"Just before launch, the launch director reminded us we were professionals -- and we needed to remain calm and stay seated," recalls Newton, then the project representative for the External Tank program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

"You could feel the electricity -- the excitement in the air," remembers Newton, today the team lead for the Solid Rocket Booster Program at Marshall. "As the Shuttle lifted off, you could tell everyone wanted to jump up for a better look. I don't know how we stayed seated, but we did."

To mark the anniversary of that first launch, STS-1 Commander John Young and Pilot Robert Crippen will be special guests at the Marshall Center April 24. At the celebration -- from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for all Marshall employees, retirees and contractors -- the astronauts will share their STS-1 reminiscences, participate in a ceremony to cast their footprints as part of Marshall's "Footprints to the Future" collection, and autograph a plaque to be displayed with a retired Shuttle Main Engine.

Vivid recollections of that early April morning in 1981 abound. Marshall Center engineer Jack Hengel was on the people-packed Cape Canaveral causeway six miles away. "I remember seeing the plume generated by the solids -- the Solid Rocket Boosters -- and then the Shuttle just shot off the pad. I didn't expect such a rapid liftoff. I was used to watching the slow, lumbering liftoff's of the Saturn rockets," says Hengel, now manager of the Solid Rocket Booster Recovery System.

Marshall's Space Shuttle Projects Office is responsible for the first eight-and-a-half minutes of each Shuttle launch. During those crucial 510 seconds, the Reusable Solid Rocket Motors generate enough energy to power 87,000 homes for a full day, the Solid Rocket Boosters accelerates the Shuttle to 3,000 mph (4,828 kilometers per hour), the External Tank feeds 535,000 gallons (202.5 deciliters) of liquid propellants to the Main Engine, and inside the combustion chambers of Shuttle's three main engines temperatures are hot enough to melt steel.

For the Marshall Center, the launch of Columbia was the zenith of more than 10 years' work and the beginning of a new era in space travel: one that foresees the Space Shuttle transporting crew, equipment and experiments to the International Space Station into the year 2012 -- and perhaps beyond.

However, during the 1970s, the Space Shuttle and its major propulsion elements -- the Main Engine, Solid Rocket Boosters, External Tank and Reusable Solid Rocket Motors -- were little more than an idea. The Marshall Center was chosen for the preliminary studies and development of the Shuttle's major propulsion elements.

"The Shuttle remains the most unique spacecraft built. There is no other with reusable boosters and engines and none with better performance," says Alex McCool, manager of Marshall's Shuttle Project office and a member of the original Shuttle team.

The Shuttle posed a number of technical challenges for Marshall engineers, says McCool. First, the Orbiter required a highly efficient propulsion system. Secondly, the Shuttle had to be reusable.

"I remember one problem -- on the main oxidizer value -- that took almost a year to solve," says George Hopson, manager for Marshall's Space Shuttle Main Engine Project. "Every time we tested the engine we took a chance at burning it up. It was the biggest obstacle we faced, and we knew we had to resolve it quickly to meet the first launch schedule."

The External Tank was another design challenge. It had to be strong, lightweight, hold 1.6 million pounds (725,000 kilograms) of propellant, and � because it would not be reusable -- costs had to be kept down. Marshall drew on its experience with the Saturn V rocket.

The result: The External Tank stands 154 feet tall (49.6 meters) and 27.6 feet (8 meters) wide, withstands the thrust loads of 7 million pounds (3.2 million kilograms and its skin is only slightly thicker -- 0.25 inches (0.65 centimeters) -- than an aluminum soft drink can.

Design of the Solid Rocket Boosters was driven by the need for high thrust and reusability. "Initial specifications called for motor case segments that could be used 20 times, but we wanted more," says Parker Counts, manager of Marshall's Solid Rocket Booster project. Marshall engineers opted for a weld-free case formed by a continuous flow-forming process.

One of the biggest challenges for the Solid Rocket Booster team was that it had no way to test its recovery system. Because of the size and weight of the boosters, there was no aircraft that could carry that much weight aloft.

The first launch proved the system that Marshall engineers developed worked. The boosters float to Earth beneath the world's largest parachutes.

The Marshall Center also coordinated Shuttle test activities. Test stands and equipment that had stood idle since the Saturn era were revived and remodeled to support Shuttle test efforts.

"Marshall met the challenge of developing durable space hardware that could be recycled for many missions," says McCool. "It is a remarkable tribute to the dedication of our team in the most trying of political times -- in the post-Apollo era when the nation turned away from the space race.

Today, the Marshall Center continues to manage those first eight-and-a-half minutes of a Space Shuttle's launch. "Attention to launch safety requires attention every minute of every day," says McCool. "The Shuttle will continue to keep pace with advances in technology. Upgrades to its propulsion system have made it safer, more streamline and more cost-effective."

More enhancements are planned within the next five years, including adding an advanced health management system that will monitor the "health" of the Shuttle's main engine.

Each new technology makes space travel safer and delivers new products -- from healthcare to computers -- into the everyday lives of people here on Earth.

After the first Shuttle launch, STS-1 pilot Robert Crippen, succinctly summed up the development of the Shuttle and his launch experience: "We just became a whole lot smarter."

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