Boeing 747 Transporting the Space Shuttle Columbia

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Dublin Core

Title

Boeing 747 Transporting the Space Shuttle Columbia

Alternative Title

747 Transporting Space Shuttle Columbia

Subject

John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
Merritt Island (Fla.)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)
NASA
Space Shuttle Program (U.S.)
Columbia (Spacecraft)
Airplanes--United States

Description

The Space Shuttle Columbia, the first operational Space Shuttle, landing at the Shuttle Landing Facility of John F. Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida, atop a Boeing 747 transport airplane. The Space Shuttle was meant as a reusable alternative to the traditional ballistic rockets used to launch manned spacecraft in the 1960s and 1970s. From 1981 to 2011, when the fleet was retired, five shuttles were flown over 130 times. It was the first space launch system that was mostly reusable, as the shuttles themselves and the solid rocket boosters were reused multiple times. Space shuttles were launched from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) and Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B) at John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Merritt Island, Florida. Columbia launched for the first time on April 12, 1981, and completed 27 missions before disintegrating during re-entry at the end of STS-107, its 28th mission, on February 1, 2003. Known as the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, the accident resulted in the death of all seven crew members: Mission Commander Rick Husband (1957-2003), Pilot William C. McCool (1961-2003), and Mission Specialists David M. Brown (1956-2003), Kalpana Chawla (1962-2003), Michael P. Anderson (1959-2003), Laurel Clark (1961-2003), and Ilan Ramon (1954-2003).

Source

Original color photographic prints: Leonard Pugh Collection.

Date Created

ca. 1990

Contributor

Is Format Of

Digital reproduction of original color photographic prints.

Is Part Of

Florida Space Coast History Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.

Format

image/jpg

Extent

178 KB
107 KB
132 KB

Medium

3 color photographic prints

Type

Still Image

Coverage

John F. Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida

Accrual Method

Donation

Mediator

History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher

Rights Holder

Copyright to this resource is held by Leonard Pugh and is provided here by RICHES of Central Florida for educational purposes only.

Curator

Michlowitz, Robert
Cepero, Laura

Digital Collection

External Reference

"The Shuttle." National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Accessed August 21, 2015. http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/the_shuttle/.

Still Image Item Type Metadata

Original Format

3 color photographic prints

Citation

“Boeing 747 Transporting the Space Shuttle Columbia,” RICHES, accessed December 7, 2024, https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/6121.

Locations

Categories