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Endeavour moves to assembly building In preparation for its first spaceflight in nearly five years, space shuttle Endeavour was transported from its hangar to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center on the morning of July 2. The shuttle will be attached to its fuel tank and booster rockets inside the 52-story VAB. Rollout to pad 39A is scheduled for next week. Endeavour is targeted for launch to the space station August 7 at about 7 p.m. EDT. Photo credit: NASA-KSC
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The space shuttle era was born on April 12, 1981 when astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen rode Columbia into Earth orbit from Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A. The two-day flight proved the shuttle could get into space as a rocket and return safely with a runway landing. Following the voyage of STS-1, the two astronauts narrated this film of the mission highlights and told some of their personal thoughts on the flight.
Seven months after the successful maiden voyage of space shuttle Columbia, astronauts Joe Engle and Richard Truly took the orbiter back into space on mission STS-2. The November 12, 1981 launch demonstrated that the space shuttle was the world's first reusable manned spacecraft. Although their mission would be cut short, Engle and Truly performed the first tests of the shuttle's Canadian-made robotic arm. The crew tells the story of the mission in this post-flight presentation.
