NASA     1981

Suggested by Yuri K. The first space shuttle was launched on April 12, 1981. The first flight lasted 54 hours and 21 minutes. The shuttle was the first manned spacecraft designed to be re-usable. NASA - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States - planned the space shuttle as part of the push to establish a permanent manned space station, but budget cutbacks forced the agency to send up a smaller craft with a less ambitious set of goals. Even so, the first shuttle, The Columbia, weighs two million kilograms at takeoff!