. great. and everybody views it i'm sure just is the forerunner of things to come i think your trip is just going to ignite the and the forward thinking this country so i really just wanted to call up and wish you the very best and i appreciate that life forever the

crew also don and check out the ejections suits they will wear during entry young crippen and columbia have passed every test they are ready for the final phase, the mission entry and. april 14, 1981, nasa's dryden flight research center on, the edge of roger's dry lakebed in. a recovery convoy of 24 vehicles and more than 100 personnel are assembling here to power down columbia after. enormous crowds are also beginning to arrive. a string of traffic six miles long waits to enter the base.

thousands more are already. close to one half million people will eventually be on hand to see the landing. on board the, astronauts suit up for entry, the ascent and orbital of the mission have gone extremely well now. the final phase must be completed before that begins. columbia have a go for payload bay door closing the doors which have been open a total of 47 hours during the flight must now be closed. be very prompt with giving you then using the rc as thrusters, columbia will maneuver into deorbit burn attitude head down and backwards via the ohms engines. one last time and descend the earth's atmosphere as he does it. john, we're all riding with you. columbia is of contact during the oms burn mission control.

will not know if this burn was successful until they in communication with the spacecraft over australia it is now over the indian ocean on the other side of the world. but from that distance the must be precise so that later columbia will hit the lake bed target in california columbia is houston through jago city. we're standing by. five of our five volunteers and all our columbia is now committed to entry with an rc as post-birth burn maneuver and several firings. it is oriented to a heads up nose first attitude headed toward entry interface. this is where the atmosphere begins at approximately 400,000 feet and we copy from that moment until the shuttle reaches. 165,000 feet, it will be in communication blackout out of

touch with mission control for almost 20 minutes. the landing site is almost 4400 miles from entry interface chase are preparing to take off. one will call out altitudes and check columbia for any damage just prior to landing when shuttle touches down here, it be traveling at 216 miles per hour. right now it's going more 17,000 miles per hour before it lands. it must slow down, lose energy, and it must survive the heat caused by traveling through the atmosphere at such a high rate of speed. several est or role reversals are used to slow down and maneuver columbia through the atmosphere. this one is done at 256,000 feet when it is traveling at more than 26 times the speed of

sound. and. this one is done at 208,000 feet during these two role reversals, entry heating is most severe, with temperatures reaching 2500 degrees. some places the vehicle, the aluminum will melt at 320 degrees. the silicate tiles must insulate the from the tremendous heat. since there is test facility on earth december, the aerodynamic and structural environment columbia is in right only calculations could be used to predict what happen during this phase of the. the predictions and calculations had to be right all columbia's

here all houston's air how do you rate that ballhandler on my feet by three an hour and a and and we couldn't agree more john your state vector's good we've got a good record but our goal was for the entry projector velocity and position look good track columbia is heading for home now only 470 miles away. i'm more left out. yes, but. okay, i wish i only wrote and john was showing you rowing. right. looking good star of wish. i am crossing the coast land flat only we show you crossing the coast now i am going the shuttle is sighted at about 100,000 feet with a long range camera from anderson peak, california. what a way. go on. the california firefighter. i still a classic right on an island. roger that of 112. okay.

4.8 mark friend and row. we see the last 21 degrees a real reversal done over bakersfield, california. oh, that's beautiful. it turns out that alex roger kimball roger kimball and we're seeing 1.3 gs coming around behind just. the astronauts are making the final turn to line up with the runway. runway. columbia, you're really looking good, right on the money. right on the money. and turn it on the final. your winds on the surface are come back out and you're right on the glide slope.

columbia after time. we love real good over to the franklin roosevelt river chase reports no tail. other damage is evident underneath. the shuttle columbia's is now just over 5000 feet. pretty clear. without power columbia must land. it cannot make another attempt. that's time. i'm. put out.

of piece for 40, 30,. 47. i for. three approve one down here since. i've. four three touchdown was stellar. and to me a vulnerable welcome home columbia beautiful beautiful. try to take it up the hammer go we're going to dust it off

first. rather than band like a five minute affair that our super. okay convoy litquake oil on top on the columbia we have. the maiden voyage of columbia fire has been a success. the astronauts and the have met or exceeded all hundred 44 flight test objectives. the integrity of all the systems, propulsion avionics, structure, all flight control, power and thermal have been affirmed.

john comments after returning home. i can't tell you what a tribute that is to the american working man and the american working woman. you can't imagine the variety of people who worked on this vehicle from all walks of life, all capable, at ease and limitations. it's all to their individual efforts. they prove that they can do the job. they proved it for the world to see. and i'm very proud to be associated with folks like them. what a tribute. the columbia represents an achievement aerospace technology and develop never before realized in the history of manned space flight. it is our basic building block for the future. it's we've been trying to do for the last ten years. we've got a vehicle with a payload performance that will allow us to do that much cheaper than been able to do it before. it will immeasurably improve the defensive capability of the country. it will help develop space science and technology. when we get operational, the

space shuttle will be able to do in 5 to 10 years what it would have taken us 20 to 30 years to do otherwise we couldn't do it if we didn't have the space shuttle and that payload. and the sooner we do those things are better off. the country's going to be a revolutionary new era space. transportation has just begun routine access to space. welcome the future. and.