What was nasas first space shuttle

The flight deck included aircraft-like seats for them both with windows forward, overhead, and into the payload bay to make visual observations. The middeck offered plenty of storage and space for sleeping, but the space only reached its full intended potential on later missions as science experiments and crewmembers were added.

Despite those positives, STS-1 also indicated the troubles ahead: Crippen noticed foam loss from the external tank during launch and missing thermal tiles, both of which contributed to the loss of Columbia and her crew during STS in Other damage over the two-day mission, approximately 70 problems both foreseen and underestimated in potential effect by engineers, meant Columbia required numerous repairs before the next planned mission could launch and prove the reusability of the orbiter.

Sadly, not every problem seen on the first mission would ever be solved entirely, making the risks of the system deeply disconcerting to many but never forcing a full cancelation of the program before it completed a variety of scientific and technical goals. The legacy of the Space Shuttle program was to some degree built around the results of its very first mission. When many adults who witnessed Moon landings as children moved on to more adult concerns over the economy or politics, something new and dynamic could capture the attention of a new generation not raised during the Apollo program.

In that respect, the program was largely successful. Some compromises were made in the design in response to budgetary constraints and input from the military, which was expected to be a major customer of the shuttle.

For example, the size of the cargo bay was increased to accommodate large military satellites. Also, it was decided to make the shuttle only partially reusable instead of fully reusable to save on development costs, although critics noted this would increase the costs of individual flights according to NASA history documents.

Construction began on a prototype on Jun. That spacecraft was designated Enterprise. Its purpose was to perform test flights and landings, space shuttle Enterprise never flew into outer space. Construction on space shuttle Columbia began on Mar. The space shuttle Columbia was named after the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe and also the command module for the Apollo 11 moon landing according to NASA.

Space shuttle Columbia's first flight into space took place on Apr. The mission had a two-person crew: the commander, John Young , a veteran of Gemini and Apollo, and the pilot, Bob Crippen. The objective was to make sure that Columbia worked well in space. Media attention, in particular, focused on the new system of 30, individual tiles covering the shuttle, which NASA had struggled with during the early days, according to NASA history documents. Columbia returned from its first mission safely and several more test flights ran between and This included perhaps the most dramatic landing of the shuttle program, STS An "autoland" system malfunctioned before landing on STS-3; the crew took over as planned just before landing, but the shuttle touched the runway faster than normal.

After landing, Columbia's nose pitched up unexpectedly due to a software problem, according to commander Jack Lousma's oral history with NASA. Kennedy announced his intent to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Yet Mercury had more to accomplish.

NASA's Gemini program was designed to refine spacecraft so that they could perform rendezvous, docking, and other advanced maneuvers that would be necessary to land an astronaut on the moon and return to Earth. As the missions of this era grew longer, astronauts became more adept at living within their spacecraft and even venturing outside it. Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov became the first person to exit an orbiting spacecraft in March The launch of the Apollo missions precipitated an American triumph in the space race and was a major first in space exploration.

On July 20, , Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first people to reach the moon when they touched their lunar lander down in the Sea of Tranquility.

Before the Apollo project ended in , five other missions visited the moon. Later missions carried a lunar rover that could be driven across the satellite's surface and saw astronauts spend as long as three days on the moon.

The Apollo missions achieved tremendous successes, but they came with a terrible cost. All rights reserved. First Humans in Space Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space when he orbited the Earth in a Vostok spacecraft on April 12, Moon Landing The launch of the Apollo missions precipitated an American triumph in the space race and was a major first in space exploration. When the Apollo missions ended in , the first era of human space exploration closed.

The accords were Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. George Washington prepares a final draft of his presidential farewell address on September 17, Less than a year later, on July 23, , Williams gave up her crown after nude photos of her surfaced. Despite the scandal, Williams later launched a successful Live TV. This Day In History.