WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

S81-30425 (14 April 1981) --- 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. A T-38 chase plane follows it in at left. Aboard Columbia were astronauts John W. Young, STS-1 commander, and Robert L. Crippen, pilot. Their landing marked the completion of a successful two-and-a-third day flight in space and the beginning of a new era of space transportation. A series of additional test flights will follow before the Space Shuttle Program becomes fully operational later in this decade.