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STS-80 Columbia, OV-102, lands at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility
X-38 Ship #2 in Free Flight after Release from B-52 Mothership
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- KSC workers accompany Space Shuttle Columbia as it is moved towards the Vehicle Assembly Building where processing will continue for the flight of mission STS-107. Launch is now targeted for no earlier than Jan. 16, 2003. The STS-107 mission will be dedicated to microgravity research. The payloads include the Hitchhiker Bridge, a carrier for the Fast Reaction Experiments Enabling Science, Technology, Applications and Research (FREESTAR) incorporating eight high priority secondary attached Shuttle experiments, and the SHI Research Double Module (SHI/RDM), also known as SPACEHAB. KSC-02pd1764
STS-123 - EOM - Public domain NASA photogrpaph
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – After rollover from Orbiter Processing Facility 3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building, space shuttle Discovery is being raised to vertical. It will be lifted into High Bay 1 where it will be mated to the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters already installed on the mobile launcher platform. The shuttle is scheduled to roll out to Launch Pad 39A the first week of August to prepare for the STS-128 mission to the International Space Station. Discovery will carry the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module containing life support racks and science racks and the Lightweight Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure Carrier in its payload bay. Launch of Discovery is targeted for late August. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-2009-4247
Sunlight NASA Image of The Day. NASA public domain image colelction.
STS-131 - EOM - Public domain NASA photogrpaph
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – As the sun rises at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, preparations are under way to back NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, away from the mate-demate device. Space shuttle Endeavour has been fitted with an aerodynamic tailcone and secured atop the aircraft for its upcoming ferry flight. The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era. For more information on the shuttles' transition and retirement, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin KSC-2012-5233
Shuttle and 747 in the Mate-Demate Device (MDD)
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers check the crane that will begin raising Space Shuttle Atlantis to a vertical position in the Vehicle Assembly Building. Once in position, it will be mated with its external tank and solid rocket boosters before being transported to Launch Pad 39A. Atlantis will fly on mission STS-101 to the International Space Station, where its crew of seven will prepare the Station for the arrival of the next pressurized module, the Russian-built Zvezda. Atlantis is expected to launch no earlier than April 17, 2000 KSC00pp0354
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, the orbiter Atlantis rests atop a transporter in the transfer aisle while an overhead crane is placed around the space vehicle. The crane will lift Atlantis to a vertical position so it can be mated with its external tank and solid rocket boosters before being transported to Launch Pad 39A. Atlantis will fly on mission STS-101 to the International Space Station, where its crew of seven will prepare the Station for the arrival of the next pressurized module, the Russian-built Zvezda. Atlantis is expected to launch no earlier than April 17, 2000 KSC-00pp0355
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the orbiter Atlantis is slowly moved toward the external tank and solid rocket boosters stack waiting below (right). After being mated with the stack, Atlantis will be transported to Launch Pad 39A. Atlantis will fly on mission STS-101 to the International Space Station, where its crew of seven will prepare the Station for the arrival of the next pressurized module, the Russian-built Zvezda. Atlantis is expected to launch no earlier than April 17, 2000 KSC00pp0362
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the orbiter Atlantis is close to its final position for mating with the external tank and solid rocket boosters behind it. The entire assembly sits on top of the Mobile Launcher Platform below which will transport the Space Shuttle to Launch Pad 39A. Atlantis will fly on mission STS-101 to the International Space Station, where its crew of seven will prepare the Station for the arrival of the next pressurized module, the Russian-built Zvezda. Atlantis is expected to launch no earlier than April 17, 2000 KSC-00pp0366
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the transfer aisle inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, the orbiter Atlantis hangs suspended from an overhead crane that will lift the orbiter to a vertical position. Once in position, it will be mated with its external tank and solid rocket boosters before being transported to Launch Pad 39A. Atlantis will fly on mission STS-101 to the International Space Station, where its crew of seven will prepare the Station for the arrival of the next pressurized module, the Russian-built Zvezda. Atlantis is expected to launch no earlier than April 17, 2000 KSC00pp0356
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the orbiter Atlantis is close to its final position for mating with the external tank and solid rocket boosters behind it. The entire assembly sits on top of the Mobile Launcher Platform below which will transport the Space Shuttle to Launch Pad 39A. Atlantis will fly on mission STS-101 to the International Space Station, where its crew of seven will prepare the Station for the arrival of the next pressurized module, the Russian-built Zvezda. Atlantis is expected to launch no earlier than April 17, 2000 KSC00pp0366
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the orbiter Atlantis hangs suspended vertically from an overhead crane. The 122-foot high orbiter is easily accommodated inside the 525-foot-tall, 518-foot-wide VAB. Atlantis will be mated with its external tank and solid rocket boosters before being transported to Launch Pad 39A. Atlantis will fly on mission STS-101 to the International Space Station, where its crew of seven will prepare the Station for the arrival of the next pressurized module, the Russian-built Zvezda. Atlantis is expected to launch no earlier than April 17, 2000 KSC-00pp0360
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Space Shuttle Atlantis, atop the mobile launcher platform and crawler-transporter, sits on launch Pad 39A with the Atlantic Ocean in the background after having traveled 3.4 miles from the Vehicle Assembly Building. Liftoff of Atlantis on mission STS-101 is scheduled for April 17 at 7:03 p.m. EDT. STS-101 is a logistics and resupply mission for the International Space Station, to restore full redundancy to the International Space Station power system in preparation for the arrival of the next pressurized module, the Russian-built Zvezda KSC00pp0409
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Space Shuttle Atlantis sits on launch Pad 39A waiting for the rotating service structure, pictured at left, to be moved into place for final launch preparations. Liftoff of Atlantis on mission STS-101 is scheduled for April 17 at 7:03 p.m. EDT. STS-101 is a logistics and resupply mission for the International Space Station, to restore full redundancy to the International Space Station power system in preparation for the arrival of the next pressurized module, the Russian-built Zvezda KSC00pp0410
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers check the crane that will begin raising Space Shuttle Atlantis to a vertical position in the Vehicle Assembly Building. Once in position, it will be mated with its external tank and solid rocket boosters before being transported to Launch Pad 39A. Atlantis will fly on mission STS-101 to the International Space Station, where its crew of seven will prepare the Station for the arrival of the next pressurized module, the Russian-built Zvezda. Atlantis is expected to launch no earlier than April 17, 2000 KSC-00pp0354
Summary
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers check the crane that will begin raising Space Shuttle Atlantis to a vertical position in the Vehicle Assembly Building. Once in position, it will be mated with its external tank and solid rocket boosters before being transported to Launch Pad 39A. Atlantis will fly on mission STS-101 to the International Space Station, where its crew of seven will prepare the Station for the arrival of the next pressurized module, the Russian-built Zvezda. Atlantis is expected to launch no earlier than April 17, 2000
The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.
Space Shuttle Atlantis was a space shuttle that was operated by NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program. It was the fourth operational shuttle built, and the last one to be built before the program was retired in 2011. Atlantis was named after the first research vessel operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and it made its first flight in October 1985. Over the course of its career, Atlantis completed 33 missions and spent a total of 307 days in space. Its last mission was STS-135, which was the final mission of the Space Shuttle program. Atlantis is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Space Shuttle Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-104) was one of the four first operational orbiters in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States. (The other two are Discovery and Endeavour.) Atlantis was the fourth operational shuttle built. Atlantis is named after a two-masted sailing ship that operated from 1930 to 1966 for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Atlantis performed well in 25 years of service, flying 33 missions.