On Wednesday KPRC 2 News spoke with Bill Moon who was a part of the launch team for space shuttle 1 and 2 missions.Ĭopyright 2023 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved. Bob Crippen, the pilot, was a Navy test pilot who went on to command three future shuttle missions.īut nothing either man had done or would do was quite like this.Īmerica had not launched a human into space in six years, and to that point, every crewed space flight had followed the same basic design: put a capsule on top of a rocket, strap in the crew, fire the engines, and go.Īfter the mission, only the crew capsule – which wasn’t reused – would return, according to NASA. Mission Commander John Youn had already flown in space four times, including a walk on the Moon in 1972. In the early morning hours of April 12, 1981, NASA launched its first Space Transportation System, or space shuttle, mission, carrying astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen into orbit. Unlike the much smaller capsules of the Apollo era, which launched on the tips of rockets and splashed back into the ocean, the jetliner-size shuttle was. ![]() ![]() HOUSTON – Today, April 12, is the anniversary of the first Space Shuttle launch in 1981. One of the most complicated and sophisticated pieces of equipment ever built, the shuttle is a vehicle that launched like a rocket, flew in orbit like a.
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