Space Shuttle - Columbia Cook, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
By fitzy_1965 on 07-Jul-17. Waypoint GA10465

The Space Shuttle Columbia (Orbiter Vehicle Designation OV-102) was the first space-rated orbiter in NASA's Space Shuttle fleet.

Columbia launched for the first time on mission STS-1 on April 12, 1981, the first flight of the Space Shuttle program. STS-1 was commanded by John Young, a veteran from the Gemini and Apollo programs who was the ninth person to walk on the Moon in 1972, and piloted by Robert Crippen, a rookie astronaut. Over 22 years of service it completed 27 missions before disintegrating during re-entry near the end of its 28th mission, STS-107 on February 1, 2003, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members. I happened to be in North America at the time, and there was a huge outpouring of grief at this the second Space Shuttle lost - again with the loss of seven lives.

As a child and an adult I have always been pretty facinated with space travel. I vaguely remember the Apollo program and then the Space Shuttle program was a background event through my teens and early adult life. In October 2015 I visited the Kennedy Space Center and finally saw a Space Shuttle up close - the Atlantis.

To find this cache you need to do a little research on the Columbia.

Columbia launched on 11 November 1982 on Mission STS-A

Columbia launched on 28 November 1983 on Mission STS-B

Columbia's first flight STS-1 went from 12 April to 1C April 1981

Columbia launched on 8 July 1994 on Mission STS-D5

E number of crew died when Columbia was destroyed

Mission STS-93 was launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 3F-B

The cache can be found at:

S35 15.ABC E149 02.DEF

BYO Pen.

Good Luck and happy hunting !

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