![]() A spectacular liftoff was the reward for each processing flow, and upon landing, the sequence began once again. Finally, the completed launch vehicle and its mobile launcher platform rolled out to the launch pad atop a sturdy, slow-moving crawler-transporter. The shuttle then was towed to the nearby Vehicle Assembly Building, where it was joined to its tank and boosters. Once a shuttle was returned to its bay in the orbiter processing facility after landing, teams checked, refurbished or installed hardware for the flight ahead. Multiple vehicles could be in various stages of processing at any given time. ![]() To meet the rigorous demands of spaceflight, each vehicle element - the orbiter, external fuel tank and boosters - and all subsystems underwent meticulous maintenance and preparation before each flight. Because a returning shuttle orbiter was essentially an unpowered glider, there were no second chances - every touchdown had to be perfect. Missions typically lasted one to two weeks, concluding with an hourlong reentry descent through Earth's atmosphere and a precision landing. Of those missions, 78 ended with a Kennedy landing 54 concluded with a touchdown on the dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base in California and one landed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.Įach mission began with a thundering liftoff as the shuttle's twin solid rocket boosters ignited, pushing the vehicle with its crew and cargo beyond the bounds of gravity and into the hostile environment of space. Each one began at Kennedy's Launch Complex 39. › View larger image NASA's shuttle fleet - Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour - flew a total of 135 missions. ![]() Image above: Shuttle Discovery touches down on Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility, completing the STS-133 mission. Image above: Shuttle Endeavour is silhouetted against the dawn sky as it rolls to Launch Pad 39A for STS-130 launch preparations. Space shuttle Atlantis completed the program on July 21, 2011, wrapping up the STS-135 mission with a predawn touchdown on the same runway where Columbia first arrived more than 30 years earlier. Image credit: NASA › View larger imageīeginning with space shuttle Columbia's 1979 delivery to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the center has been home to each of the five flown shuttle orbiters for the duration of the Space Shuttle Program. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., J- They signed their names as a joke, 'The Final Four,' but they have adopted it as a slogan. Two space walks, for maintenance work and component installation, are scheduled.Image above: Space shuttle Atlantis launches Jon the STS-135 mission, the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program. NASA and National Philharmonic team up for another successful launch Composer Henry Dehlinger collaborated with the space agency to create his new orchestral and multimedia suite, Cosmic. The shuttle will also bring Robonaut 2, the first human-like robot in space, and a permanent addition to the orbiting space station, as well as spare parts. The Discovery's all-American crew, including female mission specialist Nicole Stott, will deliver a pressurized logistics module called Leonardo, which will be permanently attached to the space station to give it more storage space. However, NASA's recently approved 2011 budget has left the door open to an additional shuttle flight in June. That means Russian Soyuz spacecraft, a modernized version of which recently dropped off three fresh crewmembers to the International Space Station, doubling the crew to six, will for several years be the only vehicle for transporting humans into space. ![]() ![]() The three US shuttles - the other two are Atlantis and Endeavour - are due to be sent off to become museum pieces after a final shuttle mission to the space station in late February. The flight will be Discovery's last mission before its scheduled retirement, and the fourth and last shuttle flight of the year. Managers were discussing plans to repair what the US space agency described as "helium and nitrogen leaks" in Discovery's right-hand orbital maneuvering system (OMS) pod.ĭiscovery, the oldest orbiter in service and the busiest in history with a record 38 trips into space, had already been moved to launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "We have developed two leaks on the pressurization system on the maneuvering system of Discovery on the right side," Kennedy Space Center spokesman Allard Beutel told AFP on Friday.įixing the shuttle and getting it ready for take-off would take until "Tuesday at the earliest," the spokesman added.ĭiscovery and its crew of six astronauts had been scheduled to launch Monday on its last mission to the International Space Station, but that now has been reset for 4:17 pm (2017 GMT) Tuesday, assuming repairs are successful, NASA said. ![]()
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