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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 .
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.
Crew size Length (m) Diameter (m) Launch mass (kg) Power system Recovery method Payload (kg) ‡ First spaceflight § Last spaceflight Flights § Mercury USA: McDonnell Aircraft North American Aviation: LEO attained: Redstone MRLV Atlas LV-3B: 1: 3.34: 1.89: 1,400 Batteries Parachute splashdown (one drogue, one main) 1961 (1960) 1963: 6 (12 ...
A Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) is a large pressurized container that was used on Space Shuttle missions to transfer cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Two MPLMs made a dozen trips in the Shuttle cargo bay and initially berthed to the Unity and later the Harmony module on the ISS. Once attached, supplies were ...
The combined space station and Air Force payload requirements were not sufficient to reach desired shuttle launch rates. Therefore, the plan was for all future U.S. space launches—space stations, Air Force, commercial satellites, and scientific research—to use only the Space Shuttle. Most other expendable boosters would be phased out.
A first list contains rockets that are operational or have attempted an orbital flight attempt as of 2024; a second list includes all upcoming rockets. For the simple list of all conventional launcher families, see: Comparison of orbital launchers families.
The 5-segment SRB, which would have required little change to the current shuttle infrastructure, would have allowed the space shuttle to carry an additional 20,000 lb (9,100 kg) of payload in a 51.6°-inclination orbit, eliminate the dangerous "Return-to-Launch Site" (RTLS) and "Trans-Oceanic Abort" (TAL) modes, and, by using a so-called "dog ...