WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

S81-30734 (14 April 1981) --- The rear wheels of the space shuttle orbiter Columbia touch down on Rogers dry lake at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California to successfully complete a stay in space of more than two days. Astronauts John W. Young, commander, and Robert L. Crippen, pilot, are aboard the vehicle. The mission marked the first NASA flight to end with a wheeled landing and represents the beginning of a new age of spaceflight that will employ the same hardware repeatedly.