Your birth year
2006
Space Shuttle Columbia
1981Space
Space Shuttle Columbia is 25 years older than you
It's from 1981, before you were born.
- First launch
- 1981
- Vehicle
- Space Shuttle Columbia
- Program
- Space Shuttle
About
As of 2026, it's 45 years old.
Space Shuttle Columbia launched in 1981, beginning a new period of reusable spacecraft, orbital laboratories, satellite deployment, and astronaut crews.
The shuttle made spaceflight look more routine, even as every launch remained technologically complex and risky.
Space Shuttle Columbia through the years
1981
1981
First shuttle launch
Columbia flew STS-1.
You were born — 2006
