Space Shuttle

After completion of a lunar epopee, all efforts of the American designers rocket and the space engineers were massed on mining of the reusable spacecraft - Space Shuttle. The development, production and multilateral testing continued from 1972 to 1981.
April 12, 1981, the day per day, after Gagarin’s flight is equal in twenty years, the maiden manned flight of the Space Shuttle - Columbia was executed. The crew Columbia - John Young and Robert Crippen. In total was built five Space Shuttles: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour. Challenger was lost in debacle, in January, 1986, then seven crew members have perished all. Columbia was lost in debacle, in Februar, 2003, then seven crew members have perished all. Remaining in formation three Space Shuttles, prolong flights till July 2011. In general on Space Shuttles 135 manned flights are accomplished already.
A total of five shuttles

• performed 135 flights
• 21152 times orbited the Earth
• overcame 542,398,878 miles
• spent 1334 days in space
• 852 astronauts were flying into space in shuttles

The first operational shuttle Columbia named after the ship captain Robert Gray, who in the 1790s explored the north-western regions of the Pacific and the rivers Colombia between the states of Washington and Oregon and became the first American vessel to circumnavigate the world.
The decision to build a shuttle Columbia (Orbiter Vehicle 102, OV-102) was adopted on July 26, 1972. March 24, 1979 shuttle Columbia on the back of Boeing flew to the Space Center Kennedy in Florida. For two years, the shuttle Columbia was preparing for the first flight. December 29, 1980 shuttle Columbia in conjunction with an external fuel tank and two start-up accelerators was installed on the launch pad 39A. The start of Colombia was postponed several times.
April 12 at 07:00:03 EST (12:00:03 Universal Time) shuttle Columbia STS-1 started on the first flight. The crew consisted of two astronauts: commander John Young and pilot Robert Crippen. The start of Columbia occurred exactly 20 years after the first manned space flight of Yuri Gagarin on the ship Vostok.
From November 19 to December 7, 1996, Columbia STS-80 made the longest in the history of shuttles Flight: 17 days 15 hours 53 minutes 18 seconds.
On February 1, 2003, when descending from the orbit and entering into atmosphere the shuttle Columbia crashed. Crew: Rick Hasbend, Michael Anderson, Laurel Clark, David Brown, William McCool, Kalpana Chaula, Ilan Ramon was killed.
In total, Colombia

• performed 28 flights
• circled the Earth 4808 times
• overcame 121,696,993 miles
• spent in space 300 days 17:40:22
• 160 astronauts were flying into space in Colombia

The contract for the start of the construction of the shuttle Challenger (Orbiter Vehicle 099, OV-099) was signed on July 26, 1972. Named after the British corvette Challenger, who served as the flagship of a research expedition from 1872 to 1876.
On October 21, 1981, the Challenger assembly was completed. July 5, 1982 shuttle Challenger on the back of the Boeing flew to the Space Center Kennedy in Florida. November 30, 1982 Challenger STS-6 in conjunction with an external fuel tank and two start-up accelerators was installed on the launch pad 39A. April 4, 1983 Challenger started in his first space flight. During the flight of STS-6 the first time a spacewalk was performed. Astronauts Story Musgrave and Donald Peterson made a spacewalk of 4 hours and 17 minutes.
Two months later, on June 18, 1983, Challenger STS-7 went on the second flight. In the crew was the first American female astronaut Sally Ride.
Departing for its 10th flight on January 28, 1986, the STS-51L shuttle Challenger crashed on the 73rd second after the start. Crew: Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Ronald McNair, Judith Resnik was killed.
In total Challenger

• committed 10 flights (including STS-51L)
• circled the Earth 995 times
• overcame 23,661,290 miles
• spent in space 62 days 07:56:22
• 60 astronauts were flying into space in Challenger

The contract, authorizing the construction of Discovery, was signed on January 29, 1979, and the initial work on assembling the module of the crew began in August of the following year. The assembly of Discovery was completed in October 1983, and he was transferred to the Kennedy Space Center on November 9, 1983. Shuttle Discovery was named after one of the two ships on which the British James Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands.
On the first flight of Discovery STS-41D set off on August 30, 1984. In his second flight, Discovery became the first spacecraft that returned the satellite from orbit to Earth. In 1985, Discovery became the first shuttle, who flew four flights for one year. In February 1994, in the Discovery crew STS-60 for the first time in space went Sergei Krikalev - an cosmonaut from Russia. In October 1998, in the crew of the Discovery STS-95 was the oldest astronaut - John Glenn, who at the age of 77 made his second space flight. The flight of Discovery STS-133 became the 39th and the last for Discovery, which flew longer than all the shuttles and committed the largest number of flights since 1984.
During 26 years of operation and 39 flights, Discovery carried out four flights for the US Department of Defense, two flights with the Spacelab module, two flights to the Russian space station Mir, one docking with Mir station and 12 flights to the International Space Station. At least 24 civilian and militarysatellite were delivered to space, including the Hubble Space Telescope.
After completing the flights, the Discovery shuttle is housed in the Smithsonian National Center for Aviation and Space museum in Washington.
In total Discovery

• completed 39 flights
• 5830 times circled the Earth
• overcame 148,221,675 miles
• spent 365 days in space
• 252 astronauts flew into space in Discovery

T decision to build the shuttle Atlantis (Orbiting Vehicle 104, OV-104) was was adopted on January 29, 1979. The Atlantis shuttle was named after an American two-masted sailing ship, which in 1930-1966 served as a research vessel for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute of Massachusetts. The assembly of the shuttle Atlantis began in March 1980. Atlantis became the fourth operational shuttle. Atlantis was brought to the Space Center Kennedy on April 13, 1985. Atlantis was trained for the first flight and was first installed on the launch pad 39A on 30 August. On the first flight Atlantis STS-51J started on October 3, 1985. It was a four-day Flight on the program of the US Department of Defense. Within the framework of the joint US-Russian program, Atlantis seven times docked with the orbital space station Mir, for the delivery of materials, equipment and replacement of American astronauts in the crews of the station. Atlantis participated in the construction of an international space station. The shuttle Atlantis crew performed the last service flight of the Hubble Space Telescope. The last flight of Atlantis STS-135 took place in July 2011. Atlantis exhibited in a museum at the Kennedy Space Center.
In total Atlantis

• made 33 flights
• circled the Earth 4848 times
• overcame 125,935,769 miles
• spent 307 days in space
• 207 astronauts were flying into space in Atlantis

On January 1986, the Space Shuttle program was in full swing - with preparations to launch the 25th mission of the shuttle. Mission Challenger STS-51L ended in disaster. After loss of Challenger, the United States Congress passed a law authorizing the construction of a new orbiter space shuttle, to fill the obvious need left after the disaster. Contract for The construction of NASA's new orbiter, officially known as the OV-105 (Orbiter Vehicle 105), was signed on July 31, 1987.
The construction of the shuttle Endeavour began in September 1987 as a replacement for the shuttle Challenger. He became the fifth and last operational space shuttle NASA. Unlike all previous spacecraft, this time NASA decided to involve the public in choosing the name of the new space shuttle orbiter. For the new shuttle was chosen the name, which became the most popular of all the proposed - Endeavour. In honor of the research ship of Captain James Cook, on which he made the first voyage in 1768 to 1771.
May 7, 1991 Endeavour arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the construction of Endeavour were made numerous improvements over previous shuttles.
On March 13, 1992, the shuttle Endeavour was installed on the launch pad 39B. May 7, 1992 shuttle Endeavour STS-49 went to his first space flight. During this flight, the first time a spacewalk was performed, in which three astronauts participated. Until now, this exit of three astronauts remains the only one. At the same time, it was the longest eva. A longer eva was made in March 2001. For the first time during the space shuttle flight, four spacewalks were performed. In December 1993, the crew of Endeavour STS-61 performed a successful repair of the Hubble Space Telescope. From the shuttle Endeavour were launched into space and returned to Earth satellites. Once Endeavour also visited Russian space station Mir.
Shuttle Endeavour STS-88 in December 1998 delivered to orbit the first US module Unity for the International space station. Altogether, Endeavour completed 12 flights to the International Space Station.
The last flight of the shuttle Endeavour STS-134 took place in May 2011. After the end of the flights Endeavour will be displayed at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
In total Endeavour

• committed 25 flights
• 4671 times circled the Earth
• overcame 122,883,151 miles
• spent 299 days in space
• 173 astronauts were flying into space in Endeavour