![]() ![]() The orbiter was protected during reentry by its thermal protection system tiles, and it glided as a spaceplane to a runway landing, usually to the Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC, Florida, or to Rogers Dry Lake in Edwards Air Force Base, California. At the conclusion of the mission, the orbiter fired its OMS to deorbit and reenter the atmosphere. The SRBs were jettisoned before the vehicle reached orbit, and the ET was jettisoned just before orbit insertion, which used the orbiter's two Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engines. The Space Shuttle was launched vertically, like a conventional rocket, with the two SRBs operating in parallel with the orbiter's three main engines, which were fueled from the ET. Space Shuttle components include the Orbiter Vehicle (OV) with three clustered Rocketdyne RS-25 main engines, a pair of recoverable solid rocket boosters (SRBs), and the expendable external tank (ET) containing liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The Space Shuttle fleet's total mission time was 1,322 days, 19 hours, 21 minutes and 23 seconds. Operational missions launched numerous satellites, interplanetary probes, and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), conducted science experiments in orbit, participated in the Shuttle-Mir program with Russia, and participated in construction and servicing of the International Space Station (ISS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011, launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights beginning in 1982. 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. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ![]() The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. Follow for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter and on Facebook. You can follow Staff Writer Denise Chow on Twitter. Four spacewalks are planned.Īfter Endeavour's flight, NASA has one more space shuttle mission planned before the end of the program: the June 28 launch of shuttle Atlantis. The shuttle and its crew will also haul a platform packed with spare parts for the orbiting laboratory. They put their time in to be ready to go, that's for sure."Įndeavour is slated to fly its final mission to the International Space Station for a two-week trip to deliver a $2 billion particle detector aimed to study dark matter and other mysteries of the universe. "They don't do anything in their free time other than study their checklists and practice their procedures. "The crews are unbelievably dedicated," Moses said. "They'll be doing another simulation with their ascent and entry with flight control teams, but it's a light schedule."Īnd while the delay gives the spaceflyers some extra free time, the crew tends to use it to study up for the mission ahead, NASA officials said. "It's just refresher training," NASA spokesperson Kylie Clem told. This week, the STS-134 astronauts - commander Mark Kelly, pilot Gregory Johnson, and mission specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and Roberto Vittori - will practice different procedures in the various shuttle simulators at Johnson Space Center. "The crew reports to a quarantine facility that is on-site at Johnson Space Center – astronaut crew quarters." "The purpose is to stay away from any contagious illnesses that would take a few days to show up and manifest," Moses said. The STS-134 crewmembers will remain in medical quarantine, Moses said, which is standard practice for spaceflyers to help prevent illness. With Endeavour's liftoff delayed by over a week, the astronauts who will fly the orbiter on its final mission have returned to Houston to resume training until their scheduled launch.Įndeavour's six astronauts flew back home to Houston yesterday, said Mike Moses, chair of the shuttle's mission management team, in a press briefing held yesterday (May 1). ![]()
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