STS-104 Post-Flight Presentation

America’s first space shuttle launched on this day 35 years ago as the reusable flying machine, Columbia, lifted off from Kennedy Space Center with John Young and Bob Crippen aboard.

Navigating the 48-mile Panama Canal that slices through the isthmus, the final shipment of a space shuttle external fuel tank emerged into the Pacific for a three-week trek to California.

VIDEO: The winged spaceship Columbia returned to Earth with a pinpoint landing at Edwards Air Force Base on this day 35 years ago, concluding the maiden flight of the space shuttle.