Shuttle orbiter Columbia (OV-102) was the first

Space Shuttle vehicle of NASA’s fleet of reusable

winged spaceships to fly in space. Columbia’s first

mission, STS-1, launched from Kennedy Space

Center’s pad 39A on April 12, 1981.

On Feb. 1, 2003, Columbia and her sevenmember crew were lost over east Texas on her

landing descent to KSC, approximately 16 minutes before landing. She was returning from

mission STS-107, a microgravity research mission. During the months that followed, searchers

recovered more than 83,800 pieces of debris,

representing approximately 38 percent of

Columbia’s dry weight.

During her 24 years of service, Columbia

launched on a total of 28 missions, traveled more

than 123 million statute miles in space and spent

more than 300 cumulative days in space, including

her last launch from KSC on mission STS-107,

Jan. 16, 2003.

Columbia initiated NASA’s Space Shuttle

flight program when it lifted off in the spring of

1981, carrying the two-person crew of John Young

and Robert Crippen. Columbia proved the operational concept of a winged, reusable spaceship by

successfully completing the Orbital Flight Test

Program—missions STS-1 through STS-4.

During her years of service, Columbia achieved

an unprecedented list of firsts in NASA’s Space

Shuttle flight program, including first reuse (STS-2

on Nov. 12, 1981) of a crew-assisted space vehicle

and first operational STS mission (STS-5 on Nov.

11, 1982).

Columbia made the first and only Space

Shuttle landing at White Sands, N.M., on mission

STS-3 (March 22, 1982), carried the first fourmember crew (STS-5) and the first six-member

crew (STS-9).

During mission STS-9, launched Nov. 28,

1983, Columbia carried the Spacelab aloft for the

first time.

Mission STS-61C, launched Jan. 12, 1986,

was the first flight of Columbia after its first Orbiter

Maintenance Down Period (OMDP) in Palmdale,

Calif. (1984-85).

Columbia underwent two subsequent scheduled OMDPs in Palmdale (1991-92 and 1994-95).

Columbia again went through an Orbiter Major

Columbia (OV-102)

Modification (OMM) in 1999-2001, in Palmdale.

She experienced more than 100 improvements,

including the inspection and repair of more than

215 miles of wiring. A new Multifunctional Electronic Display Subsystem, or “glass cockpit,”

replaced the 32 analog gauges and four cathode

ray tube monitors in the old cockpit with 11 stateof-the-art, full-color panel displays.

Mission STS-50, launched June 25, 1992, was

Columbia’s first extended duration flight on the

U.S. Microgravity Laboratory-1 mission. The

mission was 13 days, 19 hours and 30 minutes

long. Columbia flew 12 of the Space Program’s 13

longest duration Shuttle missions. The record to

date, held by Columbia, on Mission STS-80, is 17

days, 15 hours and 53 minutes, launched Nov. 19,

1996.

Columbia also earned the distinction of being

the first orbiter commanded by the first female

astronaut (Eileen Collins) on mission STS-93,

launched July 23, 1999.

The orbiter Columbia was named after the

Boston-based sloop captained by American

Robert Gray. On May 11, 1792, Gray and his crew

maneuvered the Columbia past the dangerous

sandbar at the mouth of a river extending more

than 1,000 miles through what is today southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and the Washington-Oregon border.

 Other sailing ships have further enhanced the

luster of the name Columbia. The first U.S. Navy

ship to circle the globe bore that title, as did the

command module for Apollo 11, the first lunar

landing mission.
Flights of Columbia (OV-102)

(1981 to 2003)

Times

OV-102 Mission Launch Launch Landing Date

Flown Name Crew Pad Date & Site Primary Payload

1 STS-1 Young, Crippen 39A 04/12/81 04/14/81 at Edwards —

2 STS-2 Engle, Truly 39A 11/12/81 11/14/81 at Edwards OSTA-1

3 STS-3 Lousma, Fullerton 39A 03/22/82 03/30/82 at White Sands OSS-1

4 STS-4 Mattingly, Hartsfield 39A 06/27/82 07/04/82 at Edwards DOD 82-1

5 STS-5 Brand, Overmyer, Lenoir, Allen 39A 11/11/82 11/16/82 at Edwards SBS-C; Anik C-3

6 STS-9 Young, Shaw, Parker, Garriott, Merbold, Lichtenberg 39A 11/28/83 12/08/83 at Edwards Spacelab-1

7 61-C Gibson, Bolden, Chang-Diaz, Hawley, Nelson, Cenker, Nelson 39A 01/12/86 01/18/86 at Edwards SATCOM Ku-1

8 STS-28 Shaw, Richards, Leestma, Adamson, Brown 39B 08/08/89 08/13/89 at Edwards DOD

9 STS-32 Brandenstein, Wetherbee, Dunbar, Ivins, Low 39A 01/09/90 01/20/90 at Edwards SYNCOM IV-5; LDEF retrieval

10 STS-35 Brand, Gardner, Lounge, Hoffman, Parker, Parise, Durrance 39B 12/02/90 12/10/90 at Edwards Astro-1

11 STS-40 O’Connor, Gutierrez, Jernigan, Seddon, Bagian, Gaffney, Hughes-Fulford 39B 06/05/91 06/14/91 at Edwards SLS-1

12 STS-50 Richards, Bowersox, Dunbar, Baker, Meade, DeLucas, Trinh 39A 06/25/92 07/09/92 at KSC USML-1

13 STS-52 Wetherbee, Baker, Veach, Jernigan, Shepherd, MacLean 39B 10/22/92 11/1/92 at KSC LAGEOS II; USMP-1

14 STS-55 Nagel, Hendricks, Ross, Precourt, Harris, Walter, Schlegel 39A 4/26/93 5/6/93 at KSC Spacelab-D2

15 STS-58 Blaha, Searfoss, Seddon, McArthur, Wolf, Lucid, Fettman 39B 10/18/93 11/1/93 at Edwards SLS-2

16 STS-62 Casper, Allen, Thuot, Gemar, Ivins 39B 3/4/94 3/18/94 at KSC OAST-2; USMP-2

17 STS-65 Cabana, Halsell, Haib, Thomas, Walz, Chiao, Naito-Mukai 39A 7/8/94 7/23/94 at KSC IML-2

18 STS-73 Bowersox, Rominger, Thornton, Lopez-Alegria, Coleman, Sacco, Leslie 39B 10/20/95 11/5/95 at KSC USML-2

19 STS-75 Allen, Horowitz, Chang-Diaz, Hoffman, Cheli, Nicollier, Guidoni 39B 2/22/96 3/9/96 at KSC TSS-1 R, USMP-3

20 STS-78 Henricks, Kregel, Helms, Linnehan, Brady, Favier, Thirsk 39B 6/20/96 7/7/96 at KSC Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS)

21 STS-80 Cockrell, Rominger, Jernigan, Jones, Musgrave 39B 11/19/96 12/7/96 at KSC ORFUEUS-SPAS-2, WSF-3

22 STS-83 Halsell, Still, Voss, Gernhardt, Thomas, Crouch, Linteris 39A 4/4/97 4/8/97 at KSC Microgravity Science Laboratory -1 (MSL-1)

23 STS-94 Halsell, Still, Voss, Gernhardt, Thomas, Crouch, Linteris 39A 7/01/97 7/17/97 at KSC Microgravity Science Laboratory -1 (MSL-1)

24 STS-87 Kregel, Lindsey, Scott, Chawla, Doi, Kadenyuk 39B 11/19/97 12/5/97 at KSC U.S. Microgravity Payload-4 (USMP-4);

Spartan-201-04

25 STS-90 Searfoss, Altman, Linnehan, Williams, Hire, Buckey, Paweczyk 39B 4/17/98 5/3/98 at KSC Neurolab; GAS (Get-Away Special)

26 STS-93 Collins, Ashby, Hawley, Coleman, Tognini 39B 7/23/99 7/27/99 at KSC Chandra X-ray Observatory

27 STS-109 Altman, Carey, Grunsfeld, Currie, Newman, Linnehan, Massimino 39B 3/01/02 3/12/02 at KSC 4th Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission

28 STS-107 Husband, McCool, Anderson, Chawla, Brown, Clark, Ramon 39A 1/16/03 2/01/03 Columbia and Crew Lost During Reentry