Topics » Science & Technology July 20, 2011

NASA's Space Shuttle Program: 30 Years of Flight

Columbia 1981 launch

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Photo: Matt Stroshane/Getty Images

Shuttle drawing

x-24B test vehicle

The First External Tank

First Shuttle Launch

Smoke Trails From Challenger

Challenger crew

Birds Flock to STS-27

Engine Maintenance

On the Payload bay

Servicing the Hubble

Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

Columbia 1981 launch

Columbia Debris

Discovery flight deck

Final Shuttle Launch

Atlantis Over Earth

1979 shuttle photo

Discovery sunset

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Columbia 1981 launch

Space shuttle Columbia lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center on January 16, 2003 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The shuttle broke up over Texas upon re-entry to earth on February 1, 2003. Debris from the wreckage drifted hundreds of miles from central Texas to Louisiana.