CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Press Site auditorium at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA managers brief media about their unanimous approval to proceed with space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission. From left, are NASA Public Affairs Officer Candrea Thomas, Space Shuttle Program Launch Integration Manager Mike Moses, Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach and Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters. Endeavour's launch is scheduled for May 16 at 8:56 a.m. EDT. Endeavour and its crew will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier-3, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for the Dextre robotic helper to the station. This will be the final spaceflight for Endeavour. For more information visit, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts134/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky KSC-2011-3513

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.