Space Shuttle Columbia (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-102) was the first space-rated orbiter in NASA's Space Shuttle fleet. It launched for the first time on mission STS-1 on April 12th, 1981, the first flight of the Space Shuttle program. Serving for over 22 years, it completed 27 missions before disintegrating during re-entry near the end of its 28th mission, STS-107 on February 1st, 2003, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members.

Until its last refit, Columbia was the only operational orbiter with wing markings consisting of an American flag on the port (left) wing and the letters "USA" on the starboard (right) wing. Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour all, until 1998, bore markings consisting of the letters "USA" above an American flag on the left wing, and the pre-1998 NASA "worm" logo afore the respective orbiter's name on the right wing. (Enterprise, the test vehicle which was the prototype for Columbia, originally had the same wing markings as Columbia but with the letters "USA" on the right wing spaced closer together; Enterprise's markings were modified to match Challenger in 1983.)

The name of the orbiter was originally placed on the payload bay doors much like Enterprise but was placed on the crew cabin after the Challenger disaster so that the orbiter could be easily identified while in orbit. From its last refit to its destruction, Columbia bore markings identical to those of its operational sister orbiters - the NASA "meatball" logo on the left wing and the American flag afore the orbiter's name on the right; only Columbia's distinctive wing "chines" remained. These black areas on the upper surfaces of the shuttle's forward wing were added because, at first, shuttle designers did not know how reentry heating would affect the craft's upper wing surfaces. The "chines" allowed Columbia to be easily recognized at a distance, as opposed to the subsequent orbiters. The "chines" were added after Columbia arrived at KSC in 1979.

Pictured here is a 1:200 scale replica of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Length: 7-1/2-inches
Width: 4-1/2-inches

Release Date: November 2020

Historical Account: "STS-1" - STS-1 (Space Transportation System-1) was the first orbital spaceflight of NASA's Space Shuttle program. The first orbiter, Columbia, launched on April 12th, 1981, and returned on April 14th, 54.5 hours later, having orbited the Earth 36 times. Columbia carried a crew of two - mission commander John W. Young and pilot Robert L. Crippen. It was the first American crewed space flight since the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. STS-1 was also the only maiden test flight of a new American spacecraft to carry a crew, though it was preceded by atmospheric testing of the orbiter and ground testing of the Space Shuttle system.

The launch occurred on the 20th anniversary of the first human spaceflight. This was a coincidence rather than a celebration of the anniversary; a technical problem had prevented STS-1 from launching two days earlier, as was planned.