April 14, 1981: Columbia Lands for First Time

This afternoon I was glued to the television to watch the news as America’s first space shuttle, the Columbia, landed at Edwards Air Force Base in Calidornia.  This was the first ever reentry and landing of a space craft and quite a significant event.  The Columbia touched down, without incident, at 10:21 am, local time which was 2:21 pm on the east coast from where I was watching.

Today we knew for sure that the space shuttle program was successful and American’s presence in space was reaffirmed.  The 1980s were to be America’s decade in space.

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