America's first operational space shuttle, Columbia, landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California after its first test flight. She was the first shuttle to reach space after launching on April 12th, and in that first flight she orbited the earth 36 times.
Amazing to think how much has happened since then....
Space Shuttle
Columbia flew 28 flights, spent 300.74-days in space, completed 4,808 orbits, and flew 125,204,911 miles in total, including its final mission. It is the only spaceworthy shuttle to have never visited either the Russian Space Station Mir or the ISS while those stations have been in operation.
On February 1st 2003 Columbia broke apart in flames over Texas during re-entry and landing procedures at an altitude of approximately 39 miles (63 km) and a speed of 12,500 mph (5.6 km/s).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia