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History

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This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  "Space Shuttle Columbia" – news  · newspapers  · books  · scholar  · JSTOR ( April 2020 ) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Construction began on Columbia in 1975 at Rockwell International's (formerly North American Aviation/North American Rockwell) principal assembly facility in Palmdale, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. Columbia was named after the American sloop Columbia Rediviva which, from 1787 to 1793, under the command of Captain Robert Gray, explored the US Pacific Northwest and became the first American vessel to circumnavigate the globe. It's also named after the command module of Apollo 11, the first crewed landing on another celestial body. Columbia was also the female symbol of the United States. After construction, the orbite...
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Tributes and memorials

Patricia Huffman Smith Museum edit The debris field encompassed hundreds of miles across Texas and into Louisiana and Arkansas. The nose cap and remains of all seven crew members were found in Sabine County, East Texas. citation needed To honor those who lost their lives aboard the shuttle and during the recovery efforts, the Patricia Huffman Smith NASA Museum "Remembering Columbia" was opened in Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas. The museum tells the story of Space Shuttle Columbia explorations throughout all its missions, including the final STS-107. Its exhibits also show the efforts of local citizens during the recovery period of the Columbia shuttle debris and its crew's remains. An area is dedicated to each STS-107 crew member, and also to the Texas Forest Service helicopter pilot who died in the recovery effort. The museum houses many objects and artifacts from NASA and its contractors, the families of the STS-107 crew and other individuals. The crew's famili...
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Flights

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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 A...
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