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Although the debris did not strike Discovery, the program was grounded once again for this reason. The second "Return to Flight" mission, STS-121 launched on July 4, 2006, at 14:37 (EDT). Two previous launches were scrubbed because of lingering thunderstorms and high winds around the launch pad, and the launch took place despite objections from ...
STS-2 was the second Space Shuttle mission conducted by NASA, and the second flight of the orbiter Columbia. The mission, crewed by Joe H. Engle and Richard H. Truly, launched on November 12, 1981, and landed two days later on November 14, 1981. [1] STS-2 marked the first time that a crewed, reusable orbital vehicle returned to space.
On January 5, 1979, NASA commissioned a second orbiter. Later that month, Rockwell began converting STA-099 to OV-099, later named Challenger . On January 29, 1979, NASA ordered two additional orbiters, OV-103 and OV-104, which were named Discovery and Atlantis .
The start of crewed Gemini missions was delayed a year later than NASA had planned, but ten largely successful missions were launched in 1965 and 1966, allowing the US to overtake the Soviet lead by achieving space rendezvous and docking of two vehicles, long duration flights of eight days and fourteen days , and demonstrating the use of extra ...
NASA was established on July 29, 1958, with the signing of the National Aeronautics and Space Act and it began operations on October 1, 1958. [4] As the US's premier aeronautics agency, NACA formed the core of NASA's new structure by reassigning 8,000 employees and three major research laboratories.
The plane was permanently retired in 1998, and the Air Force quickly disposed of their SR-71s, leaving NASA with the last two airworthy Blackbirds until 1999. [36] All other Blackbirds have been moved to museums except for the two SR-71s and a few D-21 drones retained by the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. [37] Lockheed U-2 "Dragon Lady"
NASA has since relied on Russia and SpaceX to take American astronauts to and from the International Space Station. [26] [33] NASA is currently constructing a deep-space crew capsule named the Orion. NASA's goal with this new space capsule is to carry humans to Mars. The Orion spacecraft is due to be completed in the early 2020s.
The Task Group's final report, delivered on 11 September 1969, outlined three broad plans; the first required funding at $8 to $10 billion a year and would fulfill all of NASA's goals, the second would reduce this to $8 billion or less if the crewed lunar orbiting station was dropped, and finally the third would require only $5 billion a year ...