Space Shuttle History By brycefreshour Period: Oct 1, 1957 to Dec 31, 2013 Space Exploration Sep 17, 1976 Prototype of ENTERPRISE came out of assembly Feb 18, 1977 ENTERPRISE was tested and attached to SHUTTLE CARRIER Aug 12, 1977 First Free Flight of ENTERPRISE Oct 26, 1977 Final Free Flight of ENTERPRISE Apr 12, 1981 First Flight of COLOMBIA Apr 4, 1983 First CHALLENGER flight Aug 30, 1984 First DICOVERY flight Oct 3, 1985 First ATLANTIS flight Jan 18, 1986 Disaster 73 seconds after launch, CHALLENGER kills 7 crew May 4, 1989 ATLANTIS, first to launch a Probe Oct 18, 1989 Galileo Launch Apr 24, 1990 DISCOVERY launches Hubble Space Telescope May 7, 1992 First ENDEAVOUR flight Nov 19, 1996 COLOMBIA, longest shuttle mission days, 17 days, 15 hours Oct 15, 1997 Cassini Huygens Launched Oct 15, 1997 Cassini Huygens Launched Dec 4, 1998 First ENDEAVOUR mission Feb 1, 2003 COLOMBIA disinigrates on Re-entry, 7 crew dead Sep 21, 2003 Galileo Mission End Jul 25, 2005 DISCOVERY Mission, first post- COLOMBIA mission Feb 24, 2011 Last DISCOVERY flight May 16, 2011 Lest Endavour Mission Jul 8, 2011 Last flight so far, ATLANTIS last flight