Hobby Master Archive

On July 26, 1972 North American Rockwell was awarded to build the space shuttle with the fabrication of the aft section beginning on March 25, 1975. It wasn’t until April 12, 1981 that Columbia made its first flight STS-1 returning Edwards AFB on April 14, 1981. On January 16, 2003 Columbia made its 28th and what would be its last launch. On February 1, 2003, during re- entry a missing heat shield tile went unnoticed and Columbia was destroyed killing all seven astronauts onboard. Since its first flight Columbia had travelled 201,497,772 km (125,204,911 miles)