The space shuttle is poised on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center on April 9, 1981 before the first launch in the space shuttle program. Note the white fuel tank. Program directors decided to leave it unpainted a few missions later, with the weight savings from the paint adding a few hundred extra pounds to the shuttle payload. Columbia burned up during reentry from orbit nearly 22 years after this photo was taken. I used a Nikon F2 and a 180mm lens to take the photo.