Columbia's Construction

The NASA official histories will tell you Columbia was named after the Boston, Massachusetts based sloop captained by American Robert Gray. But what they often leave out is Columbia was also the name of the Apollo 11 command module. The second shuttle, Challenger, was named after British Naval research vessel HMS Challenger that sailed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans during the 1870's, and also the Apollo 17 lunar module. It seems appropriate the first two space shuttles were named after two of the spaceships that made the first and last journeys to the moon during the Apollo landings.

Columbia has always been a poetic description for the United States. Its name comes from Christopher Columbus. 19th century science fiction writer Jules Verne named his spaceship “Columbiad” in his novel From the Earth to the Moon. Verne’s ship launched from Florida with its three person crew, went around the moon, and returned to Earth and landed in the Pacific Ocean. It only seemed appropriate to name the Apollo 11 command module Columbia.

Construction on space shuttle Columbia began a couple of years after NASA awarded the contract to North American Rockwell (now part of aerospace giant Boeing).

07/26/72 Contract Award
03/27/75 Start long lead fabrication aft fuselage
11/17/75 Start long-lead fabrication of crew module
06/28/76 Start assembly of crew module
09/13/76 Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage
12/13/76 Start assembly upper forward fuselage
01/03/77 Start assembly vertical stabilizer
08/26/77 Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman
10/28/77 Lower forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale
11/07/77 Start of Final Assembly
02/24/78 Body flap on dock, Palmdale
04/28/78 Forward payload bay doors on dock, Palmdale
05/26/78 Upper forward fuselage mate
07/07/78 Complete mate forward and aft payload bay doors
09/11/78 Complete forward RCS
02/03/79 Complete combined systems test, Palmdale
02/16/79 Airlock on dock, Palmdale
03/05/79 Complete postcheckout
03/08/79 Closeout inspection, Final Acceptance Palmdale
03/08/79 Rollout from Palmdale to Dryden (38 miles)
03/12/79 Overland transport from Palmdale to Edwards
03/20/79 SCA Ferry Flight from Dryden to Biggs AFB, Texas
03/22/79 SCA Ferry flight from Biggs AFB to Kelly AFB, Texas
03/24/79 SCA Ferry flight from Kelly AFB to Eglin AFB, Florida
03/24/79 SCA Ferry flight from Eglin, AFB to KSC
11/03/79 Auxiliary Power Unit hot fire tests, OPF KSC
12/16/79 Orbiter integrated test start, KSC
01/14/80 Orbiter integrated test complete, KSC
02/20/81 Flight Readiness Firing

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