KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In Highbay 1 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, technicians perform repair techniques to the external tank inside a tented area that protects the top of the tank. A severe thunderstorm with golf ball-sized hail caused visible divots in the giant tank's foam insulation and minor surface damage to about 26 heat shield tiles on the shuttle's left wing. A new target launch date has not been determined, but teams will focus on preparing Atlantis for liftoff in late April on mission STS-117. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann KSC-07pd0596

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.

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