The first space shuttle mission
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2021
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On 12th April 1981, the space shuttle Columbia made history becoming the first ever reusable space craft to fly into orbit. It marked the start of a 30-year shuttle programme which revolutionised the history of manned space exploration. Using NASA and BBC archive we tell the story of this historic test flight. Photo: NASA photo shows the first launching of the space shuttle from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Columbia carried astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen. (AFP via Getty Images)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC |
| 0:35.4 | Sounds. |
| 0:36.4 | From the BBC World Service. |
| 0:38.4 | She said he was hacker. |
| 0:39.4 | So many millions of dollars. |
| 0:40.8 | It's got to be North Korea. |
| 0:41.8 | How in the world did this happen? |
| 0:43.2 | The Lazarus heist, episode one is available now. |
| 0:47.8 | Hello and |
| 0:55.0 | today using recordings from the BBC World Service with me Alex Last. |
| 0:57.0 | And today using recordings from NASA and the BBC Archive, |
| 1:01.0 | we go back to April 1981 to tell the story of a defining moment in the history of |
| 1:06.7 | space exploration when NASA launched the first space shuttle into orbit. |
| 1:16.0 | What makes lift off of this totally new spaceship far more gripping than any other space |
| 1:21.0 | launch so far is that we're in completely unknown territory. |
| 1:25.0 | Unlike all other manned spacecraft, this one has never been tested in space. |
| 1:30.0 | Just about anything could happen. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.