KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Orbiter Processing Facility, STS-123 crew members examine one of the cameras that will be used on the mission. From left are Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman, Richard Linnehan and Michael Foreman. Reisman will join the Expedition 16 crew on the International Space Station, replacing flight engineer Leopold Eyharts. These and other crew members are at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for a crew equipment interface test, a process of familiarization with payloads, hardware and the space shuttle. The STS-123 mission is targeted for launch on space shuttle Endeavour on Feb. 14. It will be the 25th assembly flight of the station. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-07pd3564A

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Multi-Payload Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough, left, Marsha Ivins and Randy Bresnik take a break from an exercise known as crew egress evaluation from an Orion mock-up. Behind them are Rene Arriens, left, and Tim Seymour, closeout crew members participating in the exercise. The spacecraft is replicated in all areas that could affect a crew's escape, including the area that seals to a launch pad's White Room. The exercise focuses on whether astronauts and their rescue crews can exit the vehicle quickly in the event of a pad emergency. For more information on Orion, visit www.nasa.gov/orion. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis KSC-2010-5177

PHOTO DATE: 03-28-13 LOCATION: NBL - Pool Topside SUBJECT: Expedition 39 (Soyuz 37) crew members Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata during pre-dive briefing, preparations and suitup, then lowering into the water. PHOTOGRAPHER: BILL STAFFORD jsc2013e021265

STS-135 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Orbiter Processing Facility, STS-123 crew members examine one of the cameras that will be used on the mission. From left are Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman, Richard Linnehan and Michael Foreman. Reisman will join the Expedition 16 crew on the International Space Station, replacing flight engineer Leopold Eyharts. These and other crew members are at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for a crew equipment interface test, a process of familiarization with payloads, hardware and the space shuttle. The STS-123 mission is targeted for launch on space shuttle Endeavour on Feb. 14. It will be the 25th assembly flight of the station. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-07pd3564A

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Orbiter Processing Facility, STS-123 crew members examine one of the cameras that will be used on the mission. From left are Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman, Richard Linnehan and Michael Foreman. Reisman will join the Expedition 16 crew on the International Space Station, replacing flight engineer Leopold Eyharts. These and other crew members are at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for a crew equipment interface test, a process of familiarization with payloads, hardware and the space shuttle. The STS-123 mission is targeted for launch on space shuttle Endeavour on Feb. 14. It will be the 25th assembly flight of the station. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

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.