The Explorers' Club, № DCCCLXX

Operation AXIOM: The Space Age—The 43rd Anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia
8 March 1979: The Space Shuttle Columbia OV-102 rolled out of the North American Rockwell factory in Palmdale, California; as the first operational Space Shuttle Orbiter, the Columbia was heavier than the others; she flew the first five S.T.S. flights & twenty-eight missions in total from 1981-2003; the Columbia disintegrated during atmospheric re-entry on her final flight, dooming her crew of seven.

Commentary: The Columbia OV-102 was the namesake, along with Apollo 11's Command Module Columbia, of the Columbia Rediviva, an Eighteenth Century sailing ship that explored what became the U.S. Pacific Northwest & the Canadian province of British Columbia—which, along with the Columbia River, are likewise namesakes of the Columbia Rediviva. Columbia is also a poetic name for the Americas as well as a national personification of the Unites States, alongside Uncle Sam.

Bonus! Space Age Song o' the Day: The Space Shuttle Columbia
Rob Carriker, "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean (The Red, White, and Blue)" from Over There!: Songs from America's Wars (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.