Space shuttle history

Nation & World News

NASA's 30-year shuttle program begins its final mission on Friday, July 8, 2011, with mission 135 by the space shuttle Atlantis.

The space shuttle Atlantis is set to lift off July 8 on the final flight of the shuttle program -- a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. This will be Atlantis' 32nd flight. At the conclusion of this mission, the orbiter will have traveled around the Earth more than 4,600 times, and about 125 million total miles. Here's a look back at the space program's 30 years in flight.

Space shuttle Discovery was operational from its maiden flight on Aug. 30, 1984, until the conclusion of its final mission on March 9, 2011. Discovery spent a cumulative total of 365 days in space. It also flew the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. Discovery was the first operational shuttle to be retired.

The space shuttle Columbia was the first shuttle to go into orbit on a mission. It completed 27 missions - during which it logged 300 days in space - before it was destroyed in 2003.

The space shuttle Challenger was NASA's second orbiter to be put into service. Its maiden flight was on April 4, 1983, and it completed nine missions. Its final flight took place on Jan. 28, 1986, and resulted in the death of all seven crew members. The accident led to a two-and-a-half year grounding of the shuttle fleet, with missions resuming in 1988.

The space shuttle Endeavour first launched in 1992. Endeavour was constructed from spare parts originally meant for Challenger and the other shuttles in the fleet. Endeavour flew on 25 missions over a 19-year period. It logged more than 4,600 orbits around Earth and about 122 million total miles.

Tragedy struck the space shuttle program on Jan. 28, 1986, when the Challenger was destroyed as it broke up in mid-flight in the second minute of its 10th mission. All seven crew members were killed.

Tragedy struck again on Feb. 1, 2003, when Columbia was destroyed while re-entering the atmosphere after a 16-day scientific mission. All seven crew members were killed.

For 134 missions space shuttles have taken off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The shuttle's long exhaust plume and boom upon liftoff could often be seen and heard for miles. The shuttle reaches speeds of up to 18,000 miles per hour during liftoff. The most shuttle flights taken in one year was nine.

NASA has uses crawler-transporters - a pair of tracked vehicles - to transport the orbiter from the assembly building to the launch pad. The orbiter is transported the 3.5 miles at a maximum speed of 1 mile per hour.

Before every liftoff, NASA officials conduct extensive inspections. Throughout its 30-year history, the shuttle program the shuttle has launched on time about 40 percent of the time.

Shuttles that landed at any site other than Kennedy Space Center meant the orbiter had to be flown to Florida in the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. This occurred a handful of times in the program's history - due mainly to costs.

Nearly 20 of the shuttle's 134 launches have occurred during twilight, dawn or dusk. Almost 30 have taken place in complete darkness. The Challenger was the first orbiter launched at night -- on Aug. 30, 1983.

1/12

The space shuttle Atlantis is set to lift off July 8 on the final flight of the shuttle program -- a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. This will be Atlantis' 32nd flight. At the conclusion of this mission, the orbiter will have traveled around the Earth more than 4,600 times, and about 125 million total miles. Here's a look back at the space program's 30 years in flight.

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