The next major era in human spaceflight began in April 1981, with the maiden voyage of the space shuttle Columbia, the world's first reusable spacecraft.
The space shuttle was approved as an initiative by President Nixon in 1972.
At the programme's peak, four shuttle orbiters, each capable of carrying large satellites (payloads of up to 50,000 pounds) both to and from orbit and of helping to assemble component parts of the International Space Station, were in service.
Image: Picture of the Earth and Moon in a single frame, the first of its kind ever taken by a spacecraft, was recorded on September 18, 1977, by NASA's Voyager 1 when it was 7.25 million miles (11.66 million kilometers) from Earth.
  |
| 5 of 13 |
|
|
|
Advertisement
