STS-2 was the second flight of the Space Shuttle program. It flew on Columbia again marking the first time in history that a manned, reusable orbital vehicle returned to orbit for a second time.
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.
Space Shuttle Columbia (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-102) was the first space-rated orbiter in NASA's Space Shuttle fleet. It launched for the first time on mission STS-1 on April 12, 1981, the first flight of the Space Shuttle program. Over 22 years of service, it completed 27 missions before disintegrating during re-entry near the end of its 28th mission, STS-107 on February 1, 2003, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members.
Space Shuttle Details
Date of
Birth: Aug. 26, 1932
Date of Death:
July 10, 2024
Date of
Birth: Nov. 12, 1937
Date of Death:
Feb. 27, 2024
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
INFO WIKIApril 14, 1981. The orbiter Columbia rested on a runway at Edwards Air Force Base, California, having completed the first-ever Space Shuttle mission. Now a daunting task lay ahead. Something that had never been attempted before would now h…