109-541: Space Shuttle Challenger ( OV-099 ) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA . Named after the commanding ship of a nineteenth-century scientific expedition that traveled the world, Challenger was the second Space Shuttle orbiter to fly into space after Columbia , and launched on its maiden flight in April 1983. It was destroyed in January 1986 soon after launch in
218-459: A 1.3-inch-thick (33 mm) optical pane, and an external thermal pane. The windows were tinted with the same ink used to make American banknotes . The Space Shuttle orbiter had three sets of landing gear which emerged downwards through doors in the heat shield. As a weight-saving measure, the gear could not be retracted once deployed. Since any premature extension of the landing gear would very likely have been catastrophic (as it opened through
327-404: A 10-year life and later cleared for an additional 10 years; they exceeded this life in 2005. NASA said it could not guarantee any longer that the vessels on Atlantis would not burst or explode under full pressure . Failure of these tanks could have damaged parts of the orbiter and even wound or kill ground personnel. An in-flight failure of a pressure vessel could have even resulted in the loss of
436-508: A 43.21° angle to give the appearance of being in orbit around the Earth. The mount angle pays tribute to the countdown that preceded every shuttle launch at KSC. A multi-story digital projection of Earth rotates behind the orbiter in a 5,900 m (64,000 sq ft) indoor facility. Ground breaking of the facility occurred in 2012. The exhibit opened on June 29, 2013. A total of 207 individuals flew with Space Shuttle Atlantis over
545-496: A catastrophic structural failure and explosion of the External Tank . The resulting pressure waves and aerodynamic forces destroyed the orbiter, resulting in the loss of all of the crew. Challenger was the first Space Shuttle to be destroyed in a mission disaster. The collected debris of the vessel is currently buried in decommissioned missile silos at Launch Complex 31 , Cape Canaveral Air Force Station . A section of
654-471: A disaster that killed all seven crewmembers aboard. Initially manufactured as a test article not intended for spaceflight, it was used for ground testing of the Space Shuttle orbiter's structural design. However, after NASA found that their original plan to upgrade Enterprise for spaceflight would be more expensive than upgrading Challenger , the orbiter was pressed into operational service in
763-542: A life support system, and most of the cockpit instrumentation. Modifying it for spaceflight was considered to be too difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. Since STA-099 was not as far along in the construction of its airframe, it would be easier to upgrade to a flight article. Because STA-099's qualification testing prevented damage, NASA found that rebuilding STA-099 into a flightworthy orbiter would be less expensive than refitting Enterprise . Work on converting STA-099 to operational status began in January 1979, starting with
872-476: A modified marking scheme for the shuttle fleet that would be matched by Discovery , Atlantis and Endeavour . The letters "USA" in black above an American flag were displayed on the left wing, with the NASA "worm" logotype in gray centered above the name of the orbiter in black on the right wing. Also, the name of the orbiter was inscribed not on the payload bay doors, but on the forward fuselage just below and behind
981-455: A total of 46 listed from STS-129 to STS-132. Atlantis went through two overhauls of scheduled orbiter maintenance down periods (OMDPs) during its operational history. Atlantis arrived at Palmdale, California in October 1992 for OMDP-1. During that visit 165 modifications were made over the next 20 months. These included the installation of a drag chute, new plumbing lines to configure
1090-554: Is 60 ft (18 m) by 15 ft (4.6 m), and could transport 24,400 kg (53,800 lb) to 204 km (127 mi), or 12,500 kg (27,600 lb) to the ISS at 407 km (253 mi). The most massive payload launched by the Space Shuttle was the Chandra X-ray Observatory in 1999 at 50,162 lb (22,753 kg), including its Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) and support equipment. The Shuttle
1199-662: Is more than 525 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon . Atlantis is named after RV Atlantis , a two-masted sailing ship that operated as the primary research vessel for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 1930 to 1966. The space shuttle is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex . Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off on its maiden voyage STS-51-J on October 3, 1985. This
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#17327655377831308-1070: The Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois but was later transferred to the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma . The Motion Base Simulator was transferred to the Texas A&;M Aerospace Engineering Department in College Station, Texas , and the Guidance and Navigation Simulator went to the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum in Starke, Florida . NASA also made approximately 7,000 TPS tiles available to schools and universities. Data from General characteristics Performance The cargo bay
1417-592: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration . Space Shuttle orbiter The Space Shuttle orbiter is the spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle , a partially reusable orbital spacecraft system that was part of the discontinued Space Shuttle program . Operated from 1981 to 2011 by NASA , the U.S. space agency, this vehicle could carry astronauts and payloads into low Earth orbit , perform in-space operations, then re-enter
1526-719: The P3/P4 truss segments and solar arrays to the ISS. On ISS assembly flight STS-122 in February 2008, Atlantis delivered the Columbus laboratory to the ISS. Columbus laboratory is the largest single contribution to the ISS made by the European Space Agency (ESA). In May 2009 Atlantis flew a seven-member crew to the Hubble Space Telescope for its Servicing Mission 4, STS-125 . The mission
1635-409: The Space Shuttle program . Lessons learned from the first orbital flights of Columbia led to Challenger ' s design possessing fewer thermal protection system tiles and a lighter fuselage and wings. This led to it being 2,200 pounds (1,000 kilograms) lighter than Columbia , though still 5,700 pounds (2,600 kilograms) heavier than Discovery . During its three years of operation, Challenger
1744-442: The first German crewed spaceflight mission . Passengers carried into orbit by Challenger include the first American female astronaut , the first American female spacewalker , the first African-American astronaut , and the first Canadian astronaut . On its tenth flight in January 1986, Challenger broke up 73 seconds after liftoff, killing the seven-member crew of STS-51-L that included Christa McAuliffe , who would have been
1853-407: The first teacher in space . The Rogers Commission concluded that an O-ring seal in one of Challenger ' s solid rocket boosters failed to contain pressurized burning gas that leaked out of the booster, causing a structural failure of Challenger ' s external tank and the orbiter's subsequent breakup due to aerodynamic forces . NASA's organizational culture was also scrutinized by
1962-579: The American flag above the orbiter's name, left-justified rather than centered, on the right wing. The three surviving flight vehicles, Discovery , Atlantis and Endeavour , still bear these markings as museum displays. Enterprise became the property of the Smithsonian Institution in 1985 and was no longer under NASA's control when these changes were made, hence the prototype orbiter still has its 1983 markings and still has its name on
2071-578: The Centaur to study the polar regions of the Sun. Challenger flew the first American woman , African-American , Dutchman , and Canadian into space; carried three Spacelab missions; and performed the first night launch and night landing of a Space Shuttle. STS-51-L was the orbiter's tenth and final flight, initially planned to launch on January 26, 1986 (after several technical and paperwork delays). The mission attracted huge media attention, as one of
2180-781: The Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility , Florida, except STS-3 at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Similar special clearances (no-fly zones) were also in effect at potential emergency landing sites, such as in Spain and in West Africa during all launches. When an orbiter landing was carried out at night, the runway was always strongly illuminated with light from floodlights and spotlights on
2289-453: The Moon in 1972, was also named Challenger . Because of the low production volume of orbiters, the Space Shuttle program decided to build a vehicle as a Structural Test Article , STA-099, that could later be converted to a flight vehicle. The contract for STA-099 was awarded to North American Rockwell on July 26, 1972, and construction was completed in February 1978. After STA-099's rollout, it
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#17327655377832398-622: The P6 array in preparation for its relocation and performed four spacewalks. Atlantis was not equipped to take advantage of the Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System so missions could not be extended by making use of power provided by ISS. During the STS-129 post-flight interview on November 16, 2009, shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach said that Atlantis officially beat Space Shuttle Discovery for
2507-651: The Rogers Commission, and the Space Shuttle program's goal of replacing the United States' expendable launch systems was cast into doubt. The loss of Challenger and its crew led to a broad rescope of the program, and numerous aspects – such as launches from Vandenberg , the MMU, and Shuttle-Centaur – were scrapped to improve crew safety; Challenger and Atlantis were the only orbiters modified to conduct Shuttle-Centaur launches. The recovered remains of
2616-840: The Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center , replacing Enterprise which was moved to the Intrepid Museum in New York City . Endeavour went to the California Science Center in Los Angeles arriving on October 14, 2012. Atlantis went to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Merritt Island on November 2, 2012. Hundreds of other shuttle artifacts will be put on display at various other museums and educational institutions around
2725-767: The U.S. One of the Crew Compartment Trainer Flight and mid-deck training hardware is on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force , while the other is on display at the JSC. The Full Fuselage Trainer, which includes the payload bay and aft section but no wings, is on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington . The Mission Simulation and Training Facility's Shuttle Mission Simulator Fixed Base Simulator originally went to
2834-505: The accident, paid 60 percent, or $ 4,641,000. The remainder, $ 3,094,000, was paid by the government. In September 1988 a federal judge dismissed two lawsuits seeking $ 3 billion from Space Shuttle rocket-maker Morton Thiokol Inc. by Roger Boisjoly , a former company engineer who warned against the ill-fated 1986 Challenger launch. * Mission canceled due to loss of Challenger on STS-51-L . [REDACTED] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of
2943-675: The air, and covered in silicon borides and borosilicate glass , with blacker tiles covering the lower surface, and whiter tiles covering the tail, parts of the upper wing and crew cabin surfaces, and the outsides of the payload bay doors. The nose cap, nose landing gear doors, and leading edges were made of reinforced carbon–carbon , which is rayon impregnated with graphite -filled resins and coated in silicon carbide . The upper, white materials that were not in tiles were mostly made of either Nomex felt coated in silicon -rich elastomer or beta cloth , woven silica fibers covered in Teflon . This
3052-593: The atmosphere and land as a glider , returning its crew and any on-board payload to the Earth. Six orbiters were built for flight: Enterprise , Columbia , Challenger , Discovery , Atlantis , and Endeavour . All were built in Palmdale, California , by the Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania -based Rockwell International company's North American Aircraft Operations branch. The first orbiter, Enterprise , made its maiden flight in 1977. An unpowered glider, it
3161-545: The attitude of the orbiter during most of its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere – until the air became dense enough that the rudder, elevons and body flap became effective. The orbiter's OMS and RCS fuel is monomethyl hydrazine (CH 3 NHNH 2 ), and the oxidizer is dinitrogen tetroxide (N 2 O 4 ). This particular propellant combination is extremely reactive and spontaneously ignites on contact (hypergolic) with each other. This chemical reaction (4CH 3 NHNH 2 + 5N 2 O 4 → 9N 2 + 4CO 2 + 12H 2 O) occurs within
3270-456: The cockpit windows. This would make the name visible when the orbiter was photographed in orbit with the doors open. Challenger also had black tiles on the tip of its vertical stabilizer much like Columbia , which the other orbiters lacked. In 1983, Enterprise had its wing markings changed to match Challenger , and the NASA "worm" logotype on the aft end of the payload bay doors was changed from gray to black. Some black markings were added to
3379-783: The conversion until July 1982, when the new orbiter was rolled out as Challenger . Challenger , as did the orbiters built after it, had fewer tiles in its Thermal Protection System than Columbia , though it still made heavier use of the white LRSI tiles on the cabin and main fuselage than did the later orbiters. Most of the tiles on the payload bay doors, upper wing surfaces, and rear fuselage surfaces were replaced with DuPont white Nomex felt insulation. These modifications and an overall lighter structure allowed Challenger to carry 2,500 lb (1,100 kg) more payload than Columbia. Challenger ' s fuselage and wings were stronger and lighter than Columbia ' s. The hatch and vertical-stabilizer tile patterns were different from those of
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3488-728: The course of its 33 missions. Because the shuttle sometimes flew crew members arriving and departing Mir and the ISS, not all of them launched and landed on Atlantis . Astronaut Clayton Anderson , ESA astronaut Leopold Eyharts and Russian cosmonauts Nikolai Budarin and Anatoly Solovyev only launched on Atlantis . Similarly, astronauts Daniel Tani and Sunita Williams , as well as cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Gennady Strekalov only landed with Atlantis . Only 146 men and women both launched and landed aboard Atlantis . Some of those people flew with Atlantis more than once. Taking them into account, 203 total seats were filled over Atlantis ' 33 missions. Astronaut Jerry Ross holds
3597-660: The crew module (the pressurized portion of the vehicle), as the rest of the vehicle was still being used for testing by Lockheed. STA-099 returned to the Rockwell plant in November 1979, and the original, unfinished crew module was replaced with the newly constructed model. Major parts of STA-099, including the payload bay doors, body flap, wings, and vertical stabilizer, also had to be returned to their individual subcontractors for rework. By early 1981, most of these components had returned to Palmdale to be reinstalled. Work continued on
3706-563: The crew was a civilian schoolteacher, Christa McAuliffe , who was assigned to carry out live lessons from the orbiter (as part of NASA's Teacher in Space Project ). Other members would deploy the TDRS-B satellite and conduct comet observations. Challenger blasted off at 11:38 am EST on January 28, 1986. Just over a minute into the flight, a faulty booster joint opened up, leading to a flame that melted securing struts which resulted in
3815-399: The damage to be "lights and shadows" and instructed the crew to proceed with the mission as usual, infuriating many of the crew. Upon landing, Atlantis became the single-most-damaged shuttle to successfully land. The survival of the crew is attributed to a steel L band antenna plate which was positioned directly under the missing tile. A similar situation would eventually lead to the loss of
3924-488: The decision was taken to extend the time between OMDPs, allowing Atlantis to be retained for operations. Atlantis was subsequently swapped for one flight of each Discovery and Endeavour in the flight manifest. Atlantis had completed what was meant to be its last flight, STS-132 , prior to the end of the shuttle program, but the extension of the Shuttle program into 2011 led to Atlantis being selected for STS-135 ,
4033-413: The direction of their thrust. Hence, they steered the entire Space Shuttle, as well as providing rocket thrust towards orbit. The aft fuselage also housed three auxiliary power units (APU). The APUs chemically converted hydrazine fuel from a liquid state to a gas state , powering a hydraulic pump which supplied pressure for all of the hydraulic system, including the hydraulic sub-system that pointed
4142-417: The end of the mission. The hydrogen and oxygen for the fuel cells was kept in pairs of cryogenic storage tanks in the mid-fuselage underneath the payload bay liner, and a variable number of such tank sets could be installed (up to five pairs) depending on the requirements of the mission. The three fuel cells were capable of generating 21 kilowatts of power continuously (or a 15-minute peak of 36 kilowatts) with
4251-452: The engine's combustion chamber. The reaction products are then expanded and accelerated in the engine bell to provide thrust. Due to their hypergolic characteristics these two chemicals are easily started and restarted without an ignition source, which makes them ideal for spacecraft maneuvering systems. During the early design process of the orbiter, the forward RCS thrusters were to be hidden underneath retractable doors, which would open once
4360-507: The external tank. Two Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) thrusters were mounted in two separate removable pods on the orbiter's aft fuselage, located between the SSMEs and the vertical stabilizer. The OMS engines provided significant thrust for course orbital maneuvers , including insertion, circularization, transfer, rendezvous, deorbit, abort to orbit, and to abort once around . At lift-off, two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) were used to take
4469-417: The federally owned Plant 42 complex. Each NASA Space Shuttle designation was composed of a prefix and suffix separated by a dash. The prefix for operational shuttles is OV, for Orbiter Vehicle . The suffix is composed of two parts: the series and the vehicle number; "0" was used for non-flight ready orbiters, and "1" was used for flight-ready orbiters. The vehicle number is sequentially assigned within
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4578-536: The final Shuttle flight, STS-135 , on July 21, 2011. In addition to their crews and payloads, the reusable orbiter carried most of the Space Shuttle System 's liquid-propellant rocket system, but both the liquid hydrogen fuel and the liquid oxygen oxidizer for its three main rocket engines were fed from an external cryogenic propellant tank . Additionally, two reusable solid rocket boosters (SRBs) provided additional thrust for approximately
4687-684: The final Space Shuttle mission in July 2011. Atlantis is currently displayed at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex . NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced the decision at an employee event held on April 12, 2011, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first shuttle flight : "First, here at the Kennedy Space Center where every shuttle mission and so many other historic human space flights have originated, we'll showcase my old friend, Atlantis ". The Visitor Complex displays Atlantis with payload bay doors opened mounted at
4796-731: The first tracking and data relay satellite , the Palapa B communications satellites, the Long Duration Exposure Facility , and the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite . It was also used as a test bed for the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) and served as the platform to repair the malfunctioning SolarMax telescope . In addition, three consecutive Spacelab missions were conducted with the orbiter in 1985, one of which being
4905-864: The first citizen of Italy to travel to space. Astronaut Mike Massimino who flew on STS-125 mission became the first person to use Twitter in space in May 2009. Having flown aboard Atlantis as part of the STS-132 crew in May 2010 and Discovery as part of the STS-133 crew in February/March 2011, Stephen Bowen became the first NASA astronaut to be launched on consecutive missions. NASA announced in 2007 that 24 helium and nitrogen gas tanks in Atlantis were older than their designed lifetime. These composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPV) were designed for
5014-524: The first two minutes of launch. The orbiters themselves did carry hypergolic propellants for their Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters and Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engines. About the size of a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 , the Space Shuttle orbiter resembled an airplane in its design, with a standard-looking fuselage and two double delta wings, both swept wings at an angle of 81 degrees at their inner leading edges and 45 degrees at their outer leading edges. The vertical stabilizer of
5123-560: The flight phases of launching, orbiting , and re-entry. This system also executed any needed orbital maneuvers, including all changes in the orbit's altitude, orbital plane , and eccentricity . These were all operations that required more thrust and impulse than mere attitude control. The forward rockets of the Reaction Control System, located near the nose of the Space Shuttle orbiter, included 14 primary and two vernier RCS rockets. The aft RCS engines were located in
5232-475: The floor of the mid-deck and contained air and water tanks in addition to the carbon dioxide scrubbing system. Three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) were mounted on the orbiter's aft fuselage in the pattern of an equilateral triangle . These three liquid-fueled engines could be swiveled 10.5 degrees vertically and 8.5 degrees horizontally during the rocket-powered ascent of the orbiter in order to change
5341-554: The fuselage recovered from Space Shuttle Challenger can also be found at the "Forever Remembered" memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Debris from the orbiter sometimes washes up on the Florida coast. This is collected and transported to the silos for storage. Because of its early loss, Challenger was the only Space Shuttle that never wore the NASA "meatball" logo , and
5450-474: The ground, making landing lights on the orbiter unnecessary and also an unneeded spaceflight weight load. A total of 26 landings took place at night, the first being STS-8 in September 1983. The typeface used on the Space Shuttle orbiter was Helvetica . The prototype orbiter Enterprise originally had a flag of the United States on the upper surface of the left wing and the letters "USA" in black on
5559-458: The heat shield layers), the landing gear could only be lowered by manual controls, and not by any automatic system. Similarly, since the Shuttle landed at high speed and could not abort its landing attempt, the gear had to deploy reliably on the first try every time. The gear were unlocked and deployed by triple redundant hydraulics, with the gear doors actuated by mechanical linkages to the gear strut. If all three hydraulic systems failed to release
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#17327655377835668-513: The highest risk of failure were replaced. After the STS-125 mission, a work light knob was discovered jammed in the space between one of Atlantis ' s front interior windows and the Orbiter dashboard structure. The knob was believed to have entered the space during flight, when the pressurized Orbiter was expanded to its maximum size. Then, once back on Earth, the Orbiter contracted, jamming
5777-405: The knob in place. Leaving "as-is" was considered unsafe for flight, and some options for removal (including window replacement) would have included a 6-month delay of Atlantis ' s next mission (planned to be STS-129 ). Had the removal of the knob been unsuccessful, the worst-case scenario was that Atlantis could have been retired from the fleet, leaving Discovery and Endeavour to complete
5886-472: The landing gear uplocks within one second of the release command, pyrotechnic charges automatically cut the lock hooks and a set of springs deployed the gear. During landing, the Shuttle nose wheel could be steered with the rudder pedals in the cockpit. During the construction of Space Shuttle Endeavour , an improved nose wheel steering system was developed which allowed easier and more effective nose wheel steering. After Endeavour 's roll-out,
5995-669: The largest spacecraft in orbit at the time. Atlantis delivered several vital components for the construction of the International Space Station (ISS). During the February 2001 mission STS-98 to the ISS, Atlantis delivered the Destiny Module , the primary operating facility for U.S. research payloads aboard the ISS. The five-hour 25-minute third spacewalk performed by astronauts Robert Curbeam and Thomas Jones during STS-98 marked NASA's 100th extra vehicular activity in space. The Quest Joint Airlock ,
6104-403: The manifest alone. On June 29, 2009, Atlantis was pressurized to 17 psi (120 kPa) (3 psi above ambient), which forced the Orbiter to expand slightly. The knob was then frozen with dry ice , and successfully removed. Small areas of damage to the window were discovered where the edges of the knob had been embedded into the pane. Subsequent investigation of the window damage discovered
6213-636: The navies of the world (though the test orbiter Enterprise , originally to be named " Constitution ", had its name changed after the Star Trek starship , itself named after a series of US Navy ships ), and they were also numbered using the NASA Orbiter Vehicle designation system. Three of the names had also been given to Apollo spacecraft between 1969 and 1972: Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia , Apollo 15 Command Module Endeavour , and Apollo 17 Lunar Module Challenger . While all of
6322-514: The nose, cockpit windows and vertical tail to more closely resemble the flight vehicles, but the name "Enterprise" remained on the payload bay doors as there was never any need to open them. Columbia had its name moved to the forward fuselage to match the other flight vehicles after STS-61-C , during the 1986–1988 hiatus when the shuttle fleet was grounded following the loss of Challenger , but retained its original wing markings until its last overhaul (after STS-93 ), and its unique black chines for
6431-546: The operational orbiters and test articles produced for use in the Shuttle program, there are also various mockup replicas on display throughout the United States: Space Shuttle Atlantis Space Shuttle Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle designation: OV‑104 ) is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA , the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. Atlantis
6540-420: The orbiter and its crew. NASA analyses originally assumed that the vessels would leak before they burst , but new tests showed that they could in fact burst before leaking. Because the original vendor was no longer in business, and a new manufacturer could not be qualified before 2010, when the shuttles were scheduled to be retired, NASA decided to continue operations with the existing tanks. Therefore, to reduce
6649-492: The orbiter are mostly buried in a missile silo located at Cape Canaveral LC-31 ; one piece is on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex . Challenger was named after HMS Challenger , a British corvette that was the command ship for the Challenger Expedition , a pioneering global marine research expedition undertaken from 1872 through 1876. The Apollo 17 Lunar Module , which landed on
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#17327655377836758-567: The orbiter consuming an average of about 14 kilowatts of that power (leaving 7 kilowatts for the payload). Additionally, the fuel cells provided potable water for the crew during the mission. The orbiter's computer system consisted of five identical IBM AP-101 avionics computers, which redundantly controlled the vehicle's on-board systems. The specialized HAL/S programming language was used for orbiter systems. The orbiters were protected by Thermal Protection System (TPS) materials (developed by Rockwell Space Systems ) inside and out, from
6867-527: The orbiter for extended duration, improved nose wheel steering, more than 800 new heat tiles and blankets, new insulation for main landing gear, and structural modifications to the airframe. On November 5, 1997, Atlantis again arrived at Palmdale for OMDP-2 which was completed on September 24, 1998. The 130 modifications carried out during OMDP-2 included glass cockpit displays, replacement of TACAN navigation with GPS and ISS airlock and docking installation. Several weight reduction modifications were performed on
6976-422: The orbiter had a leading edge that was swept back at a 45-degree angle. There were four elevons mounted at the trailing edges of the delta wings, and the combination rudder and speed brake was attached at the trailing edge of the vertical stabilizer . These, along with a movable body flap located underneath the main engines, controlled the orbiter during later stages of reentry . The prime contractor for
7085-521: The orbiter including replacement of Advanced Flexible Reusable Surface Insulation (AFRSI) insulation blankets on upper surfaces with FRSI. Lightweight crew seats were installed and the Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) package installed on OMDP-1 was removed to lighten Atlantis to better serve its prime mission of servicing the ISS. During the standdown period post Columbia accident, Atlantis went through over 75 modifications to
7194-400: The orbiter ranging from very minor bolt change-outs to window change-outs and different fluid systems. Atlantis was known among the shuttle workforce as being more prone than the others in the fleet to problems that needed to be addressed while readying the vehicle for launch, leading to some nicknaming it " Britney ". NASA initially planned to withdraw Atlantis from service in 2008, as
7303-532: The orbiter reached space. These were omitted in favor of flush-mounted thrusters for fear that the RCS doors would remain stuck open and endanger the crew and orbiter during re-entry. The orbiter's flight deck or cockpit originally had 2,214 controls and displays, about three times as many as the Apollo command module . The crew cabin consisted of the flight deck, the mid-deck, and the utility area. The uppermost of these
7412-536: The orbiter was Rockwell International, which built the pressurized cabin, thermal protection, forward attitude control system, and forward and aft fuselage in its Downey, California factory, the payload bay doors in its Tulsa, Oklahoma factory, and the body flap in its Columbus, Ohio factory. Subcontractors included Convair in San Diego for the midsection, Fairchild Aircraft in Farmingdale, New York for
7521-456: The orbiter were also located on the mid-deck, as well as the airlock . The airlock had an additional hatch into the payload bay. This airlock allowed two or three astronauts, wearing their Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) space suits, to depressurize before a walk in space ( EVA ), and also to repressurize and re-enter the orbiter at the conclusion of the EVA. The utility area was located under
7630-404: The orbiter would have been due to undergo its third scheduled OMDP; the timescale of the final retirement of the shuttle fleet was such that having the orbiter undergo this work was deemed uneconomical. It was planned that Atlantis would be kept in near-flight condition to be used as a spares source for Discovery and Endeavour . However, with the significant planned flight schedule up to 2010,
7739-406: The orbiter's outer surface to the payload bay. The TPS protected it from the cold soak of −121 °C (−186 °F) in space to the 1,649 °C (3,000 °F) heat of re-entry. The tile materials comprising much of the orbiter's outermost layer were mostly air held within near-pure silica fibers, which made it efficient at refractory insulation that absorbed and redirected heat back out into
7848-510: The orbiters Discovery and Atlantis joined the fleet, Challenger flew three missions a year from 1983 to 1985. Challenger , along with Atlantis , was modified at Kennedy Space Center to be able to carry the Centaur-G upper stage in its payload bay. If flight STS-51-L had been successful, Challenger ' s next mission would have been the deployment of the Ulysses probe with
7957-651: The orbiters were externally practically identical, they had minor differences in their interiors. New equipment for the Orbiters was installed in the same order that they underwent maintenance work, and the newer orbiters were constructed by Rockwell International, under NASA supervision, with some more advanced, lighter in weight, structural elements. Thus, the newer orbiters ( Discovery , Atlantis and Endeavour ) had slightly more cargo capacity than Columbia or Challenger . The Space Shuttle orbiters were assembled at Rockwell's assembly facility in Palmdale, California , at
8066-411: The other orbiters. Challenger was the first orbiter to have a heads-up display (HUD) system for use in the descent phase of a mission, and the first to feature Phase I main engines rated for 104% maximum thrust. After its first flight in April 1983, Challenger quickly became the workhorse of NASA 's Space Shuttle fleet, flying six of nine Space Shuttle missions in 1983 and 1984. Even when
8175-403: The payload bay doors. With the end of the Shuttle program, plans were made to place the three remaining Space Shuttle orbiters on permanent display. NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. announced the disposition location of the orbiters on April 12, 2011, the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight and the 30th anniversary of the first flight of Columbia . Discovery went to
8284-438: The record for the most flights aboard Atlantis at five. Astronaut Rodolfo Neri Vela who flew aboard Atlantis on STS-61-B mission in 1985 is the only Mexican to have traveled to space. ESA astronaut Dirk Frimout who flew on STS-45 as a payload specialist was the first Belgian in space. STS-46 mission specialist Claude Nicollier was the first astronaut from Switzerland. On the same flight, astronaut Franco Malerba became
8393-504: The record low amount of interim problem reports, with a total of just 54 listed since returning from STS-125. Leinbach added, "It is due to the team and the hardware processing. They just did a great job. The record will probably never be broken again in the history of the Space Shuttle Program, so congratulations to them." Leinbach made a similar report during a post-launch interview on May 14, 2010, saying that there were
8502-469: The remainder of its operational life. Beginning in STS-95 (1998), the flight vehicles' markings were modified to incorporate the NASA "meatball" insignia . The "worm" logotype, which the agency had phased out, was removed from the payload bay doors and the "meatball" insignia was added aft of the "United States" text on the lower aft fuselage. The "meatball" insignia was also displayed on the left wing, with
8611-513: The right wing. The name "Enterprise" in black was painted on the payload bay doors just above the forwardmost hinge and behind the crew module; on the aft end of the payload bay doors was the NASA "worm" logotype in gray. Underneath the rear of the payload bay doors on the side of the fuselage just above the wing was the text "United States" in black with a flag of the United States ahead of it. The first operational orbiter, Columbia , originally had
8720-417: The risk of failure and the cumulative effects of load, the vessels were maintained at 80 percent of the operating pressure as late in the launch countdown as possible, and the launch pad was cleared of all but essential personnel when pressure was increased to 100 percent. The new launch procedure was employed during some of the remaining launches of Atlantis , but was resolved when the two COPVs deemed to have
8829-431: The same markings as Enterprise , although the letters "USA" on the right wing were slightly larger and spaced farther apart. Columbia also had black tiles which Enterprise lacked on its forward RCS module, around the cockpit windows, and on its vertical stabilizer. Columbia also had distinctive black chines on the forward part of its upper wing surfaces, which none of the other orbiters had. Challenger established
8938-545: The series, beginning with 1. Therefore, there can never be an OV-100 as it would read "Orbiter Vehicle Series 1 Vehicle 0". Many proposals to build a second generation of orbiters, externally compatible with the current system but internally new, refer to them as "OV-200" or "OV-2xx" in order to differentiate them from the "first generation", the OV-100s. This terminology is informal, and it is unlikely that any Shuttle-derived vehicle built will be given such designation. Challenger
9047-739: The shuttle Columbia in 2003 , albeit on the more critical reinforced carbon-carbon. During STS-37 in 1991, Atlantis deployed the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory . Beginning in 1995 with STS-71 , Atlantis made seven straight flights to the former Russian space station Mir as part of the Shuttle– Mir program . STS-71 marked a number of firsts in human spaceflight: 100th U.S. crewed space flight; first U.S. Shuttle-Russian Space Station Mir docking and joint on-orbit operations; and first on-orbit change-out of shuttle crew. When linked, Atlantis and Mir together formed
9156-520: The system was installed on the other shuttles during their overhauls in the early 1990s. The Space Shuttle orbiter did not carry anti-collision lights , navigational lights , or landing lights , because the orbiter always landed in areas that had been specially cleared by both the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Air Force . The orbiter always landed at either Edwards Air Force Base , California or at
9265-430: The three main liquid-fueled rocket engines, under computerized flight control . The hydraulic pressure generated was also used to control all of the orbiter's flight control surfaces (the elevons, rudder, speed brake, etc.), to deploy the landing gear of the orbiter, and to retract the umbilical hose connection doors located near the rear landing gear, which supplied the orbiter's SSMEs with liquid hydrogen and oxygen from
9374-422: The tragedy firsthand. In March 1988 the federal government and Morton Thiokol Inc. agreed to pay $ 7.7 million in cash and annuities to the families of four of the seven Challenger astronauts as part of a settlement aimed at avoiding lawsuits in the nation's worst space disaster, according to government documents. The documents show that Morton Thiokol, which manufactured the faulty solid rocket boosters blamed for
9483-542: The two Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) pods at the rear of the orbiter, and these included 12 primary (PRCS) and two vernier (VRCS) engines in each pod. The PRCS system provided the pointing control of the Orbiter, and the VRCS was used for fine maneuvering during the rendezvous, docking, and undocking maneuvers with the International Space Station , or formerly with the Russian Mir space station . The RCS also controlled
9592-470: The vehicle to an altitude of roughly 140,000 feet. Electric power for the orbiter's subsystems was provided by a set of three hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells which produced 28 volt DC power and was also converted into 115 volt 400 Hz AC three-phase electric power (for systems that used AC power ). These provided power to the entire Shuttle stack (including the SRBs and ET) from T-minus 3m30s up through
9701-430: The vehicle, severely damaging over 700 tiles and removing one tile altogether. The crew were instructed to use the remote manipulator system to survey the condition of the underside of the right wing, ultimately finding substantial tile damage. Due to the classified nature of the mission, the only images transferred to the mission control center were encrypted and of extremely poor quality. Mission control personnel deemed
9810-635: The vertical stabilizer, Grumman in Bethpage, New York for the wings, Marquardt Corporation in Van Nuys, California for the attitude control propulsion, Aerojet in Rancho Cordova, California for the orbital insertion and deorbit propulsion, McDonnell Douglas for the surrounding pods, and Rocketdyne in Canoga Park, Los Angeles for the launch and ascent propulsion. Final assembly
9919-411: Was destroyed in a disaster shortly after its 10th launch, killing all seven crew members. Endeavour was built as Challenger ' s successor, and was first launched in 1992. In 2003, Columbia was destroyed during re-entry , leaving just three remaining orbiters. Discovery completed its final flight on March 9, 2011, and Endeavour completed its final flight on June 1, 2011. Atlantis completed
10028-597: Was a success, with the crew completing five spacewalks totaling 37 hours to install new cameras, batteries, a gyroscope and other components to the telescope. This was the final mission not to rendezvous with the ISS . The longest mission flown using Atlantis was STS-117 , which lasted almost 14 days in June 2007. During STS-117, Atlantis ' crew added a new starboard truss segment and solar array pair (the S3/S4 truss), folded
10137-407: Was below the flight deck, was normally equipped with up to three additional stowable seats, depending on the crew requirements of the mission. One mission carried four seats ( STS-61-A ) and NASA drew up plans that were never used to carry up to seven seats in the case of an emergency rescue ( STS-400 ). The galley, toilet, sleep locations, storage lockers, and the side hatch for entering and exiting
10246-404: Was capable of returning approximately 16,000 kg (35,000 lb) of cargo to Earth. The orbiter's maximum glide ratio / lift-to-drag ratio varied considerably with speed, ranging from 1:1 at hypersonic speeds , 2:1 at supersonic speeds , and reaching 4.5:1 at subsonic speeds during approach and landing. Individual Space Shuttle orbiters were named in honor of antique sailing ships of
10355-641: Was carried by a modified Boeing 747 airliner called the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and released for a series of atmospheric test flights and landings. Enterprise was partially disassembled and retired after completion of critical testing. The remaining orbiters were fully operational spacecraft, and were launched vertically as part of the Space Shuttle stack. Columbia was the first space-worthy orbiter; it made its inaugural flight in 1981. Challenger , Discovery , and Atlantis followed in 1983, 1984, and 1985 respectively. In 1986, Challenger
10464-427: Was carried out at United States Air Force Plant 42 near Palmdale, California . The Reaction Control System (RCS) was composed of 44 small liquid-fueled rocket thrusters and their very sophisticated fly-by-wire flight control system , which utilized computationally intensive digital Kalman filtering . This control system carried out the usual attitude control along the pitch, roll, and yaw axes during all of
10573-472: Was especially true in the interior of the payload bay. The orbiter's structure was made primarily from aluminum alloy , although the engine thrust structure was made from titanium alloy . The later orbiters ( Discovery , Atlantis and Endeavour ) substituted graphite epoxy for aluminum in some structural elements in order to reduce weight. The windows were made of aluminum silicate glass and fused silica glass, and comprised an internal pressure pane,
10682-598: Was expected to be the final flight before STS-135 was authorized in October 2010. STS-135 took advantage of the processing for the STS-335 Launch on Need mission that would have been necessary if STS-134's crew became stranded in orbit. Atlantis landed for the final time at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 2011. By the end of its final mission, Atlantis had orbited the Earth a total of 4,848 times, traveling nearly 126,000,000 mi (203,000,000 km), which
10791-516: Was flown and installed to the ISS by Atlantis during the mission STS-104 in July 2001. The successful installation of the airlock gave on-board space station crews the ability to stage repair and maintenance spacewalks outside the ISS using U.S. EMU or Russian Orlan space suits . The first mission flown by Atlantis after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was STS-115 , conducted during September 2006. The mission carried
10900-450: Was flown on ten missions in the Space Shuttle program, spending over 62 days in space and completing almost 1,000 orbits around Earth. Following its maiden flight, Challenger supplanted Columbia as the leader of the Space Shuttle fleet, being the most-flown orbiter during all three years of its operation while Columbia itself was seldom used during the same time frame. Challenger was used for numerous civilian satellite launches, such as
11009-507: Was given to the set of structural components manufactured to replace those used in the construction of Endeavour ; however, the contract for these was canceled shortly afterwards, and they were never completed. The "096" and "097" designators were given to structural test articles that were canceled, but while they exist in some NASA records, the NASA History Office has no official record of STA-096 and STA-097. In addition to
11118-747: Was manufactured by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985. Atlantis is also the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was STS-51-J made from October 3 to 7, 1985. Atlantis embarked on its 33rd and final mission, also the final mission of a space shuttle, STS-135 , on July 8, 2011. STS-134 by Endeavour
11227-637: Was never modified with the MEDS "glass cockpit". The tail was never fitted with a drag chute, which was fitted to the remaining orbiters in 1992. Challenger and sister ship Columbia are the only two shuttles that never visited the Mir Space Station or the International Space Station. In September 2020 Netflix released Challenger: The Final Flight , a four-part miniseries created by Steven Leckart and Glen Zipper documenting
11336-429: Was originally intended to be used as a Structural Test Article (STA), rather than a flight-capable orbiter; as such, the numbering was changed when it was rebuilt. Enterprise , on the other hand, was intended to be rebuilt into a flight-capable orbiter; it was found to be cheaper to rebuild STA-099 than OV-101, so it remained unflown. The designations were not altered, despite these changes in plans. An "OV-106" designation
11445-481: Was sent to a Lockheed test site in Palmdale, where it spent over 11 months in vibration tests designed to simulate entire shuttle flights, from launch to landing. To prevent damage during structural testing, qualification tests were performed to a safety factor of 1.2 times the design limit loads. The qualification tests were used to validate computational models, and compliance with the required 1.4 factor of safety
11554-448: Was shown by analysis. STA-099 was essentially a complete airframe of a Space Shuttle orbiter, with only a mockup crew module installed and thermal insulation placed on its forward fuselage. NASA planned to refit the prototype orbiter Enterprise (OV-101), used for flight testing, as the second operational orbiter; but Enterprise lacked most of the systems needed for flight, including a functional propulsion system, thermal insulation,
11663-399: Was the flight deck, in which sat the Space Shuttle's commander and pilot in permanently fixed seats with up to two mission specialists seated behind them in stowable seats. The mission specialist in seat four (located behind and between commander and pilot) served as the flight engineer during ascent and landing, tracking information from CAPCOM and calling out milestones. The mid-deck, which
11772-575: Was the second shuttle mission that was a dedicated Department of Defense mission. It flew one other mission, STS-61-B (the second shuttle night launch) before the Challenger disaster temporarily grounded the shuttle fleet in 1986. Among the five Space Shuttles flown into space, Atlantis conducted a subsequent mission in the shortest time after the previous mission (turnaround time) when it launched in November 1985 on STS-61-B, only 50 days after its previous mission, STS-51-J in October 1985. Atlantis
11881-412: Was then used for ten flights from 1988 to 1992. Two of these, both flown in 1989, deployed the planetary probes Magellan to Venus (on STS-30 ) and Galileo to Jupiter (on STS-34 ). With STS-30 Atlantis became the first Space Shuttle to launch an interplanetary probe. During the launch of STS-27 in 1988, a piece of insulation shed from the right solid rocket booster struck the underside of
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