News Archive / Tagged: Space Shuttle Columbia

• Skywalking: STS-80 Mission Highlights: Nov.–Dec. 1996

  NASANovember 19th, 2017

  KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — An early morning landing on the Space Shuttle Columbia ended a more than 17-day mission to deploy and retrieve two science satellites, one that studied stars and another that made thin film wafers. Pilot Kent Rominger recounted how impressive it was to see the trailing satellites at sunrise. “It was incredible having two satellites out there at the same time. In the morning when the Sun would rise, they were just tremendously bright stars, trailing along behind us.”

• Our Spaceflight Heritage: Go long – the flight of STS-78

  Collin SkocikJune 20th, 2016

  On June 20, 1996, at 10:49 a.m. EDT (14:49 GMT), Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off from Pad B at Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. It was the start of a 17-day mission of scientific experimentation in the Spacelab module that was stowed in Columbia's Payload Bay. STS-78 would enter into history as the second-longest shuttle mission behind STS-80.

• Our SpaceFlight Heritage: Hail Columbia

  Jason RhianApril 14th, 2016

  With STS-1, the U.S. was once again able to send crews to orbit. After six years of inactivity, the U.S. was back in the business of sending people to orbit again. On this date in space flight history, the nation that landed men on the Moon showed the world a new way of returning crews from orbit.

• Space Coast community reflects on fallen astronauts

  Sean CostelloJanuary 30th, 2016

  For the third time this week, residents and visitors to Florida’s Brevard County gathered to pay their respects to the fallen heroes of the U.S. Space Program, astronauts who lost their lives while performing mission-related duties. Beginning with a chorus from the children of the Sculptor Charter School Choir, the service got underway with about 100 residents, visitors, and dignitaries present.

• On 30th anniversary of Challenger disaster, crews ‘Forever Remembered’

  Jason RhianJanuary 13th, 2016

  KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — One could almost walk past it, after all, the "Forever Remembered" memorial is located on the side of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's $100 million Atlantis exhibit. However, as the date of the 30th anniversary of the loss of the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger's final mission, STS-51L approaches, it is undoubtedly one of the most important elements of the expansive facility.

• Skywalking: Did UFOs visit STS-80 Columbia?

  Tom JonesOctober 10th, 2015

  During the week of April 11, 2011, the FBI released some of its investigation records on UFOs. The reports reflect the reality that people do see unexplained phenomena in the sky. Are these sightings evidence for intelligent life elsewhere, or some secret flight testing program?

• Our SpaceFlight Heritage: The Return

  Jason RhianJuly 27th, 2015

  It was a turning point in NASA's history. After the dark days following the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107), the world saw the space agency take its first steps toward returning to the business of human space flight. The STS-114 mission would go down as one of the more dramatic flights in shuttle history.

• Our SpaceFlight Heritage: Apollo 11’s fading light

  Gregory CecilJuly 20th, 2015

  Forty-six years ago today on July 20, 1969, history was made – men walked on the surface of another world. Apollo astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first to do so when their Apollo 11 Lunar Module (LEM) Eagle descended onto the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility. The duo touched down on what was to become known […]

• ‘Forever Remembered’ Memorial opens at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

  Jason RhianJune 27th, 2015

  KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla — They were two of the most traumatic experiences of a program that lasted 30 years. The names Challenger and Columbia will forever be tied to the 14 astronauts who lost their lives on STS-51L and STS-107 – and they will also be forever memorialized by a new exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center […]

• Our Spaceflight Heritage: This Day in Spaceflight History

  Gregory CecilApril 12th, 2015

  April 12 is a historic day in terms of human spaceflight. Today marks the 54th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight on Vostok 1 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the former Soviet Union. He was the first human to ever fly in space. Twenty years later, in 1981, the first reusable spacecraft Columbia was launched from […]

• Our SpaceFlight Heritage: The 33rd Anniversary of the launch of STS-3

  Gregory CecilMarch 22nd, 2015

  On March 22, 1982, Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off for her third mission (STS-3 ) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. On board were Commander Jack Lousma and Pilot C. Gordon Fullerton. Their mission included testing the orbiter’s Remote Manipulator System (RMS) – also known as the “Canadarm” – conduct thermal testing on […]

• Kennedy Space Center honors fallen astronauts as part of NASA Day of Remembrance

  SpaceFlight InsiderJanuary 28th, 2015

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —  Around 200 people gathered at the Astronaut Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex  at 10:30 a.m. (1330 GMT) on Jan. 28, 2015 to pay tribute to the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, as well as other NASA astronauts and ground support crew who lost their lives while […]

• Our SpaceFlight Heritage: Hail Columbia – Personal reflections on the loss of STS-107

  Jason RhianJanuary 18th, 2015

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla — From time-to-time I am asked why I left a good-paying (if not safe) job and entered college at the ripe old age of 30 – and in so doing embarked on a path toward a very uncertain future. The simple answer is because of Columbia, STS-107. Space has always inspired me, however, as […]

• Former NASA astronaut Steve Nagel dies after battle with cancer

  Rae Botsford EndAugust 23rd, 2014

  Steve Nagel, United States Air Force Colonel (ret.) and a former NASA astronaut, who flew on four space shuttle missions, died on Thursday, August 21, at the age of 67. He lost a two-year battle with an aggressive form of melanoma, and is survived by his wife, former NASA astronaut Linda M. Godwin, and two daughters.

• Our Spaceflight Heritage: STS-93, Chandra, Collins and Columbia’s challenge

  Heather SmithJuly 23rd, 2014

  On July 23, 1999 at 12:31 a.m. EDT (0431 GMT), astronaut Eileen Collins became the first female space shuttle commander, leading the STS-93 crew to successfully deploy the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The mission began aboard space shuttle Columbia along with Jeffrey S. Ashby as pilot and Steven A. Hawley, Catherine “Cady” G. Coleman, and Michel […]