Space Shuttle program | National Air and Space Museum
The Space Shuttle program ran from presidential approval in 1972 to its end in 2011. It was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the United States and NASA. The Space Shuttle, officially known as the Space Transportation System (STS), was the first reusable spacecraft to carry humans into orbit.
Space Shuttle Discovery | National Air and Space Museum
The Space Shuttle program ran from presidential approval in 1972 to its end in 2011. It was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the United States and NASA. The Space Shuttle, officially known as the Space Transportation System (STS), was the first reusable spacecraft to carry humans into orbit. Visit the Space Shuttle Program ...
Space Shuttle Astronauts Tell All - National Air and Space Museum
Sep 20, 2023 · In his latest book, Space Shuttle Stories, Jones documents the shuttle program’s 30-year history by interviewing more than 130 fellow astronauts. They discuss their broad range of experiences—beginning with Columbia’ s first flight (in 1981) and ending with the program’s final mission, flown by Atlantis in 2011.
Space Shuttle: The End of An Era - National Air and Space Museum
Aug 10, 2011 · I had my first glimpse of the end of the shuttle era in April, three months before Atlantis touched down from the final shuttle mission. Discovery had just completed its last flight, and I had an opportunity to visit Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) Bay 3, which for years had been Discovery’s home for between-mission servicing. Discovery did not return to Bay 3 after STS-133, moving instead ...
The First Space Shuttle: 40 Years Since STS-1
Apr 12, 2021 · The legacy of the Space Shuttle program was to some degree built around the results of its very first mission. The reusable spaceplane, the Space Shuttle, ushered in a new era of human spaceflight 40 years ago this week with the launch of STS-1 on April 12, 1981.
The Last Space Shuttle Mission - National Air and Space Museum
Aug 8, 2011 · I was thrilled to be a part of the NASA Tweetup for STS-135 July 7 and 8 at Kennedy Space Center. It was exciting — and almost surreal — to be there for the end of the space program that my generation grew up with. We weren’t around for the Moon landings, but we all remember the first time the space shuttle “took off like a rocket and landed like a plane.”
Space Shuttle Legacy: How We Did It and What We Learned
Accessible and informative to general readers and aerospace professionals alike, Space Shuttle Legacy opens new vistas in the understanding of the Space Shuttle program and its place in the larger history of the Space Age, and of U.S. national history in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first. It is intended to serve as a catalyst ...
Patch, Space Shuttle Program, "We Made History"
Dennis Jenkins, who worked on the Shuttle Program and wrote some of the definitive operational histories of the Shuttle, gave this patch to the Museum in 2012. Display Status. This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
The Soviet Buran Shuttle: One Flight, Long History
Nov 15, 2013 · This month marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the sole launch of the Soviet space shuttle Buran. The idea of a reusable space plane has existed for decades among space enthusiasts and predated the idea of a rocket carrying humans into Earth orbit. The space race era manager of the Soviet Space program Sergei Korolev studied a possible ...
Forty Years of Discovery | National Air and Space Museum
Aug 30, 2024 · In total, six of unique Space Shuttle orbiters were built but Discovery stands out with the greatest flight history record: 39 missions and 365 total days spent in space. That’s quite a feat for the journeys the orbiter took, but it’s also a testament to the team that made each of those flights possible. On its 40th anniversary, Discovery’s …