Columbia was the oldest shuttle in the NASA fleet.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Alfonso Chardy

MIAMI _ Columbia, the spacecraft that disintegrated over Texas on Saturday, was the oldest shuttle _ the first to soar into space in 1981 when NASA resumed piloted flight following the moon missions.

Named after an 18th century Boston-based sloop that made the first U.S. circumnavigation of the world in 1792, Columbia inaugurated the era of recycled space flight. It was the first craft in human space-faring to be used repeatedly. The mission in which it was lost Saturday was its 28th.

In tragedy, Columbia also marked a milestone, as the first piloted space ship to explode on its return trip to Earth.

Though Columbia did not go very far on its inaugural voyage, its departure on April 12, 1981, was hailed around the world as a major step in space exploration _ perhaps as important as the Soviet flight on April 12, 1961, that took the first man into space and the first Apollo Moon landing on July 20, 1969.

Eventually, though, Columbia's pioneering flight became only a distant memory as periodic shuttle voyages evolved into routine _ marred only by the explosion of the Challenger _ the second shuttle _ shortly after blast-off in January 1986.

As the oldest shuttle, Columbia underwent retrofits and upgrades over the past two decades.