On April 12, 1981, NASA's maiden space shuttle Columbia lifted off for the first time 30 years ago, carrying astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen.
That mission marked many firsts, including the first time solid rocket engines were used to propel a spaceship into orbit, and the first time a spaceship landed back on Earth by gliding down a runway, instead of splashing into the ocean like Apollo capsules or on land like Russia's spacecraft. Columbia's flight was also the first powered test flight of the space shuttle, and marked the first time a spacecraft's debut test flight was manned, rather than unmanned.
Although the mission saw a few slight anomalies, overall the space shuttle performed exceptionally on its maiden voyage.
The space shuttle Discovery added another notable launch to its list when it launched what remains the world's most famous telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope, on April 24, 1990.
Discovery's five-astronaut crew, led by commander Loren Shriver, spent five days in space deploying the observatory and conducting science experiments. Because of its vantage point in space, beyond Earth's blurring atmosphere, Hubble could take much more detailed photos than comparable ground telescopes. Hubble is the only telescope designed to be serviced in space by astronauts.
While the United States and Russia began the space race as competitors, they evolved into collaborators. One of the brightest moments of the partnership came on June 27, 1995 when a U.S. space shuttle docked to the Russian space station Mir.
Atlantis' STS-71 mission delivered two Russian cosmonauts to the station to begin their months-long stay on Mir. The mission also picked up a NASA astronaut and two other cosmonauts – who had been serving on the Mir crew – to give them a ride home.
In 2011, the space shuttle program flew its last flights. The final mission, slated to be flown by the shuttle Atlantis on June 28, 2011, will carry four astronauts and a cargo bay packed to the brim with spare supplies to the International Space Station.
The shuttle Discovery launched on its last mission Feb. 24, 2011. The orbiter delivered the final major U.S. contribution to the space station – the Permanent Multipurpose Module Leonardo – effectively completing the American portion of the orbiting lab.