NASA has plans to launch 5 space Huttles in 2010, after that they will rely only on the Russian Soyuz rocket. Here is a list of the future mission (Please note that date are subject to chage).
STS-130; Febuary 4th
STS-131; March 18th
STS-132; May 14th
STS-134; July 29th
STS-133; September 16th
The Space Shuttle program began in 1981 with the launch of the first space shuttle, Columbia. Over the course of the program, five operational space shuttles were built and used for various missions until the program ended in 2011.
Buran, meaning 'snowstorm' in Russian, is the name of the Russian version of the space shuttle. It was only ever flown once, unmanned, in 1988 and was destroyed when its hangar collapsed in 2002.
The last space shuttle launch was originally planned for early 2011, but it was delayed to July 8, 2011. The Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-135) was the final shuttle mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program before the fleet was retired.
It wasn't intentionally abandoned. It was originally thought that the Space Shuttle would be operational before Skylab fell to earth. The Space Shuttle would then raise Skylab into a higher orbit to be used by multiple Space Shuttle crews, but an overabundance of solar flares caused Skylab to fall to earth 2 years before it normally would have. Delays in the development of the Space Shuttle spelled the demise of Skylab.
Before the space shuttle program, NASA used various launch vehicles such as the Saturn rockets for the Apollo missions and the Space Transportation System for early spaceflights. These vehicles were designed for specific missions and did not have the reusable characteristics of the space shuttle.
The Space Shuttle program began in 1981 with the launch of the first space shuttle, Columbia. Over the course of the program, five operational space shuttles were built and used for various missions until the program ended in 2011.
So the Americans could get to the moon before the Russians.
The first flight for the Space Shuttle program took place on April 12, 1981, though the program officially began in 1972. There were 135 flights that took place before the program ended in 2011.
The United States had a 30 year old Space Shuttle Program with 135 mission. Russia built their own Space Shuttle called the Buran to compete with the US, but the program only had 1 mission before being cancelled.
Yes. All space shuttle orbiters have been used multiple times. Space Shuttle Discovery has launched on 36 missions as of March 2009 and is scheduled for a total of 39 missions before the program is retired.
Buran, meaning 'snowstorm' in Russian, is the name of the Russian version of the space shuttle. It was only ever flown once, unmanned, in 1988 and was destroyed when its hangar collapsed in 2002.
Russia was developing a space shuttle very similar to the United State's space shuttle called Buran (Russian for Snowstorm). The Buran program began in 1974 as a response to the United State's Space Shuttle program. The Russians believed that the US Space Shuttle could be a significant military threat, and had to be countered. Construction of Buran took place between 1980 and 1984. In 1988, Buran finally had its first orbital test flight. Buran was launched unmanned on an Energia rocket, and orbited around the Earth two times before doing an automated landing at the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Russia's manned launch facility). However that was Buran's only flight, and it was never flown again.
The last space shuttle launch was originally planned for early 2011, but it was delayed to July 8, 2011. The Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-135) was the final shuttle mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program before the fleet was retired.
It wasn't intentionally abandoned. It was originally thought that the Space Shuttle would be operational before Skylab fell to earth. The Space Shuttle would then raise Skylab into a higher orbit to be used by multiple Space Shuttle crews, but an overabundance of solar flares caused Skylab to fall to earth 2 years before it normally would have. Delays in the development of the Space Shuttle spelled the demise of Skylab.
Before the space shuttle program, NASA used various launch vehicles such as the Saturn rockets for the Apollo missions and the Space Transportation System for early spaceflights. These vehicles were designed for specific missions and did not have the reusable characteristics of the space shuttle.
It wasn't invented overnight. It took many years to come up with a design that worked. Research began even before we landed on the moon in 1969. The shuttle program was formally launched in 1972 and Columbia (designated OV-102), was delivered to Kennedy Space Center in 1979 with the first launch in 1981
During launch the space shuttle speeds up to 17500 MPH. In orbit the space station is going about the same speed. So the shuttle does not have to slow down much. At docking the relative speed of the ISS and shuttle is about 1-2 inchs per second.