CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. -- Thirty-five years ago this week, a Hoosier made headlines heading into space aboard the first operational mission of the space shuttle.
Crawfordsville native Joseph Allen was selected by NASA to be a scientist-astronaut in 1967. Over the next 15 years, Allen served a number of roles with the agency, however none of them were in space. That changed in 1982.
That's when Allen was selected as part of the four-member crew of the space shuttle Columbia. It was the first fully operational mission of the space shuttle, and the fifth flight for Columbia. It was also the first time communications satellites were carried by a space shuttle. Allen spent five days in space, orbiting the earth 81 times.
On the morning of the launch, friends and family members of Joseph Allen gathered to watch the launch on TV.
Channel 6 reporter Ken Nelson was there. Head back to 1982 in this RTV6 throwback.
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