Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-40
Launch Successful
L - -- : -- : -- : --
Instantaneous launch window.
Launch Window
June 5, 1991, 1:24 p.m. - June 5, 1991, 1:24 p.m.
Instantaneous launch window.
June 5, 1991, 1:24 p.m. - June 5, 1991, 1:24 p.m.
STS-40 was the eleventh launch of Columbia and carried the Spacelab module for Spacelab Life Sciences 1 (SLS-1), the fifth Spacelab mission and the first dedicated to biology. It was also the first mission to carry three women crew members.
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.
Space Shuttle Columbia (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-102) was the first space-rated orbiter in NASA's Space Shuttle fleet. It launched for the first time on mission STS-1 on April 12, 1981, the first flight of the Space Shuttle program. Over 22 years of service, it completed 27 missions before disintegrating during re-entry near the end of its 28th mission, STS-107 on February 1, 2003, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members.
Space Shuttle Details
Date of
Birth: Sept. 6, 1946
Age: 78
Date of
Birth: June 27, 1951
Age: 73
Date of
Birth: June 9, 1946
Age: 78
Date of
Birth: Dec. 21, 1945
Date of Death:
Feb. 4, 2021
Date of
Birth: Feb. 22, 1952
Age: 72
Date of
Birth: Nov. 8, 1947
Age: 77
Date of
Birth: May 7, 1959
Age: 65
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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