When the spotlights came on in the predawn hours of April 12, 1981, they illuminated a spacecraft like no other: the space shuttle. Just before liftoff, the crew of two climbed inside space shuttle Columbia for its first test flight into space - that launch going nearly perfect. On this episode of the Rocket Ranch, hear from Columbia pilot Bob Crippen as he recounts that very first shuttle mission.
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NASA ID
KSC-20210407-VP-CDC001-001-ROCKETRAUNCH-CRIPPEN-3269056
Date Created
April 7, 2021
Center
KSC
Media Type
video
Photographer
NASA
Location
KSC
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Subtitles
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe (left) congratulates James W. Kennedy (right) before a group of KSC employees assembled in the KSC Training Auditorium. The occasion is the announcement of Kennedy as the next director of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Kennedy has served as KSC's deputy director since November 2002. He will succeed KSC Director Roy D. Bridges, who was appointed on June 13 to lead NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
Jun 26, 2003
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight William F. Readdy addresses a group of KSC employees assembled in the KSC Training Auditorium. The occasion is the announcement of James W. Kennedy as the next director of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Kennedy has served as KSC's deputy director since November 2002. He will succeed KSC Director Roy D. Bridges, who was appointed on June 13 to lead NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
Jun 26, 2003
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - KSC Deputy Director James W. Kennedy (left) and KSC Director Roy D. Bridges shake hands before a group of KSC employees assembled in the KSC Training Auditorium. The occasion is the announcement of Kennedy as the next director of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Kennedy has served as KSC's deputy director since November 2002. He will succeed Bridges, who was appointed on June 13 to lead NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
Jun 26, 2003
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - KSC Deputy Director James W. Kennedy addresses a group of KSC employees assembled in the KSC Training Auditorium, as KSC Director Roy D. Bridges looks on (right). The occasion is the announcement of Kennedy as the next director of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Kennedy has served as KSC's deputy director since November 2002. He will succeed Bridges, who was appointed on June 13 to lead NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
Jun 26, 2003