So after a series of test flights Enterprise was stripped of certain components that were to be reused in other shuttles and entered retirement. The Space Shuttle prototype Enterprise flies free of NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) during one of five free flights carried out at the Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, California in 1977 (Image: NASA) The original plan was to retrofit Enterprise for orbital flight, but during the construction of Columbia, details of the final design changed and it was considered less expensive to build Challenger around a body frame constructed as a test article rather than dismantle Enterprise and have various parts altered at various subcontractors across the country. It provided the first real validation of the design in a series of successful glide-approach and landing tests, but was constructed without engines or a functional heat shield, so wasn't capable of spaceflight. The first orbiter - which was originally to be named Constitution but was christened Enterprise after a write-in campaign from Star Trek fans - was rolled out on September 17, 1976. And although it may seem dated to a generation that has grown up on science fiction movies and TV shows, and compromises were made in order to satisfy both NASA and the Department of Defense, the space shuttle design was revolutionary for its time. This design was less costly to build and less technically ambitious than earlier fully reusable designs. NASA eventually opted for a winged orbiter with three liquid fueled engines, a large expendable external tank which held liquid propellant for these engines, and two reusable solid rocket boosters. The original goal of the Space Shuttle program, which is officially known as the Space Transportation System (STS), was to provide cheaper access to space than the disposable rockets previously used and to support the future space station.Ĭutaway illustration of the space shuttle (Image: NASA) HistoryĪlthough NASA began early studies of space shuttle designs even before the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, the shuttle program wasn't formally launched until January 5,1972, when President Nixon announced that NASA would proceed with the development of a reusable space shuttle system. As the curtain comes down on the space shuttle era we take a look back at the craft that have defined space travel for a generation. In their lifetimes, the world's first reusable spacecraft have been used to launch and repair satellites, carry out cutting-edge research and facilitate the construction of the largest manmade structure in space, the International Space Station (ISS). Over 30 years, NASA's Space Shuttle program has overseen a total of 135 shuttle missions for the five-shuttle fleet, beginning with the Aplaunch of Columbia carrying two astronauts into space on an operational test flight. EDT this morning at NASA's Kennedy Space Center it marked the end of an era. When the space shuttle Atlantis touched down at 5:57 a.m.
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