First Launch of Space Shuttle

Date: April 12, 1981 • Location: Rome, Italy

The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.

The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system that went to the ISS and performed other orbital missions. Operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was the Space Transportation System (STS), taken from the 1969 plan led by U.S. vice president Spiro Agnew for a system of reusable spacecraft where it was the only item funded for development.