Premium video content for our Spaceflight Now Plus subscribers. STS-1: America's first space shuttle mission 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. Small | Medium | Large STS-2: First reusable spaceship 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. Small | Medium | Large Become a subscriber More video
STS-118 Master Flight Plan COMPILED BY WILLIAM HARWOOD Updated: August 19, 2007
Changes and additions:
- July 2: Posting updated versions of flight plan
- July 20: Consolidating 11-day and 14-day timelines; fixing "leach check" typo!
- August 2: Updating throughout
- August 3: Updating to reflect 24-hour launch delay
- August 9: Updating flight day 2
- August 11: Updating flight day 4; eliminating "no inspection" option for flight day 5
- August 14: Updating flight day 7
- August 18: Updating through end of mission
- August 19: Updating flight day 12
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.