STS-1 was the first orbital spaceflight of NASA's Space Shuttle program. The first orbiter, Columbia, launched on April 12, 1981, and returned on April 14, 1981, 54.5 hours later, having orbited the Earth 37 times. Columbia carried a crew of two—mission commander John W. Young and pilot Robert L. Crippen. It was the first American crewed space flight since the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) in 1975. STS-1 was also the maiden test flight of a new American spacecraft to carry a crew, though it was preceded by atmospheric testing (ALT) of the orbiter and ground testing of the Space Shuttle system.
The launch of STS-1, April 12, 1981
Young and CrippenSpace Shuttle program← Approach and Landing Tests (ALT)STS-2 →
The external tank is released from the Space Shuttle orbiter.
STS-1 crew in Space Shuttle Columbia's cabin. This is a view of training in 1980 in the Orbiter Processing Facility.
Space Transportation System
The Space Transportation System (STS), also known internally to NASA as the Integrated Program Plan (IPP), was a proposed system of reusable crewed space vehicles envisioned in 1969 to support extended operations beyond the Apollo program. The purpose of the system was two-fold: to reduce the cost of spaceflight by replacing the current method of launching capsules on expendable rockets with reusable spacecraft; and to support ambitious follow-on programs including permanent orbiting space stations around Earth and the Moon, and a human landing mission to Mars.
1970 artist's concept illustrating use of a Space Shuttle, Nuclear Shuttle, and Space Tug
Nuclear Ferry and Shuttle Orbiter docked to an Orbital Propellant Depot
Early North American Rockwell shuttle concept, 1969
1971 Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) concept drawing of the space tug