These were . They were just kind of glorified canisters. They were little capsules. Or they may say, wow. People really went to space. I wonder why they quit. We dont know what the future is going to hold yet, but these artifacts certainly speak to the past and may provoke thought among people in the future. Watch american artifacts every sunday here on cspan3s American History tv. To see this and similar programs, visit our website, cspan. Org history. 35 years ago on april 12th, 1981, Space Shuttle columbia lifted off from the Kennedy Space center in florida with two crew members onboard. Launching a new era in manned space flight. Next on reel america, Space Shuttle, a remarkable flying machine. A 30minute nasa documentary on the story of the inaugural twoday mission. 22 years later, after 28 missions, Space Shuttle columbia and their sevenmember crew were lost when the craft disintegrated on reentry on february 1st of 2003. The Shuttle Program was retired in 2011. Sunday, april 12th, 1981. Kennedy space center, florida. A Space Shuttle 14 stories high, 2,000 tons, poised on the pad for its maiden flight. This is columbia, the spaceship that will orbit the earth. Its external tank, it holds over 500,000 gallons of fuel for columbias threeman engines and the solid rocket boosters, the largest ever used on any launch vehicle, and the first to be employed in a u. S. Manned flight. At liftoff, the solid rocket boosters together with the three main engines will unleash more than 6. 5 Million Pounds of thrust needed to launch the worlds first reusable spacecraft. Never before has a winged vehicle been launched like a rocket, orbited the earth, returned through frictional heating in excess of 2,500 degrees, and landed. Still aerodynamically sound, to be launched again and again. If it succeeds, the Space Shuttle will truly be a remarkable flying machine. There are many other goals to be reached in the 54 1 2 hour mission that lies ahead. 144 test objects are planned for the flight. These objectives could not be achieved without an astronaut crew. The commander, john young. The pilot, robert crippen. Young has already been in space four times for a total of 533 hours. He is the most experienced astronaut flying today. Although crippen has over 4,000 hours of jet aircraft flying time, this will be his first time in space. The astronauts make their way across the access arm toward the shuttle in the predawn hours before launch. An american spaceship has never carried a human crew on its Maiden Voyage. At the Launch Control center three miles from the pad, final steps are being completed in the countdown. Final preparations are also being made in the Mission Control center in houston, where control of the flight will switch once the shuttle clears the tower. There has not been a manned launch from Kennedy Space center since july of 1975. With this launch, the Launch Controllers at the cape, and Flight Controllers in houston will experience the most dynamic, fastpaced series of launch events ever undertaken in the Space Program, all in less than nine minutes. The most challenging assent profile ever to be flown by a space vehicle. Photographers, film and television crews, plus newspaper and magazine writers from around the world, nearly 2,700 of them, are here to cover the launch. In addition approximately 600,000 spectators lined the coastal area near the Kennedy Space center, arriving by every mode of transportation. They have come from every state in the union and many foreign countries. The promise of a rebirth in americas manned Space Program and the dawn of a new era in space transportation awaits. 14, 13. Tminus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 we have gone for main engine start. Roger. This would put the shuttle on its precise heading to its target in space. Roger, role complete. Status. Go. Go. Columbia houston, youre going 40. The shuttle is now 40 seconds into flight. Roger columbia on the nice ride. Youre lofting a little bit. Probably slightly high at staging. Negative. Youre negative seats. Should anything go wrong, the shuttle is now too high for the astronauts to use their ejection seats. All calls are a tad early. Columbia, youre looking a little hot. Calls are going a be early. Stand by. Columbia stand by. Market. Roger. The shuttle can now continue toward miko, main engine cutoco. Stand by, negative return. Columbia, stand by for negative return. Market. Negative return. Map is good. Got a view. Got a view. Single engine. Columbia, youre single engine. Columbia can land safely at the Naval Air Station in spain, even if two of the three main engines should fail. Right now, the engines are generating over 42 million horsepower. Mico. Roger, mico. Mico confirmed. Right on the money. Main engine cutoff, columbia is now in space. Traveling over 18,000 miles per hour. Roger, we confirm, columbia. The external tank has just been jettisoned and is now falling away from the shuttle back toward earth. The tank will break up as planned over the indian ocean when it comes into contact with the atmosphere. Shortly by firing the omss, orb tt maneuvering systems, columbia will achieve orbit. Then one of the most important tests of the mission will be attempted. Opening the pay load bay doors. The doors must be opened before the end of the sixth orbit to expose the space radiator cooling system. If the radiators cannot be exposed, heat collected from the Onboard Electronics cannot be released and the astronauts will have to return home. The omss burns are successful. Columbia is now in orbit, circling the earth at an altitude of approximately 150 miles. The pay load bay doors will now be opened. The fourth door is coming open now. Roger, copy. Youre missing one fantastic sight. Boy, that is really beautiful out there. We appreciate those updates. Both doors have been opened. The radiators can be deployed to begin dissipating the heat. Doors are all opened up, and hunkydory. Right on time. The radiators look good. Okay. We want to show you, we do have a few tiles missing off of both of them. Off the pod three tile and some smaller pieces and off the port pod, looks like i see one full square and looks like a little triangular shape missing. And were trying to put that on tv. Roger. We can see that good. From what we can see both wings tops and theres tiles fully entact. Within minutes, an assessment is completed on the impact these missing tiles could have on the remainder of the mission. At a News Conference later in the day, flight director Neal Hutchison answers questions from reporters. You ask me if i knew whether there were any other tiles that might be loose. The answer is no. And quite frankly, were not worried about any other tiles being loose. At this rating, is there anything, anything at all, that leads you to say you might not go for a full Duration Mission . Nothing. Columbia houston, you guys did so good, were going to let you stay up there for a couple days. Youre go for on orbit. This thing is just fun. Just outstanding. Roger. We agree with that. And columbia houston, just for your information, you dropped those srvs right on target and they were floating just the way they ought to be and the boats are getting ready to fish them and bring them back. Okay. They arrived. The solid rocket boosters that separated from columbia as planned, 2 11 into the flight, landed on target in the atlantic ocean, 151 miles down range from the launch site. After being towed back to Kennedy Space center, both boosters will be refurbished and used gem in a future shuttle flight. The third and fourth are also successful, raising columbias orbit to an altitude of approximately 172 miles. For the First Television transmission from inside the spacecraft, the crew will give a status report on the mission. The flight so far has gone as smooth as could possibly go. Weve done everything test that were supposed to do, and were up on the line, and the vehicle has been performing performing beautifully. Much better than anyone ever expected to do on a first flight. And its delightful up here. Of course, we owe this to a lot of people. We certainly want to thank everyone who has helped get this thing airborne and we take great pride its doing so well right now. Okay, were switching over to the camera here. I would like to echo johns words, as i usually do. I guess being the socalled rookie on the flight, i had a thrill from the moment of liftoff all the way up to what were doing now. Its really been super. The spacecraft has worked as advertised all the way along. I think we have something thats really going to mean something to the country and the world. This vehicle is performing like a champ, like all of us that have worked so long on it knew that she would. We appreciate those comments. I guess that does it. That was good timing. I think you must have practiced. Were just about to lose you. Just accident. Just accident, says robert griffin. None of the other events of the day have been accidental. Every test, liftoff, srv separation and recovery, et separation and impact, four omss burns, pay load latch opening and closing test, radiator latch deploy and stowing latch have all been successful. I guess we owe you one super for the day. This is fantastic. You worked through a pretty long hard day and youre essentially right on schedule, which is close to being a first with a space flight, i think, for firstday activities. Its sure been fun working with you today and we look forward to seeing you in the morning. Hope you get a good nights rest. You did super work today. See you manana. See you tomorrow, guys. Columbia not the kind you smoke this here is a bird morning, columbia, welcome to day two. All right. I appreciate that super wakeup music this morning. I was sure enjoying it. Its been a good breakfast. Today, the astronauts will test Onboard Systems and also review procedures for tomorrows landing. A test of the Flight Control system is conducted by john round, the Flight Control system operates columbias air surfaces, the body flaps, rudder and speed break. These surfaces are useless in the vacuum of space, but will be essential tomorrow when the shuttle lands. This will require precision maneuverability which the aero surfaces provide. Pay load bay door cycling tests help insure that latching and closing procedures can also be done before entry tomorrow. As with every mission, many pictures of the earth are taken by the astronauts. Over 500 on this first shuttle flight. Active volcanos, cloud formations. Fans, giant whirlpools over 15 miles in diameter. Sand dunes 1500 feet high, running unbroken for hundreds of miles. The high himalayas where mountain peaks reach 24,000 feet. And one of the most remarkable space photographs ever taken of the earth, an area in iran exposed to wind erosion which has resulted in these breathtaking silt and sandstorm formations that look more like a painting than a desert. After lunch on the second day, the astronauts receive a phone call from the Vice President of the united states. George bush. Hows it going up there . Everything rocking along all right . Well, its great, and everybody views it, im sure, just as the forerunner of great things to come. I think your trip is just going to ignite the excitement and the forward thinking from this country, so i really just wanted to call up and wish you the very best. We appreciate it. The crew also don and check out the ejection suits theyll wear during reentry. Young, grippen, and Columbia Pass the test. Theyre ready for the final test of the mission, entry and landing. April 14th, 1981, nasas Flight Research center on the edge of rogers dry lakebed in california. A recovery convoy of 24 vehicles and more than 100 personnel are assembling here to power down columbia after landing. Enormous crowds are also beginning to arrive. A string of traffic six miles long waits to enter the base. Thousands more are already here. Close to one half Million People will eventually be onhand to see the landing. Onboard the astronauts suit up for entry. The assent and orbital phases of the mission have gone extremely well. Now the final phase must be completed. Before that begins columbia, you have a go for pay load bay door closing. The doors, which have been open a total of 47 hours during the flight, must now be closed. Then, using the rcs thrusters, columbia will maneuver into deorbit burn altitude, head down and backwards, and descend into the earths atmosphere. Were all riding with you. Columbia is out of contact during the oms burn. Mission control will not know if this burn was successful until they are in communication with the spacecraft over australia. It is now over the indian ocean on the other side of the world, but from that distance, the burn must be precise so that later, columbia will hit the lake bed target in california. Columbia, this is houston. Were standing by. Columbia is now committed to entry. With an rcs postburn mew nuver and several firings, its a headsup, nosedown attitude headed to base. This is where the atmosphere begins at approximately 400,000 feet. From that moment until the shuttle reaches 165,000 feet, it will be in communication blackout, out of touch with Mission Control for almost 20 minutes. The landing site is almost 4,400 miles from entry interface. Chase planes are preparing to take off. One will call out altitudes and check columbia for any damage just prior to landing. When the shuttle touches down here, it will be traveling at 216 miles per hour. Right now, its going more than 17,000 miles per hour. Before it lands, it must slow down, lose energy, and it must survive the intense heat caused by traveling through the atmosphere at such a high rate of speed. Several sturns or roll reversals are used to slow down and maneuver columbia through the atmosphere. This one is done at 256,000 feet, when it is traveling at more than 26 times the speed of sound. This one is done at 208,000 feet. These two roll reversals, entry heating is most severe with temperatures reaching 2,500 degrees some places on the vehicle. The aluminum skin will melt at 320 degrees. The silica tiles must insulate the vehicle from the tremendous heat. Since there is no Test Facility on earth to simulate the aerodynamic and structural environment columbia is in right now, only calcue lashzs could be used to predict what would happen during this phase of the flight. The predictions and calculations had to be right. Houston, columbia is here. Columbia, houston is here. How do you read . At 180. And we couldnt agree more, john. Your state vector is good. We have okay. The entry trajectory, velocity, and position look good. Columbia is heading for home. Now only 470 miles away. And john, were showing you rolling right. Looking good. Were showing across from the coastline. We show you crossing the coast now. The shuttle is first sighted at about 100,000 feet, with a longrange camera from anderson peak, california. What a way to come to california. Perfect. Roger that. Out of 112 k, 4. 8 mach. We see that. The reversal is done over bakersfield, california. Thats beautiful. Roger. And were seeing 1. 3 gs coming around. Roger that. The astronauts are making the final turn to line up with the runway. Columbia, youre really looking good. Right on the money. Right on the money, and turning on the final. Your winds on the surface are calm. Youre right on the glide, columbia. Looks real good. Chase reports no tile or other damages evident underneath the shuttle. Columbias altitude is now just over 5,000 feet. Without power, columbia must land. It cannot make another attempt. Theyre coming. Theyre down. 30, 20, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Touchdown. That was good. 5, 4, 3, touchdown. Columbia is on the road. Welcome home, columbia. Beautiful, beautiful. Take it up to the hangar. Were going to test it out first. I tell you what. It was super. Okay. Wheel stop on the columbia. Wheel stop. [ applause ] the Maiden Voyage of columbia has been a success. The astronauts and the vehicle have met or exceeded all 144 flight test objectives. The integrity of all of the systems, propulsion, avionics, structural, Flight Control, power, and thermal have been affirmed. John youngs comments after returning home. I cant tell you what a tribute that is to the american working man and the american working woman, too. You cant imagine the veert of people who worked on this vehicle, from all walks of life, all capabilities and limitations. Its all due to their individual efforts. They proved they can do the job. They proved it for the world to see. And im mighty proud to be associated with folks like that. What a tribute, indeed. The columbia represents an achievement in Aerospace Technology and development never before realized in the history of manned space flight. It is our basic Building Block for the future. Its what weve been trying to do for the last ten years. Weve got a vehicle with a pay load performance that will allow us to do that, much cheaper than we have been able to do it before. It will immeasurably improve the capabilities of the country, help to develop Space Science and technology. When we get operational, the Space Shuttle will be able to do in five to ten years what it would have taken us 20 to 30 years to do otherwise. We couldnt do it if we didnt have the Space Shuttle and that pay load capability. And the shouldnooner we do thos things, the better off the country is going to be. A revutionary new era in space transportation has just begun. Routine access to space. Welcome to the future. On American History tv on cspan3, this july 4th weekend, this evening beginning at 6 00 eastern, American History tv is live at the Smithsonians National air and space museum for its 40th anniversary. Well tour the museum and see one of a kind aviation and space artifacts and speak with the museums director. Well also talk with the Museum Curator and valerie neal, chair of the museums space history department. You can join the conversation as well take your phone calls, emails, and tweets. Saturday night at 8 00 joy ward how increasingly focused on her position as a mother, which is, of course, whats driving her support for suffrage. Her position as a mother to say that women are different than men. That women really can do Society Better than men have done. Boston College ProfessorHeather Cox Richardson on the new roles women assumed in the workforce and in politics during the late 19th century and the growth of political organizations run by women that focused on issues like prohibition and womens suffrage. Sunday morning at 10 00, the 1968 republican and Democratic National conventions. Resolute, without being bellicose. Strong without being arrogant. And thats the kind of an america that will help build the peace of this world. The time has come for us to leave the valley of despair and climb the mountain so that we may see the glory of the dawn, a new day for america, and a new dawn for peace and freedom in the world. Former Vice PresidentRichard Nixon accepted the gop president ial nomination in miami beach, and Vice President hubert humfry accepted the democratic nomination in chicago, and monday evening, just before 7 00, Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor share stories about the current Supreme Court food position. Whenever a justice has a birthday, the chief brings in some wine, and we toast the birthday boy or girl. And sing happy birthday. And were missing our leader because truth be told, most of them cant carry a tune. And Supreme Court curator catherine fits curator Katherine Fitz will talk about culinary secrets. The hardfought 2016 primary season is over with historic conventions to follow this summer. Coll. Florida. Texas. Ohio. Watch cspan as the delegates consider the nomination of the first woman ever to head a Major Political party and the first nonpolitician in several decades. Watch live on cspan. Listen on the cspan radio app or get video on demand at cspan. Org. You have a front row seat to every minute of both conventions on cspan