With its delta wing orbiter, twin solid rocket boosters and bright orange external fuel tank, NASA’s Space Transportation System better known as the space shuttle is perhaps the world's most recognizable spacecraft. And since its first launch in 1981, the shuttle has proved to be the dependable, versatile and reusable workhorse it was designed to be, delivering hundreds of tons of payloads into orbit, rescuing and repairing damaged satellites, and helping to build and supply the International Space Station.
Space Workhorse – A History Of The Space Shuttle – Episode 1: Trial & Error
2007
NASA was thinking about a reusable spacecraft even during the Apollo missions to the moon in the 1960’s culminating on July 20, 1969 when the Eagle landed…
Space Workhorse – A History Of The Space Shuttle – Episode 2: First Flight
2007
Astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen sit in the 2,000 ton space shuttle Columbia on the pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida waiting for the attached…
Space Workhorse – A History Of The Space Shuttle – Episode 3: Launch Day
2007
A space shuttle launch day is the proverbial tip of the iceberg: Thousands of hours of work by thousands of personnel at facilities throughout the U.S…
Space Workhorse – A History Of The Space Shuttle – Episode 4: Heartbreak
2007
The space shuttle flight that took off on January 28, 1986 had captured the American public’s attention, indeed the world’s, with the inclusion of…
Space Workhorse – A History Of The Space Shuttle – Episode 5: Columbia
2007
Space Shuttle Columbia, with an international crew, completed a very successful 16 day scientific mission in January 2003 and was preparing to land on…
Space Workhorse – A History Of The Space Shuttle – Episode 6: Put Out To Pasture
2007
Space Shuttle Discovery launched July 26, 2005 as the first “Return To Flight” Space Shuttle mission 907 days after the loss of the shuttle Columbia…