1-157-451 - NASA/Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Launch of Space Shuttle Columbia from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA, 4 April 1997. The Space Shuttle, the world's first partially reusable launch vehicle, first flew on 12th April 1981 and has been used for all America's manned space missions ever since. Columbia was the first of the Shuttle fleet to fly, and successfully completed 28 missions before being lost, together with its crew of seven, on re-entry over Texas on 1st February 2003.