On this day, 44 years ago, on April 12, 1981 (March 8, 1981, the US space shuttle "Colombia" was launched into space. The United States successfully launched the world's first space shuttle "Colombia". At 7 a.m. local time on April 12, 1981 (20:00 Beijing time), the US space shuttle "Colombia" was launched into space at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. During launch, a raging flame was seen from the tail of the "Colombia", sending out a gray cloud of smoke, and then it soared into the sky. Long white smoke stretches into the sky. More than two minutes later, the solid-fuel booster rocket separated from the space shuttle and splashed down into the ocean 250 kilometers from the launch site. The test flight was normal. The crew of the first test flight of the "Colombia" were commander John Young and pilot Robert Crippin. Astronaut John Young has flown the Gemini and Apollo spacecraft into space four times, while Robert Crippin has entered space for the first time. The space shuttle is mainly composed of three main parts: the orbiter, the booster rocket and the propellant outer tank. The orbiter is the main part of the space shuttle that can carry people and carry payloads. It is about 37 meters long and has a maximum wingspan of 24 meters. Its own weight is about 68 tons. The United States decided to develop the space shuttle in 1972. It is designed to use it to send a large amount of payload into Earth orbit, so that it can repair satellites in orbit and bring satellites back to the ground for repair. It can land on an airport runway like an airplane and can generally be reused 100 times. But the purpose of the Colombia was only to test its performance. This was the first of four planned test flights and did not officially start until 1982. In terms of scientific and technological development and politics, this is a major event that has attracted the attention of the whole world. Since the Soviet Union's first artificial satellite was launched into space in 1957, the world's aerospace science has made great progress. Currently, there are countless artificial satellites running in the air. However, they can only collapse themselves and cannot be repaired, let alone return to earth for reuse. The space shuttle Colombia was designed to solve this problem. It can fly like a rocket, orbit in space like a satellite, land on time like a glider, and then be used again. The 18-meter-long engine room can carry 36 tons of cargo. In other words, if the space shuttle is successful, it will be used as a scientific laboratory for working in space, opening up a new source of knowledge for mankind. After a while, it can even become an aerial factory to produce some high-standard products that are difficult to produce on the ground. It can also become a space repair station, manned and equipped to build new satellites and repair or withdraw old satellites. Some people call the space shuttle a "space truck" and may have been able to travel regularly between the earth and space in the mid-1980s. The space shuttle "Colombia", the first manned shuttle to shuttle into space and can return to the ground for repeated use, circled the earth 36 times at a speed of 17500 miles per hour for 54 and a half hours. It returned to Edwards Air Force Base in California on the afternoon of April 14 as planned.