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S26.1 was a test tank designed to test the aft section of Block 1 ships after S24.1's failure. It conducted two tests on the can-crusher, before being moved off in July 2023. [216] On September 21, 2023, it was tested to destruction. [217] S24.2 was a test article designed to test the payload bay of Starlink dispenser vehicles. [218]
The satellite designs also required that the Space Shuttle have a 4.6 by 18 m (15 by 60 ft) payload bay. NASA evaluated the F-1 and J-2 engines from the Saturn rockets , and determined that they were insufficient for the requirements of the Space Shuttle; in July 1971, it issued a contract to Rocketdyne to begin development on the RS-25 engine.
The most massive payload launched by the Space Shuttle was the Chandra X-ray Observatory in 1999 at 50,162 lb (22,753 kg), including its Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) and support equipment. [40] The Shuttle was capable of returning approximately 16,000 kg (35,000 lb) of cargo to Earth. [41]
The four currently active space station cargo vehicles. Clockwise from top left: Progress, Cargo Dragon 2, Cygnus, Tianzhou. A number of different spacecraft have been used to carry cargo to and from space stations .
A related concept was servicing the space station using the Air Force Titan III-M to launch a larger Gemini capsule, called "Big Gemini", or a smaller "glider" version of the shuttle with no main engines and a 15 ft × 30 ft (4.6 m × 9.1 m) payload bay. The shuttle supporters answered that given enough launches, a reusable system would have ...
[1] The Leonardo module was modified in 2010 to turn it into the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) and was permanently attached to the ISS during the STS-133 mission in March 2011. In July 2011, the Raffaello module was the primary payload on the final Space Shuttle mission. It returned with the Shuttle and was stored at the Kennedy Space Center.
Space Shuttle Endeavour launched at 3:35:34 am EST from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A. STS-88 was the first shuttle flight to the International Space Station. After launch, the crew opened the shuttle's payload bay doors, deployed the Ku-Band antenna, and activated the shuttle's Hitchhiker
STS-39 was the first unclassified Department of Defense (DoD)-dedicated Space Shuttle mission. There had previously been seven Shuttle missions dedicated to the DoD, but those were considered classified and information about the operation or success of the payloads or experiments was not released. For STS-39, only the payload in the Multi ...