WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Technicians assist prime crew Astronauts Bob Crippen (left) and John Young (right) in suit-up operations in KSC’s Operations and Checkout Building on the morning of Columbia’s successful liftoff on the Space Shuttle’s first orbital flight. Crippen is the pilot and Young is the commander for mission STS-1 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia. The STS-1 mission, known as a shuttle systems test flight, seeks to 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.