How the Shuttles Got Their Names: Columbia and Challenger

The Dawn of a New Era in Space Travel:  STS-1 Image Credit: NASA (public domain) .

As the Space Shuttle Columbia sat on the launch pad, ready to rumble into space, a new era in space travel was about to begin.  Man was going to explore outer space.

Like those sea adventurers of old, this new generation of explorers would open new horizons for the entire human race. .

Her name honored a sailing ship that had made some history of her own almost two hundred years earlier.

The first American space vessel built to take men to space and back was fittingly named for the first American ship build to circumnavigate the globe. 

Under the command of John Kendrick, the Columbia Rediviva accomplished the first ever American circumnavigation of the world in 1790.  Think of it -around the world on a three masted armed sailing ship only 83' in length!  

Two voyages to the Pacific Northwest were also instrumental in opening the maritime fur trade, with Captain Robert Gray at the helm.  

In 1792, on the second fur trading voyage, Gray sailed into the mouth of a river that would become part of the border between the states of Washington and Oregon.  This river he named for his ship, Columbia.

Columbia, from a 1919 sketch, PD

NOTE - Some historians put her initial build as simply the Columbia in 1773, while others say she was built as Columbia Rediviva in 1787.  However, since rediviva is  Latin for reborn or rebuilt, then perhaps that is exactly what happen in 1787 - a rebuild.

Liftoff for STS-2 on November 12, 1981 (PD)

THE BEGINNING!

Columbia first blasted into space on STS-1 from Cape Canaveral on  April 12, 1981.  It, and the next mission were test flights for the new shuttle program.

Over nearly 22 years, the senior member of the fleet flew 28 missions, orbited the earth over 4,800 times, and traveled over 125 million miles.  

MILESTONES:

• First time for a vehicle to go into space, return safely to earth, and be used again to go back into space.
• First ever female commander of an American space mission. (Lt. Cmdr. Eileen Collins)
• Carried the first sitting member of the U.S. House of Representatives to go into space.  (Bill Nelson, of Florida)
• First ever Israeli astronaut to fly on an American spacecraft.  (Ilan Ramon)

TRIVIA:

Do you notice something out of the ordinary in the launch photo above?  The external fuel tank is white, not the familiar orange.  

It was only ever painted white on the first two missions (STS-1 and 2) both of which were flown by Columbia.  Thereafter, the tanks were left unpainted orange.  This shaved about 600 pounds off the weight.  That's some heavy paint!

The ship that had made history by sailing around the world under the American flag, and opening trade between Boston and China,  was decommissioned in October of 1806.  She had become salvage, or scrap.

However, if you'd like to see what she looked like, you still can - at Disneyland.  Christened in 1958, the full scale model sometimes sails the park's "Rivers of America."  She is also used as Captain Hook's pirate ship in the "Fantasmic!" show, which is performed in the evenings.

Exhibits inside the ship include replicas of various crew member's quarters, the pantry, galley, sick bay and dry stores.

Columbia Rediviva replica, Disneyland, p.d.

This is how most of us who were around then saw it in 1981 - on live television.  We were all very well aware that we were watching history being made.  It was something utterly amazing.

Watch a recording of the live network television coverage of the first space worthy shuttle blasting off into space.  It was like nothing any of us had ever seen before.  IT was the beginning of a new world.  We were filled with excitement and hope for what the future would bring.  

.Callenger's First Landing, April 9. 1983 (p.d. image from NASA) 

On April 4, 1983, Challenger became the second shuttle to leave for space from a Cape Canaveral launch pad.  She landed at Edwards Air Force Base on April 9. 

The great thing about the space shuttles was that they really were shuttles.  They were reusable space vehicles that landed on a runway on their return from space.

Like the Riyal Navy corvette after which she was named, she carried those who would accomplish several firsts.

The captains and crew HMS Challenger undertook quite a task when they set sail.  The ambitious undertaking, called the "Challenger Expedition," was no small one.  From December of 1872 to May of 1876, the men conducting the first ever global marine research expedition spent 713 days at sea aboard the HMS Challenger. 

Why was this so historic?  Be

cause it marked the beginnings of modern oceanography.  

STS-8: First Night Launch, P.D. image from NASA
.

NASA's Orbiter Vehicle 099, named Challenger, first lifted off from Kennedy Space Center's launch pad B on April 4, 1983, and immediately began making history.  On that mission, STS-8, Astronauts Story Musgrave and Donald Peterson conducted the first ever extravehicular activity, or "spacewalk."  

Though she only flew ten missions, nine of which were completed, she made good on her name, and made her own history, as she challenged the frontier of space.

SOME CHALLENGER FIRSTS

Beginning of space walks with STS-6

Deployed the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite.  (Among other things, these satellites facilitate space communications.) 

First woman in space. (Sally Ride, on STS-7)

STS-8 (August, 1983) was something that had never been attempted before - a nighttime shuttle launch and landing.  (Boy, were those night launches ever spectacular!)  

Carried the first African American  (Guion Bluford), Dutch (Wubbo Ockels), and Canadian (Marc Garneau) Astronauts.

Sadly, very sadly, the first shuttle disaster took place on January 28, 1986, when Challenger broke apart and disentegrated less than two minutes after liftoff of STS-51-L.

TRIVIA

Because Christa McAulliffe  - the initial participant in the "Teacher in Space" project - was on board the ill fated final flight of Challenger, it was one of most widely viewed launches ever.  News of the disaster spread so quickly that an 85% of all Americans had heard about it within the first hour.

Apparently, after the history making Challenger Expedition, the role the ship had played in it all was not exactly celebrated.  

 Two years later, she was decommissioned, and never sailed the seas again.  

First, she simply SAT for six years. Then, in  1883, she was moored in the River Medway, and 'housed' brand new naval recruits (some presumably not so willingly recruited!) until they were sent to their first duty. 

It was not until 1921, however, that the then old lady was laid to rest, when she was scrapped.  

 It seems that those of her day simply discounted her contribution to the world.  But, NASA didn't forget!

In artwork from NASA shown here, a tribute is paid to a shadowy HMS Challenger.  The spacecraft is Seasat A, which was  launched in 1978 with the purpose of gathering data for oceanographic studies.  (Sadly, the spacecraft lasted less than a year.)

Artist's Concept of Seasat A, with HMS Challenger, PD