Apr.

04, 2006

Dryden Flight Research Center

P.O. Box 273
Edwards, California 93523
Phone 661-276-3449
FAX 661-276-3566

Leslie Williams
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Phone: (661) 276-3893
Leslie.A.Williams@nasa.gov

MEDIA ADVISORY: 06-09

FIRST SPACE SHUTTLE LANDING TO BE RECALLED AT MEDIA

BRIEFING

NASA retirees and others who played a major role in the first space
shuttle landing at Edwards Air Force Base 25 years ago will gather on
Monday, April 10 to share their recollections of that milestone at a
media briefing at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. Inside NASA’s
modified 747 shuttle carrier aircraft, media will have the
opportunity to relive that historic event with the people who
contributing to making that first landing of the Space Shuttle
Columbia on April 14, 1981 such a success.

Following the 90-minute briefing and interview period, media will have
the opportunity to tour the lakebed viewing site that was temporary
home to thousands of visitors who watched the landing. B-roll video
of the first shuttle landing will be available for TV crews.

News media representatives interested in participating must submit a

request for accreditation to the NASA Dryden public affairs office by
April 6 for the April 10 media event. Personal information that will
be needed: full name, date of birth, place of birth, media
organization, the last six digits of the social security number and
driver’s license number, including issuing state.

What: Media briefing, 25th anniversary of first space shuttle mission

Who: NASA and Air Force personnel who supported the event
When: 10 a.m. to about 12:30 p.m., Monday, April 10, 2006
Where: NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base
Media access: Contact Alan Brown, NASA Dryden public affairs, at (661)
276-2665, alan.brown@nasa.gov, by no later than 4 p.m. Thursday,
April 6.
Birthplace for the orbiters, the Antelope Valley has been an integral
part of the space shuttle program, recently hosting its 50th landing
at Edwards Air Force Base on August 9, 2005. NASA Dryden pilots and
engineers performed a great extent of the early work on the program,
testing and validating the design concepts that helped determine the
configuration of the nation’s first reusable spacecraft. Astronauts
John W. Young, commander, and Robert Crippen, pilot, soared into
space in Columbia from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April
12, 1981. The primary mission of the first flight, STS-1, was to
launch safely into orbit, check out the systems of the shuttle then
return to Earth safely in the Mojave Desert. This shakedown flight of
the spacecraft was the first manned flight using solid rocket
boosters. No previous United States space vehicle had been manned on
its maiden voyage.

For more information about the Space Shuttle Program and STS-1, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle.

-end-