40 years after STS-2: Columbia’s second flight and the path to reusability – NASASpaceFlight.com – NASASpaceflight.com

April 14, 1981. The orbiter Columbia rested on a runway at Edwards Air Force Base, California, having completed the first-ever Space Shuttle mission. Now a daunting task lay ahead. Something that had never been attempted before would now have to become…

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