CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The thought of test launching a new spaceship with people aboard is unfathomable to NASA, which hopes to have a replacement for the space shuttle ready for test flights as early as 2016.
But 25 years ago, the agency did just that with the shuttle Columbia. John Young, a veteran of the Gemini and Apollo programs of the 1960s and early 1970s, and rookie astronaut Robert Crippen were strapped inside for the debut launch.
