What is the name of the reusable NASA spacecraft that first flew in 1981?

The reusable NASA spacecraft that first flew in 1981 was Space Shuttle Columbia.

Columbia launched on 12 April 1981 as mission STS-1, commanded by John Young with Robert Crippen serving as pilot. It was the first orbital flight of the Space Shuttle program and the first time a crewed spacecraft had been tested on its maiden orbital mission.

Unlike a traditional capsule, Columbia launched vertically with two solid rocket boosters and an external tank, then returned to Earth as a glider and landed on a runway. Its orbiter carried payloads, laboratories and crews, while its thermal-protection tiles shielded it from the heat of atmospheric re-entry.

Columbia flew 28 missions before being lost during re-entry on 1 February 2003. The accident investigation found that insulating foam had damaged the orbiter’s left wing during launch. The remaining Shuttle fleet was later retired in 2011.