<p>On 12th April 1981, the space shuttle Columbia made history becoming the first ever reusable space craft to fly into orbit. It marked the start of a 30-year shuttle programme which revolutionised the history of manned space exploration. Using NASA and BBC archive we tell the story of this historic test flight.
Photo: NASA photo shows the first launchin ... Show More
Yesterday
Colombia's Salt Cathedral
<p>In 1995, a cathedral was built 180m underground in the Zipaquirá Salt Mine in Colombia. </p><p>The idea came from the miners building makeshift altars in the mine in the 1930s, to pray for their safety before starting their shifts. </p><p>It’s now a major tourist attraction, a ... Show More
10m 35s
Nov 24
Toy Story: the first digitally-animated feature film
<p>Released in 1995, this buddy movie about a cowboy doll and a toy astronaut was the first to use entirely computer-generated images. </p><p>The story, about a group of toys who come alive when humans are not around, appealed to audiences around the world.</p><p>In 2017, animato ... Show More
10m 47s
Dec 2022
Apollo 8 Goes to the Moon
December 21, 1968. Apollo 8, the first crewed spacecraft to successfully orbit the Moon and return to Earth, launches from the Kennedy Space Center.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
16m 35s
Apr 2021
Episode 29: First Space Shuttle Flight: Astronaut Bob Crippen on the Legacy of STS-1 & Columbia
The spotlights came on in the predawn hours of April 12th 1981, illuminating a spacecraft like no other, the space shuttle. Just before liftoff, Columbia's crew climbed inside for the very first test flight into space.
28m 46s
Jun 2021
Apollo–Soyuz: The End of the Space Race
The space race officially began on October 4, 1957, at 7:28 PM Moscow Time. That was when Sputnik was launched into orbit as the first artificial satellite, and from that moment, it was on. But when did the space race end? That is a much trickier question and there is no formal a ... Show More
9m 30s