CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – As seen on Google Maps, a Space Shuttle Main Engine, or SSME, stands inside the Engine Shop at Orbiter Processing Facility 3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Each orbiter used three of the engines during launch and ascent into orbit. The engines burn super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and each one produces 155,000 pounds of thrust. The engines, known in the industry as RS-25s, could be reused on multiple shuttle missions. They will be used again later this decade for NASA's Space Launch System rocket. Google precisely mapped the space center and some of its historical facilities for the company's map page. The work allows Internet users to see inside buildings at Kennedy as they were used during the space shuttle era. Photo credit: Google/Wendy Wang KSC-2013-3238

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In the Space Shuttle Main Engine Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians guide a transportation canister as it encloses a Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne space shuttle main engine (SSME). This is the second of the 15 engines used during the Space Shuttle Program to be prepared for transfer to NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The engines will be stored at Stennis for future use on NASA's new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), which will carry NASA's new Orion spacecraft, cargo, equipment and science experiments to space. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle. Photo credit: NASA/Gianni Woods KSC-2012-1023

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United Space Alliance technicians monitor the removal of one of three main engines from space shuttle Atlantis from their stations on a specially designed Hyster engine lift. Inspection and maintenance of each main engine is standard procedure following a shuttle mission. Atlantis next is slated to deliver an Integrated Cargo Carrier and Russian-built Mini Research Module to the International Space Station on the STS-132 mission. The second in a series of new pressurized components for Russia, the module will be permanently attached to the Zarya module. Three spacewalks are planned to store spare components outside the station, including six spare batteries, a boom assembly for the Ku-band antenna and spares for the Canadian Dextre robotic arm extension. A radiator, airlock and European robotic arm for the Russian Multi-purpose Laboratory Module also are payloads on the flight. Launch is targeted for May 14, 2010. Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson KSC-2009-6726

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Workers in the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) Shop at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida get ready to raise the second of shuttle Atlantis' three main engines so it can be attached to a Hyster forklift. Then, the engine will be transported to Orbiter Processing Facility-1 where it will be installed in the shuttle. Each engine is 14 feet long, weighs about 6,700 pounds, and is 7.5 feet in diameter at the end of the nozzle. This is the final planned engine installation for the Space Shuttle Program. Atlantis is being prepared for the "launch on need," or potential rescue mission, for the final planned shuttle flight, Endeavour's STS-134 mission. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/shuttle. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-2010-5803

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle main engine No. 2, which was removed from shuttle Discovery, is transported from Orbiter Processing Facility-2 to the Space Shuttle Main Engine Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The removal was part of Discovery's transition and retirement processing. Work performed on Discovery is expected to help rocket designers build next-generation spacecraft and prepare the shuttle for future public display. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2011-2709

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF. - Inside Orbital Sciences’ Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Space Technology 5 (ST5) spacecraft waits for encapsulation after mating with the Orbital Sciences' Pegasus XL launch vehicle. The ST5 contains three microsatellites with miniaturized redundant components and technologies. Each will validate New Millennium Program selected technologies, such as the Cold Gas Micro-Thruster and X-Band Transponder Communication System. After deployment from the Pegasus, the micro-satellites will be positioned in a “string of pearls” constellation that demonstrates the ability to position them to perform simultaneous multi-point measurements of the magnetic field using highly sensitive magnetometers. The data will help scientists understand and map the intensity and direction of the Earth’s magnetic field, its relation to space weather events, and affects on our planet. With such missions, NASA hopes to improve scientists’ ability to accurately forecast space weather and minimize its harmful effects on space- and ground-based systems. Launch of ST5 is scheduled from the belly of an L-1011 carrier aircraft no earlier than March 14 from Vandenberg Air Force Base. KSC-06pd0431

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – As seen on Google Maps, a Space Shuttle Main Engine, or SSME, stands inside the Engine Shop at Orbiter Processing Facility 3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Each orbiter used three of the engines during launch and ascent into orbit. The engines burn super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and each one produces 155,000 pounds of thrust. The engines, known in the industry as RS-25s, could be reused on multiple shuttle missions. They will be used again later this decade for NASA's Space Launch System rocket. Google precisely mapped the space center and some of its historical facilities for the company's map page. The work allows Internet users to see inside buildings at Kennedy as they were used during the space shuttle era. Photo credit: Google/Wendy Wang KSC-2013-3238

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – As seen on Google Maps, a Space Shuttle Main Engine, or SSME, stands inside the Engine Shop at Orbiter Processing Facility 3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Each orbiter used three of the engines during launch and ascent into orbit. The engines burn super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and each one produces 155,000 pounds of thrust. The engines, known in the industry as RS-25s, could be reused on multiple shuttle missions. They will be used again later this decade for NASA's Space Launch System rocket. Google precisely mapped the space center and some of its historical facilities for the company's map page. The work allows Internet users to see inside buildings at Kennedy as they were used during the space shuttle era. Photo credit: Google/Wendy Wang

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.