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- Columbia, the oldest orbiter in the Shuttle fleet, is named after the Boston, Massachusetts based sloop captained by American Robert Gray. The spaceship Columbia has continued the pioneering legacy of its forebears, becoming the first Space Shuttle to fly into Earth orbit in 1981. Four sister ships joined the fleet over the next 10 years: Challenger, arriving in 1982 but destroyed four years later; Discovery, 1983; Atlantis, 1985; and Endeavour, built as a replacement for Challenger, 1991. A test vehicle, the Enterprise, was used for suborbital approach and landing tests and did not fly in space. Columbia was the first on-line orbiter to undergo the scheduled inspection and retrofit program. It was transported August 10, 1991, after its completion of mission STS-40, to prime Shuttle contractor Rockwell International's Palmdale, California assembly plant. The oldest orbiter in the fleet underwent approximately 50 modifications, including the addition of carbon brakes, drag chute, improved nose wheel steering, removal of development flight instrumentation and an enhancement of its thermal protection system. The orbiter returned to KSC February 9, 1992 to begin processing for mission STS-50 in June of that year. On October 8, 1994, Columbia was transported to Palmdale California for its first ODMP. Approximately 90 modifications and upgrades were made to Columbia during this 6 month period. Modifications included upgrades to the main landing gear thermal barrier, tire pressure monitoring system and radiator drive circuitry. (Reference KSC Press Release 113-94 and Shuttle Status Report 10/10/94) On September 24, 1999, Columbia was transported to Palmdale California for its second ODMP. While in California, workers will perform more than 100 modifications on the vehicle. Columbia will be the second orbiter outfitted with the multi-functional electronic display system (MEDS) or "glass cockpit". Last year, Shuttle Atlantis had the full-color, flat-panel displays installed on its flight deck during an OMDP. The new system improves crew interaction with the orbiter during flight and reduces the high cost of maintaining the outdated electromechanical cockpit displays currently onboard. (Reference KSC Press Release 74-99). On February 1, 2003, Columbia was lost during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.
[Summary provided by NASA]
Group: Platform_Details Entry_ID: OV-102 Group: Platform_Identification Platform_Category: Space Stations/Manned Spacecraft Platform_Series_or_Entity: SPACE SHUTTLE Short_Name: OV-102 Long_Name: Columbia Space Shuttle End_Group Group: Synonymous_Platform_Names Short_Name: Columbia End_Group Creation_Date: 2008-01-24 Online_Resource: http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/resources/orbiters/columbia.html Sample_Image: http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/resources/orbiters/columbia-logo.gif Group: Platform_Logistics Primary_Sponsor: NASA End_Group End_Group
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