‘You Don’t Go Fly When You Got Debts’: 35 Years Since STS-1 Inaugurated the Space Shuttle Program (Part 1)

STS-1’s launch in April 1981, some 35 years ago this month, began a new era of spaceflight. Photo Credit: NASA

Thirty-five years ago, on 12 April 1981, the first winged orbital space vehicle carrying human pilots was launched from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Aboard Columbia for STS-1—the long-awaited maiden [...]