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The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated by NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft of which it was the only item funded for development. [ 1 ]
Now operated by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. [61] United States: White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico: 1945– 7500+ Military and civilian flights. Served as alternate landing site for the Space Shuttle. [62] United States
The Air Force expected to use the Space Shuttle to launch large satellites, and required it to be capable of lifting 29,000 kg (65,000 lb) to an eastward LEO or 18,000 kg (40,000 lb) into a polar orbit. The satellite designs also required that the Space Shuttle have a 4.6 by 18 m (15 by 60 ft) payload bay.
The inaugural polar-orbit flight, designated STS-62-A and using Space Shuttle Discovery with Shuttle veteran Robert Crippen as commander, was planned for 15 October 1986. However, the Challenger disaster of 28 January 1986 grounded the Shuttle fleet as efforts were concentrated on recovery and returning the program to flight after a two-year ...
Non-launch costs account for a significant part of the program budget: for example, during fiscal years 2004 to 2006, NASA spent around $13 billion on the Space Shuttle program, [19] even though the fleet was grounded in the aftermath of the Columbia disaster and there were a total of three launches during this period of time. In fiscal year ...
A launch status check, also known as a "go/no go poll" and several other terms, occurs at the beginning of an American spaceflight mission in which flight controllers monitoring various systems are queried for operation and readiness status before a launch can proceed. For Space Shuttle missions, in the firing room at the Launch Control Center ...
In the United States, SpaceX's Dragon 2 spacecraft made its first crewed flight to the International Space Station on 31 May 2020 as part of the Commercial Crew Program, [8] enabling American human orbital spaceflight capability for the first time since the Space Shuttle's retirement in 2011. Dragon 2 became the first commercial system to fly ...
STS-51 was a NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission that launched the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) in September 1993. Discovery's 17th flight also featured the deployment and retrieval of the SPAS-ORFEUS satellite and its IMAX camera , which captured spectacular footage of Discovery in space.