“Something Just Short of a Miracle” | NASA Space Shuttle’s 40th Anniversary

On April 12, 1981, space shuttle Columbia launched for the first time with NASA astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen aboard. With 10 years of design and development, the shuttle was the first of its kind — a reusable vehicle for travel to low-Earth orbit. The STS-1 Mission would demonstrate safe launch into orbit and safe return of the orbiter and crew and verify the combined performance of the entire shuttle vehicle - orbiter, solid rocket boosters and external tank. Commander John Young called the flight “something just short of a miracle.”