On This Day In Space: April 14, 1981: 1st dwelling shuttle mission lands

On April 14, 1981, the foremost dwelling shuttle mission returned to Earth after a two-day flight in dwelling. The dwelling shuttle Columbia safely touched down on Rogers dry lake at Edwards Air Power Inappropriate in California, the keep a whole bunch of thousands of of us showed as much as look. Finest two astronauts were on the shuttle: the pilot, Bob Crippen, and the commander, John Younger.

Since this turn into the maiden voyage of the dwelling shuttle, the correct purpose for this mission turn into to peep if the shuttle could well additionally safely carry the crew to orbit and bring them relief down to Earth.

The space shuttle orbiter Columbia is seen from the front as it heads for a touchdown atop a dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California to end the STS-1 mission, the first space shuttle flight, on April 14, 1981. — The dwelling shuttle orbiter Columbia is viewed from the front because it heads for a touchdown atop a dry lake mattress at Edwards Air Power Inappropriate in southern California to total the STS-1 mission, the foremost dwelling shuttle flight, on April 14, 1981. (Image credit: NASA)

Some anomalies were reported, nonetheless Columbia and its crew got here dwelling safely.

This turn into the foremost time NASA landed a spacecraft on wheels, and the success of that touchdown made the dwelling shuttle Columbia the enviornment’s first reusable dwelling vehicle.

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Hanneke Weitering is an editor at Space.com with 10 years of skills in science journalism. She has previously written for Scholastic Faculty room Magazines, MedPage This day and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After learning physics at the University of Tennessee in her fatherland of Knoxville, she earned her graduate level in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from Sleek York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com crew in 2016 as a crew creator and producer, masking subject matters including spaceflight and astronomy. She at existing lives in Seattle, dwelling of the Space Needle, along with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time, Hanneke enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and wanting out for darkish skies to observe at the cosmos.

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