Into the Black

On April 12, 1981, NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral: a state-of-the-art flying machine, and the world's first real spaceship: a winged rocket plane, the size of an airliner, and capable of flying to space and back before preparing to fly again. Less than an hour after departure tiles designed to protect the ship from the blowtorch burn of re-entry were missing from the heat shield. White recaptures the historic moments leading up to the launch of the Columbia, her daring maiden flight, and her life and death struggle to return, using interviews, NASA oral histories, and recently declassified material.