For millions, it was an event that would be seared into their memories for the rest of their lives – on par with the Kennedy ...

On April 12, 1981, NASA's inaugural space shuttle flight launched ... The mission also marked the shuttle program's first night launch and landing and included the deployment of an Indian ...

Space history curator Michael Neufeld ... and provide access to the payload bay. The first shuttle launch left from 39A in April 1981, as did the next 23. Pad B’s refitting was delayed by ...

STS-1, better known as the space shuttle Columbia, left NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on 12 April 1981, and just over ... heat panels during launch meant it was destroyed as it re ...

I was 20 years old and a member of the 7th Cavalry near the DMZ in South Korea when the first Space Shuttle was launched in 1981. The launch took place, not intentionally, on the 20th anniversary ...

Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this story misstated the date of the Space Shuttle ... had flown on a shuttle. Classrooms across America watched the launch.