JH WEEKLIES ISSUE #9
2011-2012
The History of the Space Shuttle Program
The Shuttle is to space flight what Lindbergh was to commercial aviation. — Arthur C. Clarke
The fourth landing of the Columbia is the historical equivalent of the driving of the golden spike
which completed the first transcontinental railroad. It marks our entrance into a new era. —
President Ronald Reagan, regards the final test flight of the Space Shuttle, STS-4, 4 July 1982
Anyone who sits on top of the largest hydrogen-oxygen fueled system in the world; knowing
they're going to light the bottom—and doesn't get a little worried—does not fully understand the
situation. — John Young, after being asked if he was worried about making the first Space
Shuttle flight.
All of a sudden, space isn't friendly. All of a sudden, it's a place where people can die. . . . Many
more people are going to die. But we can't explore space if the requirement is that there be no
casualties; we can't do anything if the requirement is that there be no casualties. — Isaac
Asimov, regards the Challenger investigation, on CBS television show 48 Hours, 21 April 1988.
We have a home up there, and we're destined to be up there and we're destined to go beyond
low-Earth orbit, perhaps set up a colony on the Moon and go on to Mars. — Chris Ferguson,
commander of Atlantis STS-135, 'Final Space Shuttle Crew Profiled,' NASA TV, 24 June 2011.
OVERVIEW
NASA’s Space Shuttle program, officially called Space Transportation System (STS), originated
in the late 1960s as a way of reducing the cost of space flights. It was originally intended to
produce completely reusable vehicles, thereby making launches more routine and relatively
cheap. The idea proved to be extremely costly and too technically ambitious, so a semi-reusable
design was introduced instead. The space shuttle was designed to streak into space like a rocket,
but return as a glider able to touch down on a runway much like an airplane.
The program officially began on April 12, 1981, with the Columbia launching. The last mission
was STS-135 flown by Atlantis in July 2011, and the program formally ended on August 31,
2011. There were 135 missions flown during this time.
The shuttles lifted off from Florida’s John F. Kennedy Space Center, and their mission typically
lasted ten days to two weeks, during which the shuttle circled the planet at 17,500 miles an hour.
That means that the crew saw a sunrise or sunset approximately every 45 minutes. During the
missions, space shuttles performed a variety of tasks, including repairs, construction, and
delivery of crew and supplies to the International Space Station, satellites, and the Hubble Space
Telescope.
THE BEGINNING
In 1951, Collier’s ran a series of articles discussing the idea of reaching space in vehicles that
resembled airplanes rather than rockets. NASA was worried about its future in the late 1960s
due to budget concerns, and the space shuttle was conceived as a means of making space
exploration economical. Early shuttle development centered around the optimal shuttle design
that could balance optimum capability, development cost, and operating cost. President Richard
M. Nixon finally authorized the development of reusable vehicles for space exploration on
January 5, 1972, and the shuttle program was formally launched.
Although the original goal was to develop a completely reusable space shuttle system, the
current design was finally chosen consisting of a reusable winged orbiter, reusable solid rocket
boosters, and an expendable external tank. The initial design used a larger external fuel tank,
which would have been carried into orbit, where it could be used as a section of a space station,
but that was eventually scrapped due to budgetary and political concerns.
The prime contractor for the program was North American Aviation (later Rockwell
International, now Boeing) and the contractor for the rocket boosters was Morton Thiokol (now
part of Alliant Techsystems). The first orbiter was originally named Constitution, but after a
massive write-in campaign from Star Trek fans, the name was changed to Enterprise. On
September 17, 1976, the Enterprise began a series of successful tests to confirm the design was
working, but it never completed an actual mission.
SPACE SHUTTLES
The first operational shuttle was the Columbia, which was launched on April 12, 1981, on the
20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first space flight. The vehicles were designed to last about
10 years, or 100 launches. The orbiters could carry five to seven astronauts (although it has
carried eight) and up to 50,000 pounds of payload into low earth orbit.
Columbia – 28 flights
First launch April 12, 1981 – last launch Jan. 16, 2003
Challenger – 10 flights
First launch April 4, 1983 – last launch Jan. 28, 1986
Discovery – 39 flights
First launch Aug. 30, 1984 – last launch Feb. 24, 2011
Atlantis – 33 flights
First launch Oct. 3, 1985 – last launch July 8, 2011
Endeavour – 25 flights
First launch May 7, 1992 – last launch May 16, 2011
Total Flights – 135
ASTRONAUTS
The first space shuttle astronauts were John Young and Robert Crippen, who piloted Columbia
on its first launch and returned successfully two days later. Sally Ride became the first
American woman in space in June, 1983. Two months later, Guion S. Buford Jr. became the
first African-American astronaut. U.S. Senator Jake Garn of Utah was the first American
government official to reach space in April 1985, travelling as a payload specialist. He was
followed by U.S. Congressman Bill Nelson in January, 1986, also as a payload specialist.
Christa McAuliffe was scheduled to be the first teacher in space, but was killed unfortunately
when the Challenger exploded during takeoff. John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth,
was also the oldest man to reach space. He was a member of the crew of Discovery in late 1998
and performed investigations on the aging process and on space flight.
DISASTERS
On January 28, 1986 the Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after liftoff, killing everyone in its
seven-person crew. The cause was a failed solid rocket booster O-ring. NASA managers had
received repeated warnings from design engineers who were concerned about the safety of the
O-rings when the temperature was below 53 degrees Fahrenheit. The space shuttle program was
suspended after the accident, with no shuttles being launched for almost three years. The orbiter
design was revamped to include solid-fuel rockets. The Discovery took off on September 28,
1988, and successfully completed its mission. The U.S. military dropped their plans to use
shuttles for military missions after the Challenger disaster, and shuttles no longer launched
commercial satellites.
Another tragedy occurred on February 1, 2003, when Columbia disintegrated during re-entry,
killing all seven members of its crew. One of the shuttle’s thermal tiles had been damaged
during the launch and caused the protective shield to fail when the shuttle returned to the
atmosphere. A NASA engineer requested that the astronauts on board Columbia be allowed to
leave the vehicle to inspect the damage, and ground control engineers made several requests for
high-resolution images taken by the Dept. of Defense to see the extent of the damage. NASA
managers refused both of those requests. After the accident, the space shuttle was once again
suspended until 2005.
MISSIONS
The shuttle is the only winged, manned spacecraft to achieve orbit and return, and the only
reusable space vehicle that has ever made multiple flights into orbit. The missions that were
carried out ranged from recovering satellites to playing a central role in continued space
exploration.
The shuttle provided crew rotation for the Mir and the International Space Stations, along with
completing service missions and helping to complete assembly of the ISS. It carried large
payloads to and from the ISS and other orbits.
Since 1986, the shuttle has launched the Magellan spacecraft to Venus, the Galileo spacecraft to
Jupiter, and the Ulysses spacecraft to study the sun. The shuttle also placed the Hubble Space
Telescope into orbit and performed servicing missions throughout the years, extending the
operating life and enhancing its capabilities by adding more advanced scientific instruments.
The telescope has furthered our understanding of the cosmos and sent back incredible images for
scientists to study.
RETIREMENT
George W. Bush issued his Vision for Space Exploration on January 14, 2004, which called for
mandatory retirement of the space shuttle program in 2011, after completion of the ISS. NASA
had planned successors to the shuttle with Project Constellation and its Ares I and Ares V launch
vehicles in addition to the Orion Spacecraft. However, in early 2010, the Obama administration
asked Congress to endorse a scaled-back plan which will rely heavily on the private sector.
NASA had originally planned to bring the Hubble Telescope out of orbit and place it on display
in the Smithsonian, but they decided to keep it in use until a successor could be determined.
Now that the shuttle is retired, there is no existing spacecraft capable of returning the Hubble to
earth, so it is unlikely to ever return to the ground.
On September 14, 2011, NASA announced that it had selected the design of a new Space Launch
System. This system will be able to take astronauts farther into space than ever before.
THE FUTURE
On October 31, 2011, Boeing announced an agreement with Space Florida to lease the hangar
that previously housed the space shuttles. Boeing plans on building similar spacecrafts that will
be able to bring people and cargo into space. They say the reusable space capsules will be able
to carry up to seven people into space. At the moment, NASA is relying on Russia to get
astronauts to the ISS.
According to Florida Governor Rick Scott’s office and President Barack Obama’s
administration, the deal will create 140 jobs in the next 18 months and 550 jobs by 2015. The
area is losing thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in tourism due to the disbandment of the
space shuttle program.