This 1981 NASA documentary, narrated by James Doohan, covers the first mission of Space Shuttle Columbia, STS-1, shows the training of the crewmembers, and takes a quick look at the international aspects of the mission, including the European Space Agency’s development of a space laboratory. The film also includes several sequences of montage shots of various people and places from all over the world, moving away from an “America versus Russia” narrative and stressing the global or humanity nature of the mission and subsequent missions. The film opens with Space Shuttle Columbia flying through space and moving into Earth’s orbit. Astronauts work inside a space shuttle. A satellite orbits Earth (01:55). Historian James A. Michener walks on a beach while his voice-over talks about the current civilization developing a new major step in human progress—space exploration (02:45). An astronaut is helped as he puts on a space suit (04:02). Footage shows men and women working in various NASA facilities. Viewers see the Columbia on the launch pad. An employee watches as the space shuttle is hoisted aloft in a hanger (05:12). Men assemble rocket boosters in a hanger. The Columbia sits in a hanger (06:20), waiting to be moved outside. Viewers see the shuttle slowly moved to Pad 39 on a crawler-transporter. People rehearse a launch procedure in the control room (08:08). The film shows one of the 15,000-foot runways for the return of the space shuttles. There is a montage of shots of people from around the world. Columbia is ready for launch (09:17). The boosters ignite and the shuttle blasts off. The solid rocket boosters fall away. UTC Liberty recovers the boosters from the Atlantic (10:24). Viewers see the space shuttle as it begins its orbit. There are more shots of people from around the world as the launch is discussed in several different languages. Basic animation is used to show the reentry of the shuttle (13:04), while actual footage from inside the shuttle shows the astronauts manning the ship. At NASA’s Goddard Center, men wait for contact from the shuttle. The space shuttle approaches for landing at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center and touches down for a successful runway landing (14:02). The orbiter is towed to the process facility for inspection. Viewers see the Columbia upright in a hanger from the perspective of riding up in an elevator alongside the shuttle and boosters (15:18). Astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen sit in the cockpit of the shuttle going through emergency simulations. Crippen practices using tools in his pressure space suit while flying in a military transport plane to simulate zero gravity (16:42). The astronauts and specialists experience weightlessness during the flight (17:00). Viewers see the astronauts train for survival skills at the Air Force’s Survival School—footage shows a woman going through parachute training. At NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, crew members work underwater on a full-scale bay model to simulate conditions in space (17:40). Columbia launches from Pad 39. A mission specialist is shown aboard the shuttle (20:02). Other mission specialists perform experiments and prepare to launch a telescope. Footage reveals the images captured from the telescope. Next, the film takes viewers to West Germany and the European Space Agency (21:50). Dutch physicist Wubbo Ockels walks through a space laboratory (22:16). Viewers see Columbia in space with its cargo bay open (23:04). Inside the shuttle, the crew prepares to launch satellites into orbit. Dr. Isaac Asimov sits at his desk and writes on a typewriter (24:18). Illustrations are used to depict a structure of a futuristic international space station (24:55). Columbia is hoisted in a hanger and readied for another mission (25:44), and the documentary concludes with footage of the spacecraft on the launch pad.

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 12, 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 1, 2003, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members.

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com