Sandra Bullock was part of the George Lopez crew.
STS-1 -LRB- Space Transportation System-1 -RRB- was the first orbital spaceflight of NASA 's Space Shuttle program .. NASA. NASA. Space Shuttle program. Space Shuttle program. orbital spaceflight. orbital spaceflight. The first orbiter , Columbia , launched on 12 April 1981 and returned on 14 April , 54.5 hours later , having orbited the Earth 37 times .. orbiter. Space Shuttle orbiter. Columbia carried a crew of two -- mission commander John W. Young and pilot Robert L. Crippen .. John W. Young. John Young ( astronaut ). Robert L. Crippen. Robert L. Crippen. It was the first American manned space flight since the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975 .. Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. STS-1 was also the only maiden test flight of a new US spacecraft to carry a crew , though it was preceded by atmospheric testing of the orbiter and ground testing of the space shuttle system .. orbiter. Space Shuttle orbiter. atmospheric testing. Approach and Landing Tests. The launch occurred on the 20th anniversary of the first-ever human spaceflight .. the first-ever human spaceflight. Vostok 1. This was a coincidence rather than a celebration of the anniversary ; a technical problem had prevented STS-1 from launching two days earlier , as was planned .