NASA7-726-063C (3 June 1998) --- The Space Shuttle Discovery approaches Russia's Mir space station in this 70mm photograph taken from the Mir. The nadir perspective affords a clear look at the layout of the cargo bay, revealing the open bay doors; the docking apparatus for connecting to Mir (near cabin), the tunnel; the SPACEHAB module (second element from aft); the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (near aft firewall); and the Ku-band antenna for communications (near cabin). Affixed to the lower right corner of the top of SPACEHAB is the external antenna for the SPACEHAB universal communications system (SHUCS). Discovery is the third Shuttle to visit Mir in a series of ten rendezvous (including nine docking) missions. Photo Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. nasa7-726-063c

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.