Similar
Related
Towed from the Shuttle Landing Facility, Atlantis heads for the Orbiter Processing Facility (far right). The large building is the Vehicle Assembly Building, where orbiters are mated to their solid rocket booster-external tank stack prior to rollout to the launch pad. In view is the tail cone that orbiters use when being carried piggyback on ferry flights atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The tail cone protects the aft engine area and provides a more efficient aeronautical dimension during flight. Atlantis returned from California atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft after its Feb. 19 landing at Edwards Air Force Base, concluding mission STS-98. The ferry flight began March 1; unfavorable weather conditions kept it on the ground at Altus AFB, Okla., until it could return to Florida. In the Orbiter Processing Facility, Atlantis will be prepared for mission STS-104, the 10th construction flight to the International Space Station, scheduled to launch June 8 KSC01pp0518
Summary
Towed from the Shuttle Landing Facility, Atlantis heads for the Orbiter Processing Facility (far right). The large building is the Vehicle Assembly Building, where orbiters are mated to their solid rocket booster-external tank stack prior to rollout to the launch pad. In view is the tail cone that orbiters use when being carried piggyback on ferry flights atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The tail cone protects the aft engine area and provides a more efficient aeronautical dimension during flight. Atlantis returned from California atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft after its Feb. 19 landing at Edwards Air Force Base, concluding mission STS-98. The ferry flight began March 1; unfavorable weather conditions kept it on the ground at Altus AFB, Okla., until it could return to Florida. In the Orbiter Processing Facility, Atlantis will be prepared for mission STS-104, the 10th construction flight to the International Space Station, scheduled to launch June 8
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.
Tags
Date
Source
Copyright info
