Edwards Air Force Base
1 hour
More than 40 years ago, the first-ever space shuttle landed here on Rogers Dry Lake Bed.
On April 12, 1981, the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-1) launched into orbit from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and landed two days later, on April 14, 1981, at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The shuttle was piloted by Test Pilot School graduate, Robert Crippen.
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My hometown where I was born built the Space Shuttles, and I had friends and family who worked at Rockwell on the Shuttles. I went to Florida as a kid with the Shuttle Program, and then I came back to California and was able to watch the Shuttle land at Edwards.
I was in Rome, Italy, when the Shuttle Columbia burned up on entry, on February 1st, 2003, it was so sad, and the Italians were great and they all shared their condolences.
I hate to see us go back to old fashioned rockets, I would like to see the USA build awesome new spaceships, they can build the spaceships in Mojave, California.
Salute,
Tony V.