One private company called SpaceX has already signed a $1.6 billion contract with NASA for 12 unmanned delivery missions. Once the space shuttle program is retired, NASA plans to rely on privately owned spacecraft to transport astronauts into space and fly delivery missions to the International Space Staton. Private companies such as SpaceX have started contracting with NASA to reach orbit and deliver goods to the International Space Station. The space shuttle program has also been marked by tragedy: the shuttle Columbia broke up in flight in 2003, while the Challenger suffered a devastating explosion on its launch pad in 1986. Many people think the shuttle program did not achieve its goal because sending a shuttle into space is still very expensive – about $1.5 billion today. Before the shuttle program, astronauts were transported into space by rockets in capsules that could not land like planes but had to drop in the ocean and be recovered, making the operation extremely expensive. The space shuttle program was launched by President Richard Nixon in 1972 as a less expensive way to get to space. The Discovery, which flew its last mission in March, will be on view at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., while the Atlantis will go to the Kennedy Visitor Complex at Cape Canaveral, Fla. The crew of the Endeavour is headed up by astronaut Mark Kelly (left)Īfter this final mission for Endeavour, the shuttle will be retired and will go on display at the California Space Center in Los Angeles. The parrel aboard the Endeavour is more than 500 years old and was used on the Mary Rose, the main ship of England’s King Henry VIII. “Blown by solar winds, they can ‘sail’ to distant locations without fuel.”Įndeavour will also bring a historic artifact into space: a three-inch wooden ball called a “parrel” that was used by sailors to raise sails up masts. “Their small size allows them to travel like space dust,” one of the satellite’s designers told the Cornell Chronicle. Scientists have designed them to be carried by the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emitted by the sun. Then, they will be released on their own to collect data in outer space. Mission will transport satellites, ancient artifact into spaceĮndeavour’s final mission will transport three tiny satellites to be mounted on the International Space Station for a brief time to see how they hold up in the harsh conditions of space. Science Correspondent Miles O’Brien will moderate an upcoming live discussion with the astronauts during which he will pose many questions asked in the online forum. Students have the opportunity to ask Kelly and his fellow astronauts questions during the mission, thanks to an online forum being hosted by Google, YouTube and the PBS NewsHour. Giffords, who is recovering from her brain injury at a Houston rehabilitation center, will be in attendance at the launch. The shuttle will be piloted by astronaut Mark Kelly, whose wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), was shot in the head in January by a lone gunman at a community event.
The shuttle launch has been delayed at least several days due to issues with the shuttle’s electrical system. Having fired the imagination of a generation, a ship like no other, its place in history secured, the space shuttle pulls into port for the last time-its voyage at an end.The space shuttle Endeavour sits on its launchpad at Cape Canveral, Florida. It landed at Kennedy Space Center on July 21st, 2011. ISS: Atlantis departing the International Space Station for the last time. And they built most of the International Space Station.īut after the shuttle Columbia was destroyed during re-entry in 2003, NASA decided to ground the fleet after the space station was done.įor the final flight, Atlantis carried up spare parts and scientific equipment. Its crews launched and repaired satellites, including Hubble Space Telescope. Still, the shuttle was a remarkable machine. So launches were separated by months, not days. But shuttles were harder to maintain than expected. NASA promised to launch up to a flight a week. The shuttle had been intended to replace almost all of America’s rockets. Atlantis completed the 135th shuttle mission, 30 years after the first.
The space shuttle program rolled to a halt 10 years ago today. MISSION CONTROL: Piercing the pre-dawn skies, the space shuttle announces its arrival at the launch site with its signature sound of twin sonic booms, having gone subsonic for the last time.
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