Flights

Columbia flew 28 missions, gathering 300.74 days spent in space with 4,808 orbits and a total distance of 125,204,911.5 miles (201,497,773.1 km) until STS-107.

Though having been in service during the Shuttle-Mir and International Space Station programs, Columbia did not fly any missions that visited a space station. The other three active orbiters at the time had visited both Mir and the ISS at least once. Columbia was not suited for high-inclination missions.

#	Date	Designation	Launch pad	Landing location	Notes
1	1981, April 12	STS-1	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	First shuttle mission.
2	1981, November 12	STS-2	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	First re-use of crewed space vehicle
3	1982, March 22	STS-3	39-A	White Sands Space Harbor	First mission with an unpainted external tank. First and only space shuttle landing at White Sands.
4	1982, June 27	STS-4	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	Last shuttle R&D flight
5	1982, November 11	STS-5	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	First four-person crew, first deployment of commercial satellite.
6	1983 November 28	STS-9	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	First six-person crew, first Spacelab.
7	1986, January 12	STS-61-C	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	Representative Bill Nelson (D-FL) on board the final successful shuttle flight before the Challenger disaster
8	1989, August 8	STS-28	39-B	Edwards Air Force Base	Launched KH-11 reconnaissance satellite; first launch of Columbia from Launch Complex 39-B
9	1990, January 9	STS-32	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	Retrieved Long Duration Exposure Facility
10	1990, December 2	STS-35	39-B	Edwards Air Force Base	Carried multiple X-ray and UV telescopes
11	1991, June 5	STS-40	39-B	Edwards Air Force Base	5th Spacelab – Life Sciences-1
12	1992, June 25	STS-50	39-A	Kennedy Space Center (due to Hurricane Darby)	U.S. Microgravity Laboratory 1 (USML-1)
13	1992, October 22	STS-52	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	Deployed Laser Geodynamic Satellite II
14	1993, April 26	STS-55	39-A	Edwards Air Force Base	German Spacelab D-2 Microgravity Research
15	1993, October 18	STS-58	39-B	Edwards Air Force Base	Spacelab Life Sciences
16	1994, March 4	STS-62	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	United States Microgravity Payload-2 (USMP-2)
17	1994, July 8	STS-65	39-A	Kennedy Space Center	International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2)
18	1995, October 20	STS-73	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2)
19	1996, February 22	STS-75	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	Tethered Satellite System Reflight (TSS-1R)
20	1996, June 20	STS-78	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS)
21	1996, November 19	STS-80	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	Third flight of Wake Shield Facility (WSF) and longest Shuttle flight
22	1997, April 4	STS-83	39-A	Kennedy Space Center	Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL), cut short
23	1997, July 1	STS-94	39-A	Kennedy Space Center	Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL), reflight
24	1997, November 19	STS-87	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-4)
25	1998, April 13	STS-90	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	Neurolab – Spacelab
26	1999, July 23	STS-93	39-B	Kennedy Space Center	Deployed Chandra X-ray Observatory; first female Shuttle Commander Eileen Collins; last launch of Columbia from Launch Complex 39-B
27	2002, March 1	STS-109	39-A	Kennedy Space Center	Hubble Space Telescope service mission (HSM-3B)
28	2003, January 16	STS-107	39-A	Did not land (Planned to land at Kennedy Space Center)	A multi-disciplinary microgravity and Earth science research mission. Shuttle destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 and all seven astronauts on board killed.

Mission and tribute insigniasedit

NASA Orbiter Tribute for Space Shuttle Columbia

Mission insignia for Columbia flights

STS-1	STS-2	STS-3	STS-4	STS-5	STS 9	STS-61-C	STS-61-E*

STS-28	STS-32	STS-35	STS-40	STS-50	STS-52	STS-55	STS-58

STS-62	STS-65	STS-73	STS-75	STS-78	STS-80	STS-83	STS-94

STS-87	STS-90	STS-93	STS-109	STS-107	STS-118**	STS-121***