44 years after the first landing of the space shuttle

On April 14, 1981, the rear wheels of the Columbia Space Shuttle landed on Lake Dry Rogers at the Edwards Air Force Base in southern California. The first space mission of the shuttle, consisting of an orbital flight of more than 48 hours, was completed 44 years ago. Landing demonstrated the effectiveness of the new U.S. manned space launch system, whose main virtue was precisely landing as an airplane and the possibility of being reused. A day …