Space Shuttle Program

The Space Shuttle program or officially the Space Transportation System (STS) is the current US manned space program administered by NASA. The first flight designated STS-1 launched aboard Columbia on April 12, 1981 and landed April 14, 1981. Six operational oribiters have been built (listed in the order of construction): Enterprise, which was the first space shuttle built that was air-worthy, but not space-worthy, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. In 1986 the program was suspended, as the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after launch, causing loss of orbiter and crew. The mission was widely covered by the media due to the presence of S. Christa McAuliffe, as part of NASA's Teacher in Space program. A faulty O-Ring seal was determined to be the cause. In 2003 space shuttles was grounded yet again, as the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart on re-entry over Texas, 15 minutes before landing at Kennedy Space Center. During launch, a piece of foam about the size of a briefcase struck the orbiter at a very fast speed. This caused the thermal protection tiles to fail during re-entry, allowing very hot gases to enter the left wing. The entire crew of seven was lost. The space shuttle is the primary payload carrier to the International Space Station (ISS). It also allows for crew rotation. The shuttle program is expected to end in 2010, allowing NASA to switch to its newest program, Project Constellation, which will return humans to the Moon, and then on to Mars.

For a list of STS missions see List of Space Shuttle program missions