Complete Your Fleet!
Collect Specimens from All Five Mission-Flown Space Shuttles
The Space Shuttle Program
"The dream is alive." ~ Commander John Young after the successful return of STS-1
Above: Space Shuttle Discovery stands ready for STS-116 at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39B on November 9, 2006 (Source: NASA image KSC-06PD-2481)
📸 A classic cutaway drawing of the Space Shuttle created by NASA artists in February, 1981. We desperately wanted to include this image in the Fourth Edition Companion Guide but we ran out of space. (Source NASA S81-30630)
NASA's Space Shuttle program delivered 133 successful missions during its three decades in operation, beginning with Columbia's inaugural launch in 1981 and concluding with Atlantis' final flight in 2011.
Missions involved many vital tasks, such as maintaining the International Space Station, repairing the Hubble Space Telescope, and deploying satellites. Scientific experiments featured heavily in the rotation, using the reusable Spacelab developed by the ESA.
📸 Birdseye view of Discovery from Bay 3 of NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building. The Orbiter will soon begin its 4.2-mile journey via the crawlerway to Launch Pad 39B.(STS-121, May 19, 2006). (Source: NASA KSC-06PD0859)
FURTHER READING
Harland, David M. The space shuttle: roles, missions, and accomplishments. Vol. 2. John Wiley & Sons, 1998.
White, Rowland. Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her. Simon and Schuster, 2017.
Faget, Maxime A. "Space shuttle vehicle and system." U.S. Patent No. 3,702,688. 14 Nov. 1972.
Lamoreux, James C., James D. Siekierski, and JP Nick Carter. "Space Shuttle thermal protection system inspection by 3D imaging laser radar." Laser Radar Technology and Applications IX. Vol. 5412. SPIE, 2004.
Harris, Richard, Michael Stewart, and William Koenig. "Thermal Protection Systems Technology Transfer from Apollo and Space Shuttle to the Orion Program." 2018 AIAA SPACE and Astronautics Forum and Exposition. 2018.
Jenkins, Dennis R. Space shuttle: the history of the National Space Transportation System: the first 100 missions. DR Jenkins, 2001.
Jenkins, Dennis R. Space Shuttle: Developing an Icon: 1972-2013. Specialty Press, 2016.
Above: Atlantis lands at the Kennedy Space Center for the final time. (Source NASA KSC-2011-5842 July 21, 2011)
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