KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The STS-93 stack of solid rocket boosters and external tank nears the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) where it will sit underneath the lightning shield wires strung from the roof of the VAB for protection. The stack is temporarily being stored outside while repair work is being done inside on the hail-damaged external tank of Space Shuttle Discovery. Discovery was rolled back from Pad 39B to the VAB for repairs because access to all of the damaged areas was not possible at the pad. The STS-93 stack is expected to be moved back into the VAB after Discovery returns to the pad. The scheduled date for launch of mission STS-96 is no earlier than May 27. STS-93 is targeted for launch on July 22, carrying the Chandra X-ray Observatory KSC-99pp0558

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STS-335 LAST FWD SEGMENT XFER FROM ARF TO VAB 2010-4931

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Space Shuttle Program's final solid rocket booster assembly -- the right-hand forward -- is being delivered to the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The right and left forward assemblies, which are refurbished and processed at Kennedy, are comprised of three components -- nose cap, frustum and forward skirt. Inside the VAB, the boosters will be stacked, then joined to an external fuel tank and space shuttle Atlantis for what currently is planned as the "launch on need," or potential rescue mission, for Endeavour's STS-134 mission to the International Space Station targeted to launch in February, 2011. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann KSC-2010-4931

Comparison chart of U.S. launch vehicles

STS-127 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

US CITIZEN NATURALIZATION EVENT 2010-3940

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - On the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, one of two final components of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory is moved out of the Russian Antonov AH-124-100 cargo airplane. The components are the Kibo Exposed Facility, or EF, and the Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section, or ELM-ES. The EF provides a multipurpose platform where science experiments can be deployed and operated in the exposed environment. The payloads attached to the EF can be exchanged or retrieved by Kibo's robotic arm, the JEM Remote Manipulator System. The ELM-ES will be attached to the end of the EF to provide payload storage space and can carry up to three payloads at launch. In addition, the ELM-ES provides a logistics function where it can be detached from the EF and returned to the ground aboard the space shuttle. The two JEM components will be carried aboard space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-127 mission targeted for launch in May 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann KSC-08pd2918

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The STS-93 stack of solid rocket boosters and external tank nears the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) where it will sit underneath the lightning shield wires strung from the roof of the VAB for protection. The stack is temporarily being stored outside while repair work is being done inside on the hail-damaged external tank of Space Shuttle Discovery. Discovery was rolled back from Pad 39B to the VAB for repairs because access to all of the damaged areas was not possible at the pad. The STS-93 stack is expected to be moved back into the VAB after Discovery returns to the pad. The scheduled date for launch of mission STS-96 is no earlier than May 27. STS-93 is targeted for launch on July 22, carrying the Chandra X-ray Observatory KSC-99pp0558

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The STS-93 stack of solid rocket boosters and external tank nears the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) where it will sit underneath the lightning shield wires strung from the roof of the VAB for protection. The stack is temporarily being stored outside while repair work is being done inside on the hail-damaged external tank of Space Shuttle Discovery. Discovery was rolled back from Pad 39B to the VAB for repairs because access to all of the damaged areas was not possible at the pad. The STS-93 stack is expected to be moved back into the VAB after Discovery returns to the pad. The scheduled date for launch of mission STS-96 is no earlier than May 27. STS-93 is targeted for launch on July 22, carrying the Chandra X-ray Observatory

Space Shuttle Program

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.