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Per-launch costs can be measured by dividing the total cost over the life of the program (including buildings, facilities, training, salaries, etc.) by the number of launches. With 135 missions, and the total cost of US$192 billion (in 2010 dollars), this gives approximately $1.5 billion per launch over the life of the Shuttle program. [20]
Buran on a Soviet stamp, with an Energia rocket.. Buran (Russian: Буран, IPA:, lit. ' blizzard '; GRAU index serial number: 11F35 1K, construction number: 1.01) was the first spaceplane to be produced as part of the Soviet/Russian Buran program.
Buran could return 20 tons from orbit, [91] [92] vs the Space Shuttle's 15 tons. Buran included a drag chute [93]; the Space Shuttle originally did not, but was later retrofitted to include one. The lift-to-drag ratio of Buran is cited as 5.6, [94] compared to a subsonic L/D of 4.5 for the Space Shuttle. [95]
In 2010, the incremental cost per flight of the Space Shuttle was $409 million, or $14,186 per kilogram ($6,435 per pound) to low Earth orbit (LEO). In contrast, the comparable Proton launch vehicle cost was $141 million, or $6,721 per kilogram ($3,049 per pound) to LEO and the Soyuz 2.1 was $55 million, or $6,665 per kilogram ($3,023 per pound ...
The original intention was to compensate for this lower payload by lowering the per-launch costs and a high launch frequency. However, the actual costs of a Space Shuttle launch were higher than initially predicted, and the Space Shuttle did not fly the intended 24 missions per year as initially predicted by NASA. [54] [24]: III–489–490
Edwards Air Force Base in California was the site of the first Space Shuttle landing, and became a back-up site to the prime landing location, the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center. Several runways are arrayed on the dry lakebed at Rogers Dry Lake, [6] and there are also concrete runways. Space shuttle landings on the lake ...
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Second African-American Space Shuttle pilot, Charles Bolden; Last successful mission before STS-51-L [72] [73] 25 28 January 1986 16:38:00 UTC 11:38:00 EST STS-51-L: Challenger: 7 00d 00h 01m 13s LC-39B: Did not land [b] Planned tracking and data relay satellite deployment; Teacher in space flight; First Space Shuttle launch from LC-39B