<Tr> <Th> Satellites deployed </Th> <Td> 8 </Td> </Tr> <P> Space Shuttle Columbia (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV - 102) was the first space - rated orbiter in NASA's Space Shuttle fleet . It launched for the first time on mission STS - 1 on April 12, 1981, the first flight of the Space Shuttle program . 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 . </P> <P> Construction began on Columbia in 1975 at Rockwell International's (formerly North American Aviation / North American Rockwell) principal assembly facility in Palmdale, California, a suburb of Los Angeles . Columbia was named after the American sloop Columbia Rediviva which, from 1787 to 1793, under the command of Captain Robert Gray, explored the US Pacific Northwest and became the first American vessel to circumnavigate the globe . It is also named after the Command Module of Apollo 11, the first manned landing on another celestial body . Columbia was also the female symbol of the United States . After construction, the orbiter arrived at Kennedy Space Center on March 25, 1979, to prepare for its first launch . Columbia was originally scheduled to lift off in late 1979, however the launch date was delayed by problems with both the SSME components, as well as the thermal protection system (TPS). On March 19, 1981, during preparations for a ground test, workers were asphyxiated while working in Columbia's nitrogen - purged aft engine compartment, resulting in (variously reported) two or three fatalities . </P> <P> The first flight of Columbia (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 originally selected to fly on the military's Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) spacecraft, but transferred to NASA after its cancellation, and served as a support crew member for the Skylab and Apollo - Soyuz missions . </P>

Was columbia the first space shuttle to fly into space