![]() ![]() ![]() This was the first time that NASA launched an interplanetary probe from the shuttle's payload bay. On board the shuttle was Magellan, a spacecraft that would be launched toward Venus. Sending probes toward the planetsĪtlantis' fourth flight, STS-30, marked a historic first for NASA. It wasn't until December 1988 that Atlantis flew again, this time bringing another classified payload into space on STS-27. The Challenger explosion in January 1986 grounded the remaining shuttle fleet for two years. Additionally, Atlantis' crew members did two experimental spacewalks devoted to learning about assembling structures in space. It lofted three communications satellites into orbit. Just over one month later, Atlantis headed for space again on Nov. At the time, NASA did periodic flights for the Department of Defense, sending classified payloads into space. Mission STS-51J took five people into space and lasted four days. Today you can see the shuttles at Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex (Atlantis OV-104), Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum (Discovery OV-103), California Science Center (Endeavour OV-105) and Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum (Enterprise OV-101).Īlthough the Shuttles will never fly again some of the Shuttles mission flown engines will fly on the SLS Rocket which was developed from the space shuttle.To this day, Atlantis' first flight is shrouded in secrecy. However that will change this year with the launch of Crew Dragon. at an end.Įver since then America has relied on Soyuz launches to get to the ISS as well as other vehicles such as SpaceX Dragon to deliver cargo. The shuttle was able to complete the mission and landed back at the Kennedy Space Centre on July 21st 2011 for the last time. The last shuttle (Atlantis OV-104) took off from pad 39A to the space station. Although the shuttle would continue to fly for another few years this would be the start of the end of the shuttle program. This was caused by a piece of insulation from the external tank breaking off and hitting the wing which created a hole on one of the hottest areas during re-entry. ![]() The spacecraft was mostly made out of spare parts as NASA had stopped building shuttles.Īnother disaster occurred on February 1st 2003 when Space Shuttle Colombia was destroyed during re-entry. All aboard the shuttle were lost in the accident.Ī replacement shuttle was built and named Endeavour. On January 28th 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed during launch when an o-ring on one of the boosters cracked leading to the destruction of the vehicle. However during the shuttle program there were two serious disasters. The Shuttle also visited the Russian Mir Space Station (which I will build) to help deliver cargo and supplies. The Shuttle also launched the Hubble Space Telescope and constructed most of the ISS. The Shuttle also launched with cargo labs to perform experiments (which I have made here in this build). Over its entire life time the five shuttles would help to launch many satellites, space probes as well as rescue broken satellites using the Canadarm to grab the spacecraft, place it in the cargo bay and bring it down from space to be repaired. There was also a launch pad constructed at Vandenberg Air Force Base, however it would never end up being used. An additional launch pad 39B was used by the space shuttles. It launched from launch pad 39A, the same pad that Apollo 11 launched from. The first shuttle to launch was the Colombia on April 12th 1981. These include Enterprise (named after the Starship Enterprise NCC 1701 from Star Trek), Colombia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour. A total of five shuttles (and one prototype shuttle) were made during the shuttle program. ![]()
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