The First Flight of the Space Shuttle: STS-1

Abstract

When President Reagan took office in January 1981, the Space Shuttle Columbia was on the launch pad, awaiting its first flight, and the author was busy preparing flight data file documents to accompany the crew, John Young and Robert Crippen, into space. She was in Mission Control at Johnson Space Center when the first launch attempt, on April 10, 1981, was aborted because of a computer issue. She was on console again for the successful first launch on April 12, and describes each shift and what the crew and flight control team were doing and thinking during the flight, including the first opening of the payload bay doors, the discovery of tiles missing on the tail of the orbiter, and an unscheduled call with Vice President Bush.