Space Shuttle: A Remarkable Flying Machine (1981) 

It’s a tradition for me to come and re watch this video every few months. I’ve been doing it since I was 5 years old and now I’m 16 years old

It's amazing to think that the Space Shuttle was designed and built in the 70's

RIP John Young..You were truly a legend..God bless You.

what an amazing place America was back then

John Young was a real life Buck Rogers, I love how he's so exited upon landing...quite rare, apparently the other astronauts of Group 2 would refer to him as "the uncomplaining dark horse ".

i wish the space shuttle was still a thing

outstanding!!! rip Commander Young, you truly were, the man with the right stuff, and you did it all!

The way Young keep checking HIS craft, and watching it, and admire it after the landing, full of enthusiasm. What a GOAT of astronaut.

Such an entirely magnificent vehicle. Theres nothing better i would ever give my life to...

Could you imagine going to space as the first person to orbit in a spaceship of that kind and risk your life knowing that something unexpected could go wrong, but yet being able to see the earth from a perspective very few humans have been able to experience

I was 13 years old when this flight was made and I remember it like it was yesterday. What a great time to be alive.

I was in Bakersfield CA when this happened. I remember the double sonic booms rattling the building. It was awesome. Couldn't see it though.

God Bless America ! and God Bless all the scientists, researchers, engineers, builders, support staff, and especially the Astronauts. One More Step forward for our species... reaching out from our crib... exploring the universe !

Scary to think 21 years later that Colombia would be destroyed RIP to all 7 onboard

Columbia was so shiny and new. She would complete this voyage many many more times

In the years to come you will confuse with all these rockets around but you will never be wrong when you come across with the shuttle.

We want to see more of this in the future... LESS WARS... MORE SPACE EXPLORATION pls.

Those astronauts had balls of steel.

It just never gets old.

I had this on VHS and I wat hed it over and over again... Truly on one of the great achievements for American aerospace.. I had a model of the shuttle on the 747 riding piggback.. I loved showing it to my friends when they came to my place.. They thought I was nuts.... Great video!! 🐦 ❤

Was able to watch it fly over with my binoculars in Australia. Was such a clear night I stayed up until it came over again

The footage of the first shuttle taking off is amazing enough. The first time people have seen this thing take off. The whoops of joy in one video at booster sep. But a whole documentary on the first flight? Amazing. Thanks soo much for sharing!

This is Unbelievable awesome footage!!

Crazy how now it's in pieces.. R.I.P. to those who lost their lives on it.

remarkable , we need more of this documentaries

It feels like the world had such enthusiasm for spaceflight and lost some of it for some reason...

Wow! Great achievement for mankind

What an amazing feat, still.

RIP Commander John Young

Saw it live on tv while listening to Boston 😎At 9 yrs old😉🤔☝️

25:00 makes me nostalgic for the old times "basic building block for the future" ... now can't even get the Senator Lunch System up and running

This is amazing. This video was uploaded on the same day when i'm doing my project on the space shuttle! Thanks for the upload

Instead of interrupting the Space Shuttle, NASA should have investigated how to improve its subsystems: how to simplify the maintenance of the thermal shield, how to replace the two side solid accelerators (which seen from 2019 would consist of a first recoverable stage F9 style). 30 years flying, 135 flights, 2 accidents, 98.5% reliability, 14 astronauts dead but 1000 astronauts in orbit.

Excellent!!!

is sad the final of this beauty.......RIP columbia

Coldwar era video and music. I love it!

I was not old enough to know what was going on in 1981 but I'll hopefully still be young enough to know what is going on when Starship launches :-)

Since I was 4 years and 2 days old, I heard ABC's coverage of the launch on RU-vid. Frank Reynolds was anchoring. What a great newsman he was.

I was in basic training for the USAF when the Challenger and it's brave crew were lost in 1986. All of us in our Flight took on extra duties, so the artist among us could paint a tribute to the crew on our dayroom wall at Lackland AFB. Anyone that has served in the armed forces, knows how little free time you get in basic. We shined his shoes, washed and ironed his clothes, took his KP and night watches so he could finish the tribute. It was well worth it. I doubt that it is still there. If the dorm is still standing, some dumb ass LT probably had the mural painted over. Luckily, for me, my memories are not painted over yet!

r.i.p columbia

Who'd have thought that this Virgin craft would have ended up in a fireball re-entry. RIP Columbia crew... Great video & great bit of histroy. I remeber rushing home from school to watch the launch. Thanks for the uploads Airboyd, please keep em coming.

I'm digging the 80's techno music at the end :P

The space Shuttle was very advanced in its look and design.

Heady days; I remember this momentous flight. I took off from work to watch the launch and then again the landing.

Amazing footage

It never gets old, even know this program is over with , it's just an awesome sight.

So awesome. Even love the quirky 70's music. To be the first, to trust the science and calculations. Amazing feat for its time.

Hundreds perhaps thousands of years in the making...many have dreamed!

Geez.. 1981 seems so long ago. This doco makes it seem like the 1960s. Lol

12:21 the booster recovery boats were clothing optional during the early part of the shuttle program

5:26 Napoleon Dynamite? Gosh! Sweet!😅

I miss the shuttle. Though unlikely, I am hoping it returns one day.

I love that the end credit song was in 7/4 for some reason.

I was in grade school when they launched it for the first time they shut down the whole school to watch it launch live they had tv s on a cart in different rooms to watch it .

The female at Mission Control is definitely NOT Christa McAuliffe. She was only selected to fly on the Shuttle in 1985 and would have been just an ordinary young teacher in 1981. Orange is the "natural" colour of the foam insulation used on the ET. Originally the tank was sprayed with a protective white paint but the painting of the tank was discontinued to save weight. The tanks ALWAYS shed foam, from the 1st flight right through to the last. It was something that they never learned how to cure.

So amazing they made it back but at the same time super tragic that some years later Columbia would burn up on reentry from broken tiles.

Other than my 2 sons I have 2 heroes - John Young & Ayrton Senna. They don’t come more heroic as these 4.......

The only launch vehicle powered by three main engines and two volcanoes.

I wonder if America would ever be THIS great again.....

this is a proud understanding on space shutle(space craft)

That and the Concord best things to ever fly

Awesome! Keep up the great uploads!

Columbia - one of them birds who forever fly!

Восхитительный корабль, огромное уважение всем инженерам и конструкторам. И вечная память погибшему кораблю и астронавтам...

Interesting that you are just starting to see crude graphics on the controllers screens. In the apollo years there were just numbers. I never realized they never flew the shuttle unmanned. That was pretty bold. The Russians flew their Buran at least once but it was unmanned.

the Shuttle is an amazing mechine I will miss them Columbia, Challenger,Discovery,Atlantis,and Endeavour thank you my brave ships you done a good job

Can't see it, but one of the wheel wells suffered damage from heat getting in due to a incorrectly installed tile gap filler that ducted plasma into the well. Very close to a disaster on flight 1.

great video

great film thanks

I have a Kiwi newspaper for STS1... cool vid.. thanks from NZ 👍🇳🇿

16:25 Did anyone else see that thing speed past in the background as they were closing the payload bay doors?

STS 1 the flight that started it all

See, I miss people just being people. We don't always need polished, practiced verbage, just be yourself.

Awesome and amazing Making of history for the future.

21:46 I heard this song on Round Trip To Glasgow

Beautiful!

I just got a NASA DVD 2 disk package the other day and this program is on it (Disk 1). The package is called "40th Anniversity Man On the Moon with Walter Cronkite" For all you, youtubers information if interested in seeing this on DVD. I enjoy the music during the landing segment. It sounds like the spaceship ATARI video game of the times. RIP Columbia

Amazing to look back

Impressive

Wathed this launch live at school in 2nd grade...Jesus I feel old

This is the second time im watching it💥🖐

It's amazing that in its first mission to space had a tile problem (not in the same place) and that 22 years later Columbia would break up over Texas due to a tile problem.

They said it was revolutionary... How ironic that this vehicle and the Challenger would be the death angel for the crew a decade later...

toda una época que se nos fue, junto al concorde, SR-71 «Blackbird» y el saturno V que lujo de tiempos vivimos y se fueron.....

Thank you so much for uploading to your channel. I was born in the late 70s and grew up, (and still live), in the Scottish highlands and I never took any notice of the space programme. I was sitting at my homework the day Challenger exploded and that was the only time I ever really thought about space shuttles etc. I’m now fascinated and programmes like this upload are fantastic 👍🏻

My dad worked on parts of this in the 70's and he called it a death trap with wings. My father-in-law who was a high ranking USAF Officer who worked on the space program from ''60-71 called it the same thing when in final development. They were both right

Yeah, Remarkable achievement in the maiden Flight.! Wish if I could fly without barrier.!! 🇮🇳🙋‍♂️👍♎

The music and orator of this TV movie, it sounds as if it was recorded back in the 50s. Anyway, I like it. I watched it lift off on TV. Sweden, April 1981.

Nice of Mr Bush to pick up the phone and call the boys to say hey..!

Es impresionanten ese Space Shutle mucho años el 1981.. .... TV buena

Great piece of engineering.Too bbad it never lived up to its hype.

I remember the triumph...and the tragedy. Bittersweet memories.

Sure seemed like it was the future. It wasn't but it did its part.

And nobody expected the loss of this shuttle and his crew 22 years later by the result of an issue that had the space shuttles from their development forward.

@TheSithTeacher Shuttle can only go on orbit. [1981 - 2011] R.I.P. - Space Shuttle Discovery

I was 11 and in junior school when I first watched it go up Remarkable that’s all I’ll say

Saw the emergency exits. Something very much needed.

It's easy to forget that in the early days, the crew sat on ejection seats. 6:13

15:20 '...the Columbia. Not the kind ya smoke... ' 😂😂👍🇺🇸

It will always be known as the first ever wing rocket to travel beyond the globes of earth.