The external tank
If you mean by the roll they played, they were mainly used for going between earth and the ISS, repairing sattelites and telescopes, and doing experiments in space. Now the space shuttle fleet is retired and are in museums.
The space shuttle that was reused was the Space Shuttle Orbiter, a part of NASA's Space Shuttle system. The first orbiter to be reused was Columbia, followed by Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.
Six space shuttles have landed on the moon. The space shuttles, however, were a part of the Space Shuttle program and were not designed to operate on the moon’s surface. They were primarily used for missions in low Earth orbit.
The only part of the Space Shuttle that goes into space is the orbiter. This component houses the crew and cargo, and it is responsible for performing missions in low Earth orbit. The solid rocket boosters and the external tank are jettisoned during ascent and do not enter space. After completing its mission, the orbiter re-enters the Earth's atmosphere and lands like an airplane.
In October 1998, Senator Glenn returned to space at the age of 77 aboard the space shuttle Discovery.
The orbiter.
The space shuttle orbiter orbits the earth. The solid rocket boosters are jettisoned within the earth's atmosphere, around two minutes after launch and the External Fuel Tank is jettisoned once in space.
The space shuttle.
The Space Shuttle was a reusable spacecraft developed by NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program. It was used for a variety of missions including launches into low Earth orbit and repair and maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope. The Space Shuttle was retired in 2011 and no longer in use. None of the Space Shuttles broke in space.
If you mean by the roll they played, they were mainly used for going between earth and the ISS, repairing sattelites and telescopes, and doing experiments in space. Now the space shuttle fleet is retired and are in museums.
A part on the Space shuttle
STS-1, launched April 12, 1981, returning to Earth April 14, 1981. Orbited the Earth 37 times.
The space shuttle that was reused was the Space Shuttle Orbiter, a part of NASA's Space Shuttle system. The first orbiter to be reused was Columbia, followed by Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.
Six space shuttles have landed on the moon. The space shuttles, however, were a part of the Space Shuttle program and were not designed to operate on the moon’s surface. They were primarily used for missions in low Earth orbit.
The only part of the Space Shuttle that goes into space is the orbiter. This component houses the crew and cargo, and it is responsible for performing missions in low Earth orbit. The solid rocket boosters and the external tank are jettisoned during ascent and do not enter space. After completing its mission, the orbiter re-enters the Earth's atmosphere and lands like an airplane.
In October 1998, Senator Glenn returned to space at the age of 77 aboard the space shuttle Discovery.
-- An object being launched to go to 'outer space' doesn't need to go around the Earth in order to get there. That's done sometimes, just to give ground controllers a chance to check things out and make sure it's ready for the long part of the trip, but it's not a necessary part of the process. -- The Space Shuttle wasn't designed for 'outer space', and never went anywhere except around the Earth. -- The Space Shuttle doesn't even do that much any more. The last Shuttle mission flew in 2011, and all of the remaining Shuttles are in museums now.