1 Solid rocket boosters
Two solid propellant boosters generated thrust of 1.2 million kilograms.
3 Orbiter
Each orbiter was 37 metres (121 feet) long, with a wingspan of 24 metres (78 feet) .
4 Crew quarters
The crew were housed in the front of the orbiter, the payload in the middle and the engines in the aft.
2 Main engines
The main engines used a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen to generate thrust of up to 213,188 kilograms.
5 External tank
The external tank, for fuel storage, was the only part of the Shuttle that wasn’t reused.
Manufacturer: United Space Alliance/ATK/Lockheed Martin/Boeing Dates: 12 April 1981 to 21 July 2011 Total launches: 135 Successes: 133 Height: 56.1 metres (184.2 feet) Max payload: 24,950 kilograms Total mass: 2 million kilograms Notable payloads: Hubble Space Telescope, Galileo, ISS modules
SPACE SHUTTLE
The world’s first reusable launch system
The Space Shuttle remains one of the most controversial spacecraft ever flown. While its awesome power and practical reusability were plain for all to see, a high cost and two devastating tragedies meant it was constantly under criticism. When the Shuttle program, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), was stopped in 2011, it was therefore met with a mixture of sadness at seeing the vehicle retired, but also optimism for a new safer era of launchers.
Conceived in the 1960s and 1970s as a means to reach space regularly and reasonably, the Space Shuttle was in reality blighted by budget overruns and delays. When operational flights began in 1982 it was already proving expensive, but NASA made the most of the situation and cemented the Space Shuttle as its primary method of taking humans, cargo, satellites, probes and more into orbit.
This launcher was unique.
