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STS-135 starboard view on launch pad 39a
STS-133 - Public domain NASA photogrpaph
STS-133 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph
Discovery's Last Ride. NASA public domain image colelction.
STS-132 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph
STS-133 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Smoke and steam billow around space shuttle Discovery and Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as the shuttle's solid rocket boosters and main engines ignite for lift off, embarking on its final flight, the STS-133 mission. Launch to the International Space Station was at 4:53 p.m. EST. Discovery and its six-member crew will deliver the Permanent Multipurpose Module, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, the dexterous humanoid astronaut helper, to the orbiting outpost. Discovery is flying on its 39th mission and is scheduled to be retired following STS-133. This is the 133rd Space Shuttle Program mission and the 35th shuttle voyage to the space station. For more information on the STS-133 mission, visit www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts133/. Photo credit: NASA/Tony Gray and Tom Farrar KSC-2011-1760
Stennis Tests All Space Shuttle Main Engines
STS-132 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph
Related
Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle Project
Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle Project
Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle Projects
Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle Projects
Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle Project
Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle Project
Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle Project
Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle Project
Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle Project
Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle Project
Summary
The Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-52) thunders off Launch Pad 39B, embarking on a 10-day flight and carrying a crew of six who will deploy the Laser Geodynamic Satellite II (LAGEOS). LAGEOS is a spherical passive satellite covered with reflectors which are illuminated by ground-based lasers to determine precise measurements of the Earth's crustal movements. The other major payload on this mission is the United States Microgravity Payload 1 (USMP-1), where experiments will be conducted by crew members while in low earth orbit (LEO).
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.
- STS-52 - NASA
- STS-52 - NASA
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