Vintage NASA SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA - FLOWN HRSI TILE FRAGMENT STS- -1 1981

Description

COLUMbIA
This specimen is a mission-flown tile fragment from the Space Shuttle
Columbia
(OV-102). Known as a high-temperature surface insulation tile (HRSI), This specimen includes the black, reaction-cured glass coating designed to withstand intense heat of re-entry up to 2300°F.
Souvenir of the Space Shuttle Orbiter - Columbia
This is recorded section of a High - Temperature Reusable Surface Insulation  (HRSI) tile, which was mounted and tested on the Space Shuttle Orbiter - Columbia (STS-1)
Frame: 12.
5 “ x 12.5”
Very good vintage conditions
FIRST LAUNCH: APRIL 12, 1981 - TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELED: 125,204,911 MILES
SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA
"The powered flight took a total of about eight and a half minutes. It seemed to me it had gone by in a flash. We had gone from sitting still on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center to traveling at 17,500 miles an hour in that eight and a half minutes. It is still mind-boggling to me. I recall making some statement on the air-to-ground radio for the benefit of my fellow astronauts, who had also been in the program a long time, that it was well worth the wait."
~ Bob Crippen, STS-1 astronaut, regarding first flight of the Space Shuttle, April, 12 1981