STS-4 (Columbia)
Launch Date
June 27, 1982
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
2
STS-4 (Columbia)
Launch Date
June 27, 1982
Craft
Space Shuttle
Status
Past
Crew
2
Overview
The final test flight of the Space Shuttle program. It was the final time NASA assigned a complete backup crew for their missions until the International Space Station program. Columbia finished proving the Shuttle's capabilities on this flight, allowing NASA to declare the Shuttle "operational." Columbia landed on July 4th, after which President Reagan greeted the crew and Columbia's sister Shuttle, the newly completed Challenger, performed a ceremonial flyover while mounted to the back of a 747 aircraft.
Crafts
Space Shuttle
The first reusable launch and landing spacecraft, the Space Shuttle began a new chapter of human space exploration. It launched like a rocket but landed on a runway like a plane. Shuttle crews deployed dozens of commercial satellites and two interplanetary probes to Venus and Jupiter. The Shuttle served as a mini space station and hosted hundreds of biomedical, psychological, physiological, materials science, and physics experiments that have directly benefited life on Earth. The five flight-worthy Shuttles -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour -- flew 135 missions over 30 years. The Shuttles helped construct the Russian Mir space station and brought nearly 80% of the International Space Station to orbit. Shuttles also deployed and serviced the Hubble Space Telescope.
