Nasa space shuttle in space1/9/2023 ![]() ![]() The Air Force signed on to use the shuttle too, and in 1979 started building a launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in northern California for reaching polar orbits. “NRO requirements drove the shuttle design,” says Parker Temple, a historian who served on the policy staff of the secretary of the Air Force and later with the NRO’s office within the Central Intelligence Agency. The spysat agency also wanted the option to fly “once around” polar missions, which demanded more flexibility to maneuver for a landing that could be on either side of the vehicle’s ground track. The NRO built and operated large, expensive reconnaissance satellites, and it wanted a bigger shuttle cargo bay than NASA had planned. Why not?īecause STS-27 was-and remains-a secret mission.īetween 19, NASA launched 11 shuttle flights with classified payloads, honoring a deal that dated to 1969, when the National Reconnaissance Office-an organization so secret its name could not be published at the time-requested certain changes to the design of NASA’s new space transportation system. We don’t know because not a word of the ONYX rescue was reported in newspapers or on television. The astronauts may just as well have fixed the satellite without a spacewalk by Ross and Shepherd. intelligence community.Īt least that’s one possible scenario for what happened. As it turned out, they succeeded in grabbing, fixing, and re-releasing ONYX, for which they later received a medal from the U.S. Without intervention by the crew, the billion-dollar satellite would become a hunk of space junk. But shortly after the astronauts released the spacecraft, called ONYX, from the shuttle’s cargo bay, on December 2, 1988, one of its antenna dishes had failed to open. The mission of STS-27 had been to deploy the first in a series of new spy satellites that used radar to observe ground targets, in any kind of weather, day or night. Downstairs in the airlock, mission specialists Jerry Ross and Bill Shepherd waited in their spacesuits for Gibson’s order to go outside and attempt a rescue. Commander Hoot Gibson and pilot Guy Gardner flew the approach, while mission specialist Mike Mullane, at the other end of the flight deck, readied the shuttle’s robot arm for a capture. The retired shuttles are housed at their final destinations at museums across America where people from all over the globe travel to see them.The giant gold and silver satellite glittered against the black sky as space shuttle Atlantis closed in on it from below. While its time has come and gone, it is hard to forget NASA’s space shuttle, which left a huge impact on the history of human space exploration and pushed the limits of human space travel. The shuttle fostered international collaboration and made space more accessible. ![]() It was the shuttle that flew the first American woman and African-American in space, as well as the first teacher. While Apollo capsules could carry three astronauts, the shuttle could carry up to eight!Īnd the shuttle broke through boundaries, bringing together diverse crews from all over the world, across all backgrounds. It could also accommodate more crew members. Its large cargo bay allowed for bigger payloads, and since it was reusable, it offered a more economic option for flying human spaceflight missions. The shuttle stood out in many ways from traditional spacecraft. Many scientific investigations were conducted onboard, and the invaluable knowledge gained from their results has improved life in space and on Earth. A sixth prototype orbiter, Enterprise, was used in glide tests prior to the first shuttle flight.įrom helping construct the International Space Station (ISS) to launching the Hubble Space Telescope, the shuttle accomplished much during its 30-year career. NASA built five shuttle orbiters for human spaceflight – Challenger, Endeavour, Discovery, Atlantis, and Columbia. It seemed to have jumped right out of a science-fiction story! No one had ever seen anything like NASA’s space shuttle. It captured the hearts and minds of people all around the world. ![]() Its re-usability marked a first for human spacecraft, but the shuttle did more than make history. The shuttle was in a word, revolutionary. It launched like a rocket, but landed like a plane. The space shuttle is one of NASA’s most iconic spacecrafts. Total miles traveled: 542,398,878 miles.Final shuttle launch: Atlantis, July 21, 2011.First shuttle launch: Columbia, April 12, 1981.This month we are spotlighting the space shuttle, the world’s first reusable spacecraft. In our new Spacecraft Spotlight blog series, we are featuring different spacecraft and highlighting their unique features and significant contributions to the history of space exploration. ![]()
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