Retro 1981 - Space Shuttle First Launch - As Aired on CBS - News

The first 15 minutes of the first launch of America's Space Shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981. This video starts at the 2 minute warning during the countdown. A small portion of the video was edited during the external tank separation. During the portion edited out a Rockwell animation was playing and little was being said on the coms or by news reporters. This video is presented pretty much as it happened with the CBS logo, CBS News Special Report "Wings in Space" intro and Dayton, Ohio WHIO TV-7 station ID included. Just think, it was 41 years ago today that we launched into space with the first Space Shuttle. We didn't know the unfortunate events that would signal the end of that shuttle's service at the time. When this happened there was simply euphoria mixed in with a little tense nervousness as we didn't know what was going to happen and we had never done or seen this kind of thing before. I was there watching with my Dad as Columbia first launched. It was a Sunday and we were happy we had one of the new video tape recorders to record it. I was also fortunate to attend one of the last launches of a Space Shuttle in person before NASA mothballed the program. Even at the end of it's run, the shuttle launches still drew a huge crowd and it was quite a sight to see it happen, even from a few miles away across the water.