The first space shuttle launch happened in 1981 on the 20th anniversary of when Yuri Gargarin became the first man in space, but the launch date was not by design.
Less than a decade after Saturn V’s last mission, NASA began launching a new reusable vehicle under the Space Shuttle Program. The program’s approval happened while astronaut John Young was walking on the moon during Apollo 16 in 1972.
James Myers, a retired space shuttle engineer for Rockwell and Aerojet Rocketdyne, called it a "nightmare," spending two years putting the tiles back on the orbiter. NASA contracted Rockwell to build the orbiters for the space shuttle program."It was two years putting Humpty back together again," Myers recalled.
Before the space shuttle’s first orbital flight, one WDR was completed in February 1981 at Kennedy Space Center, but it also included a flight readiness firing, where all three orbiter engines were fired up, but the vehicle stayed firmly on the ground.
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