On November 12th, 1981, the Space Shuttle Columbia was launched on the second flight of the Space Shuttle Program, a flight which also marks the first re-use of a crewed spacecraft – one of the key goals of the Shuttle Program.
STS-2 marked the first use of the Remote Manipulator Arm (the “Canadarm”) , and was intended to continue to test the endurance of the orbiter during flight. The mission was cut short, however, due to a problem in the one of the fuel cells on Columbia.
Columbia made a successful landing 2 days later having completed all of its primary objectives, but failing to meet long-duration objectives due to the shortened mission. Still, the flight was a success, and a few months later she would fly again on STS-3.
As always, I could say more about the flight here, but I’ll let the video tell you the story. Enjoy.