This rocket propellant fuelled the 1981 Space Shuttle

The day was April 12, 1981. At the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, USA, the launch control crew was abuzz: in only a few short minutes, the world's first space-rated orbiter would officially launch and hurtle towards outer space.

This was history in the making.

And then it happened: at 12:00:03 (local time), the STS-1 Space Shuttle-a spacecraft nearly ten years in development-lifted off from the launch pad in a cloud of steam and smoke as the control crew watched from afar with bated breath. A few minutes later, two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external tank filled with liquid hydrogen detached from the orbiter. And several minutes after that, the orbiter pierced through the Earth's atmosphere to reach orbit. Cheers, applause and even a few tears filled the launch control centre. The crew may not have known it back then, but this was the start of one of the most successful space shuttle programmes ever.