NASA Original Photograph — Space Shuttle Columbia STS-2, Second Flight, 1981 View Watchlist >
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Lot # Nasa84
System ID # 29274408
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NASA Original Color Photograph — Space Shuttle Columbia STS-2, Second Flight, 1981
The shuttle is in a hard bank, nose pitched down, the vast black-tiled underbelly and swept delta wings filling the frame against a haze of cloud and deep blue atmosphere. The three main engine bells and vertical stabilizer are visible at the rear, the orbiter's thermal protection system rendered in sharp contrast — the kind of image that makes clear, viscerally, just how alien this vehicle was. The verso bears a penciled notation reading "2nd — return" and "STS-2" in the upper left corner, a Kodak paper watermark running in repeating diagonal bands, and traces of a brown tide line at the lower left corner.
STS-2, launched November 12, 1981, was the second flight of Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) — and the first time in human history that a crewed spacecraft had been flown into orbit a second time. Commander Joe Engle and Pilot Richard Truly conducted the five-day mission to test Columbia's systems and the Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System. The flight was cut short by a fuel cell failure, but remained a landmark moment in the development of reusable spaceflight. This photograph documents that mission in original, period color.
History
Space Shuttle Columbia was NASA's first orbital-rated shuttle orbiter, flying the entire four-mission Orbital Flight Test series from 1981 to 1982 before the program was declared operational. STS-2 was critical: it validated that the Shuttle could be turned around and reflown — the core promise of the reusable spacecraft concept. Images from the OFT era carry particular historical weight because they document a system still being proven in real flight, captured by NASA photographers at a moment when the technology was genuinely new.
Provenance
- From the collection of a retired White Sands Missile Range Army employee, Las Cruces, New Mexico
- Offered as part of a dedicated NASA specialty auction
CONDITION
Very Good. The image is bright with strong color saturation and clean borders. The verso shows a brown stain and tide line to the lower left corner; the recto image area is unaffected. Minor handling wear to edges consistent with age.
DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS
- 8 1/2" × 11"
- Kodak paper; repeating "THIS PAPER MANUFACTURED BY KODAK" verso watermark
- Verso notation: "2nd — return / STS-2" (pencil, upper left)
- Mission: STS-2, Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102), November 1981
