space shuttle

     

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially calle the Space Transportation System (STS), is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions. At launch, it consists of a rust-colored external tank (ET), two white, slender Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), and the orbiter, a winged spaceplane which is the space shuttle in the narrow sense.

Trivia about space shuttle

  • In June 1991 weightlessness experiments were conducted on about 2,500 jellyfish aboard this
  • In November 2002 NASA renewed contracts for this program for another decade or so
  • At about 17,000 mph, the world's fastest winged vehicle is this one when in orbit
  • The Columbia was the 1st of these that could lift off like a rocket and land like an airplane
  • An Observatory at Corning CC, her alma mater, is named for Eileen Collins, the first woman to command this NASA vehicle
  • In 1982 one of these vehicles deployed a satellite for the first time
  • In 1995 Eileen Collins became the first American woman to pilot one of these
  • Chris was honored by this NASA program's first vehicle launched into orbit in 1981
  • In 1992 Mae Jemison did a frog egg fertilization experiment while aboard this
  • Stennis Space Center in Hancock County is the testing facility for this craft's main engines
  • Among the largest tracked vehicles, the Marion Crowlers today move these at Kennedy Space Center
  • An expert in EVAs, or extra-vehicular activities, Sherwood Spring exited one of these to perform an EVA in 1985
  • At launching, it's attached to an external tank & 2 rocket boosters
  • Sally was the commander when her team simulated a mission on this reusable spacecraft
  • The Space Launch Initiative is an effort to develop a reusable transport system as a successor to this one
  • August 1983 saw the first night launch of this reusable U.S. orbital vehicle
  • 2 solid rocket boosters along with the 3 main engines help this craft, such as the Atlantis, go 3,000 mph
  • Florida senator Bill Nelson took a long, high route to the Hill; he was a crewman on the 24th flight of one of these
  • Derham Hall High's Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper reached for the stars in 2006 aboard this
  • (Cheryl of the Clue Crew reads from the Johnson Space Center in Houston.) The manned maneuvering unit was used to repair the Solar Max satellite on a 1984 flight of this
  • The Russian Voskhod I was the first single ship to fly 3 astronauts; this was the first to fly 4
  • On April 12, 1981 John Young (Moon, Class of '72) became the first to command one of these vehicles