Columbia performed the first orbital test flight of the Space Shuttle program.
Columbia launched on 12 April 1981 with astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen aboard. The mission, designated STS-1, tested the shuttle’s launch, orbital operations, re-entry and runway landing. It lasted just over two days and ended at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Unlike later shuttle missions, STS-1 carried no major scientific payload and was intended primarily to validate the spacecraft as an integrated system. Columbia was the heaviest shuttle orbiter because of its test equipment and structural differences.
The orbiter later flew many scientific and satellite missions. Columbia was lost during re-entry on 1 February 2003 during STS-107. Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour were other orbiters in the fleet, while Challenger was lost in 1986.