page_title: History of spaceflight
section_title: Space Shuttle
hierarchical_section_title: History of spaceflight / Programs / NASA / Space Shuttle
caption_attribution_description: English: The April 12 launch at Pad 39A of STS-1, just seconds past 7 a.m., carries astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen into an Earth orbital mission scheduled to last for 54 hours, ending with unpowered landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Türkçe: Columbia Uzay Mekiği'nin 12 Nisan 1981 günü 54 saat sürmesi tahmin edilen bir görev için içerisinde bulunan astronotlar (hallo) John Young ve Robert Crippen ile kalkış anı.
context_page_description: Spaceflight began in the 20th century following theoretical and practical breakthroughs by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Robert H. Goddard. The Soviet Union took the lead in the post-war Space Race, launching the first satellite, the first man and the first woman into orbit. The United States caught up with, and then passed, their Soviet rivals during the mid-1960s, landing the first man on the Moon in 1969. In the same period, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and China were concurrently developing more limited launch capabilities.
  Following the end of the Space Race, spaceflight has been characterised by greater international co-operation, cheaper access to low Earth orbit and an expansion of commercial ventures. Interplanetary probes have visited all of the planets in the Solar System, and humans have remained in orbit for long periods aboard space stations such as Mir and the ISS. Most recently, China has emerged as the third nation with the capability to launch independent crewed missions, whilst operators in the commercial sector have developed re-usable booster systems and craft launched from airborne platforms.
context_section_description: Although its pace slowed, space exploration continued after the end of the Space Race. The United States launched the first reusable spacecraft, the Space Shuttle, on the 20th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, April 12, 1981. On November 15, 1988, the Soviet Union duplicated this with an uncrewed flight of the only Buran-class shuttle to fly, its first and only reusable spacecraft. It was never used again after the first flight; instead the Soviet Union continued to develop space stations using the Soyuz craft as the crew shuttle.
  Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983. Eileen Collins was the first female Shuttle pilot, and with Shuttle mission STS-93 in July 1999 she became the first woman to command a US spacecraft.
  The United States continued missions to the ISS and other goals with the high-cost shuttle system, which was retired in 2011.
caption: Space Shuttle Columbia seconds after engine ignition during STS-1, 1981.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "6084", "Image ImageLength": "6084", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image Compression": "Uncompressed", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image ImageDescription": "S81-30498 (12 April 1981) --- After six years of silence, the thunder of manned spaceflight is heard again, as the successful launch of the first space shuttle ushers in a new concept in utilization of space. The April 12, 1981 launch, at Pad 39A, just seconds past 7 a.m., carries astronaut John Young and Robert Crippen into an Earth-orbital mission scheduled to last for 54 hours, ending with unpowered landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. STS-1, the first in a series of shuttle vehicles planned for the Space Transportation System, utilizes reusable launch and return components. Photo credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "855", "Image YResolution": "855", "Image PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2015:09:25 16:39:27", "Image ExifOffset": "3004", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5314", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5501", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "1981:04:12 13:36:08", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "1981:04:12 13:36:08", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "6084", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "6084", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}