KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the payload bay of Space Shuttle orbiter Endeavour, workers and STS-88 crew members on a movable work platform or bucket move closer to the rear of the orbiter's crew compartment. While Endeavour is being prepared for flight inside Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1, the STS-88 crew members are participating in a Crew Equipment Interface Test (CEIT) to familiarize themselves with the orbiter's midbody and crew compartments. A KSC worker (left) maneuvers the platform to give Mission Specialists Jerry L. Ross and James H. Newman (right) a closer look. Looking on is Wayne Wedlake of United Space Alliance at Johnson Space Center. Targeted for liftoff on Dec. 3, 1998, STS-88 will be the first Space Shuttle launch for assembly of the International Space Station (ISS). The primary payload is the Unity connecting module which will be mated to the Russian-built Zarya control module, expected to be already on orbit after a November launch from Russia. After the mating, Ross and Newman are scheduled to perform three spacewalks to connect power, data and utility lines and install exterior equipment. The first major U.S.-built component of ISS, Unity will serve as a connecting passageway to living and working areas of the space station. Unity has two attached pressurized mating adapters (PMAs) and one stowage rack installed inside. PMA-1 provides the permanent connection point between Unity and Zarya; PMA-2 will serve as a Space Shuttle docking port. Zarya is a self-supporting active vehicle, providing propulsive control capability and power during the early assembly stages. It also has fuel storage capability KSC-98pc1216

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- STS-120 Mission Specialist Doug Wheelock (left) gets hands-on experience with equipment earmarked for the mission. The primary payload for mission STS-120 is the U.S. Node 2, another element to be added to the International Space Station. Node 2 will provide a passageway between three station science experiment facilities: the U.S. Destiny Laboratory, the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module, and the European Columbus Laboratory. STS-120 is targeted for launch on Sept. 7 with a crew of six, including Commander Pam Melroy, Pilot George Zamka, and Mission Specialist Mike Foreman. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-07pd0165

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a technician inspects a cell from one of the electricity-producing solar arrays for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft. MAVEN is being prepared for its scheduled launch in November from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Positioned in an orbit above the Red Planet, MAVEN will study the upper atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail. For more information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/maven/main/index.html Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann MAVEN is being prepared inside the facility for its scheduled November launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket to Mars. Positioned in an orbit above the Red Planet, MAVEN will study the upper atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann KSC-2013-3366

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the payload bay of Space Shuttle orbiter Endeavour, workers and STS-88 crew members on a movable work platform or bucket move closer to the rear of the orbiter's crew compartment. While Endeavour is being prepared for flight inside Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1, the STS-88 crew members are participating in a Crew Equipment Interface Test (CEIT) to familiarize themselves with the orbiter's midbody and crew compartments. A KSC worker (left) maneuvers the platform to give Mission Specialists Jerry L. Ross and James H. Newman (right) a closer look. Looking on is Wayne Wedlake of United Space Alliance at Johnson Space Center. Targeted for liftoff on Dec. 3, 1998, STS-88 will be the first Space Shuttle launch for assembly of the International Space Station (ISS). The primary payload is the Unity connecting module which will be mated to the Russian-built Zarya control module, expected to be already on orbit after a November launch from Russia. After the mating, Ross and Newman are scheduled to perform three spacewalks to connect power, data and utility lines and install exterior equipment. The first major U.S.-built component of ISS, Unity will serve as a connecting passageway to living and working areas of the space station. Unity has two attached pressurized mating adapters (PMAs) and one stowage rack installed inside. PMA-1 provides the permanent connection point between Unity and Zarya; PMA-2 will serve as a Space Shuttle docking port. Zarya is a self-supporting active vehicle, providing propulsive control capability and power during the early assembly stages. It also has fuel storage capability KSC-98pc1216

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the payload bay of Space Shuttle orbiter Endeavour, workers and STS-88 crew members on a movable work platform or bucket move closer to the rear of the orbiter's crew compartment. While Endeavour is being prepared for flight inside Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1, the STS-88 crew members are participating in a Crew Equipment Interface Test (CEIT) to familiarize themselves with the orbiter's midbody and crew compartments. A KSC worker (left) maneuvers the platform to give Mission Specialists Jerry L. Ross and James H. Newman (right) a closer look. Looking on is Wayne Wedlake of United Space Alliance at Johnson Space Center. Targeted for liftoff on Dec. 3, 1998, STS-88 will be the first Space Shuttle launch for assembly of the International Space Station (ISS). The primary payload is the Unity connecting module which will be mated to the Russian-built Zarya control module, expected to be already on orbit after a November launch from Russia. After the mating, Ross and Newman are scheduled to perform three spacewalks to connect power, data and utility lines and install exterior equipment. The first major U.S.-built component of ISS, Unity will serve as a connecting passageway to living and working areas of the space station. Unity has two attached pressurized mating adapters (PMAs) and one stowage rack installed inside. PMA-1 provides the permanent connection point between Unity and Zarya; PMA-2 will serve as a Space Shuttle docking port. Zarya is a self-supporting active vehicle, providing propulsive control capability and power during the early assembly stages. It also has fuel storage capability

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.