Pass, Press, Columbia

This press pass allowed media access to the rollout for the space shuttle Columbia. It belonged to Dennis Jenkins, a consulting aerospace engineer for the Space Shuttle Program, and author of Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System, a definitive book detailing the development and first 100 flights of the space shuttles.

Media coverage of the Space Shuttle Program, particularly coverage of space shuttle orbiter rollouts, launches, and landings, helped the entire program receive national attention. Designed as a reusable spacecraft capable of flights to low Earth orbit, space shuttle orbiters carried astronauts to conduct scientific experiments, launch and repair satellites, and construct the International Space Station.

This press pass was donated to the National Air and Space Museum by Dennis Jenkins in September 2011.