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American Aerospace
Forty years ago today, the Space Shuttle
Columbia successfully returned from its first earth-orbital mission. An estimated 225,000 people witnessed the historic landing on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
Known officially as the Space Transportation System (STS), the Space Shuttle was unlike any manned space vehicle ever flown. A giant aircraft known as the Orbiter was side-mounted on a huge liquid-propellant stage called the External Tank (ET). Flanking opposing sides of the ET was a pair of Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB). The Orbiter, SRB’s and ET measured 122 feet, 149 feet and 154 feet in length, respectively.