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Nuclear Ferry and Shuttle Orbiter docked to an Orbital Propellant Depot. The Space Transportation System (STS), also known internally to NASA as the Integrated Program Plan (IPP), [1] was a proposed system of reusable crewed space vehicles envisioned in 1969 to support extended operations beyond the Apollo program (NASA appropriated the name for its Space Shuttle Program, the only component of ...
Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft where it was the only item funded for development, as a proposed nuclear shuttle in the plan was cancelled in 1972. [1] [2] It flew 135 missions and carried 355 astronauts from 16 countries, many on multiple trips.
In September 1969, the Space Task Group, under the leadership of U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew, issued a report calling for the development of a space shuttle to bring people and cargo to low Earth orbit (LEO), as well as a space tug for transfers between orbits and the Moon, and a reusable nuclear upper stage for deep space travel.
STS-61-C was the last successful Space Shuttle flight before the Challenger disaster, which occurred on January 28, 1986, only 10 days after Columbia ' s return. Accordingly, commander Gibson later called the STS-61-C mission "The End of Innocence" for the Shuttle Program.
The primary objectives included conducting a variety of science experiments in the pressurized Spacehab module, the deployment and retrieval of the Spartan free-flyer payload, and operations with the HST Orbital Systems Test (HOST) and the International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (IEH) payloads carried in the payload bay. [3]
STS-1 (Space Transportation System-1) was the first orbital spaceflight of NASA's Space Shuttle program. The first orbiter, Columbia, launched on April 12, 1981, [1] and returned on April 14, 1981, 54.5 hours later, having orbited the Earth 37 times. Columbia carried a crew of two—commander John W. Young and pilot Robert L. Crippen.
Another materials science experiment, the Physical Vapor Transport of Organic Solids-2 (PVTOS-2), was a joint project of NASA's Office of Commercial Programs and the 3M company. Three life sciences experiments were conducted, including one on the aggregation of red blood cells , intended to help determine if microgravity can play a beneficial ...
STS-61-B was the 23rd NASA Space Shuttle mission, and its second using Space Shuttle Atlantis. The shuttle was launched from Kennedy Space Center , Florida , on November 26, 1985. During STS-61-B, the shuttle crew deployed three communications satellites , and tested techniques of constructing structures in orbit .