The first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, being released from a 747 during an atmospheric test flight

1977 NASA file image shows the first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, being released from a 747 during an atmospheric test flight. The US space shuttle is part cargo truck, part passenger bus, part airplane built for orbit, and has known soaring highs and devastating lows during its 30-year career in spaceflight. The shuttle program was born in 1972 with the decision by president Richard Nixon to launch the program, which would become the major focus of US human spaceflight ambitions over the next four decades. A prototype called Enterprise was built for test flights but never reached space. Columbia became the first shuttle to fly in orbit with its launch on April 12, 1981 with two astronauts on board.