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Challenger and Columbia were destroyed in mission accidents in 1986 and 2003 respectively, killing a total of fourteen astronauts. A fifth operational orbiter, Endeavour, was built in 1991 to replace Challenger. The Space Shuttle was retired from service upon the conclusion of STS-135 by Atlantis on 21 July 2011. [6]
Non-launch costs account for a significant part of the program budget: for example, during fiscal years 2004 to 2006, NASA spent around $13 billion on the Space Shuttle program, [19] even though the fleet was grounded in the aftermath of the Columbia disaster and there were a total of three launches during this period of time. In fiscal year ...
Between T−6.6 seconds and T−3 seconds, while the RS-25 engines were firing but the SRBs were still bolted to the pad, the offset thrust would cause the Space Shuttle to pitch down 650 mm (25.5 in) measured at the tip of the external tank; the 3-second delay allowed the stack to return to nearly vertical before SRB ignition.
In 1972, Vandenberg AFB was chosen as the western launch site for Air Force shuttle launches. Use of SLC-6 was approved in 1975, and re-construction of the former MOL launch facility occurred between January 1979 and July 1986 as SLC-6 was rebuilt to accommodate the space shuttle. [8] There were several reasons for using SLC-6: [7] Florida ...
Space Shuttle glass cockpit (simulated, composite image) A window on Endeavour 's aft flight deck. The orbiter's flight deck or cockpit originally had 2,214 controls and displays, about three times as many as the Apollo command module. [2] The crew cabin consisted of the flight deck, the mid-deck, and the utility area.
The positioning had to be precise. The shuttle's nose was raised 200 feet into the night sky so that the rudder could clear 80 feet of space. Endeavour was then turned 17 degrees clockwise to ...
All sites have runways of sufficient length to support the landing of a Space Shuttle, and included personnel from NASA as well as equipment to aid a space shuttle landing. [12] Zaragoza Air Base features Runway 30L with a length of 12,109 ft (3,691 m); [ 13 ] Morón Air Base features an 11,800 ft (3,600 m) runway; [ 14 ] and Istres Air Base ...
This was the first time an American spacecraft had sent astronauts to space since the final Space Shuttle flight in 2011. On 11 July 2021 a fourth test flight was made above 80 km with six crew aboard, including the company owner Richard Branson. [35] As of January 2024, SpaceShipTwo has made 12 successful crewed spaceflights.