President Nixon announced the Space Shuttle Program in 1972 as the Apollo Program was coming to an end. The first Space Shuttle was launched on April 12, 1981 and included many firsts in space flight history. Now that the Space Shuttle program has come to an end, the United States will move in a different direction of space travel. The Space Shuttle has seen the building of the International Space Station, the Hubble telescope and hundreds of projects in space. During these past 30 years, there have been great achievements along with tragic accidents.
The End of the Space Shuttle Program
The Space Shuttle made its final flight on July 31, 2011. After
three decades and 135 missions, the Space Shuttle program has come to an end.
The actual name of the space shuttle is the Space
Transportation System, which is why each mission has the title of STS-mission
number [1].
There have been six space shuttles, counting the
first prototype that was never launched, Enterprise. Of the
five shuttles’ that have been launched, two have been destroyed in accidents, Challenger and Columbia killing 14
astronauts. The three remaining space shuttles were Endeavor, Atlantis and Discovery.
How the US Space Shuttle Program Started
During the late 1960s, NASA was already studying
what the next space vehicle after the Apollo Program would be. The idea
of a space vehicle that could be reused was thought to the best way to go and
the space shuttle idea was born. On January
5, 1972, President Nixon announced that NASA would proceed
with the development of the Space Shuttle program [2].
From Prototype to First Shuttle Mission
Throughout the 1970s, development and building of
the space shuttle Enterprise continued
until it was ready to be tested in 1976. The Enterprise was
attached to a modified 747 to test the various components of the shuttle.
The
last five of these tests, the Enterprise was
released from the 747 where astronauts tested the gliding and landing capabilities
of the new shuttle, landing at Edwards AFB in California [2].
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| President Nixon looking at a prototype of the Space Shuttle 1972 - Space Shuttle Enterprise in free flight test |
STS-1: The First Space Shuttle Mission
The first shuttle to actually lift off and orbit
the Earth was Shuttle Columbia. Shuttle Columbia launched
from the Kennedy Space Center on April 12, 1981 with two
astronauts, Commander John Young and pilot Robert Crippen.
It seems like almost
yesterday I watched that first lift off. This first flight lasted for two days
with Columbia landing
at Edwards AFB on April 14,
1981.
The US Space Shuttle Firsts
The Space Shuttle Program had many firsts in US space
flight history, including:
- The first American woman in space was astronaut Sally Ride aboard STS-7 in 1983.
- Astronaut Guion “Guy” Bluford became the first African-American to fly in space on STS-8 in 1983.
- The first African-American female to fly in space was Dr. Mae Jemison, who flew on STS-47 in 1992.
- The first un-tethered space walk in 1984 aboard STS-41B
- The first American woman to walk in space was astronaut Kathryn Sullivan on STS-41G in 1984.
- The first US politician to fly on the space shuttle was Senator Jake Garn of Utah on STS-51D in 1985. In 1998, former astronaut and former US Senator John Glenn was aboard STS-95 and became the oldest American in space at age 77.
- The first Hispanic male to fly in space was Franklin Chang-Diaz aboard STS-61C in 1986 and the first Hispanic female to fly into space was Ellen Ochoa in 1993 on STS-56.
- The first married couple to fly into space together was on STS-47 in 1992.
- The first Native American to fly and to walk in space was John Herrington on STS-113 in 2002.
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| Space Shuttle lifting off |
Space Shuttle Disasters
Mission STS-51L
with the space shuttle Challenger was
a much publicized flight with the first American teacher onboard. Christine
McAuliff was chosen to be the first teacher in space for the NASA Teacher in
Space program and was to teach two classrooms live from the Shuttle. All around
the US, schoolchildren
watched the liftoff of the Challenger live.
Everyone old enough to remember the Space Shuttle program knows the phrase “go with throttle up” as it relates to
the Challenger disaster, and probably remembers where they were when they heard
the news on the morning of January
28, 1986.
At 73 seconds after liftoff and an altitude of
46,000 feet, the Space Shuttle Challenger
exploded, killing everyone onboard. Among the crew was Astronaut Judith Resnik,
who became the first American female astronaut to be killed during space
flight.
The Space Shuttle program was put on hold for the
next 2 ½ years for the investigation and modifications. The Space Shuttle
program continued without a problem until the morning of February 1, 2003.
After 15
days in space, the Shuttle Columbia was heading towards the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a
landing when something went wrong and it disintegrated over Texas killing
everyone onboard.
Unknown at liftoff, a piece of foam broke off and
damaged the shuttles thermal protection system that protects the shuttle during
the heat of re-entry, causing Columbia to burn
up.
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| Challenger and Columbia disasters |
Accomplishments of the Space Shuttle Program
Many people say that the Space Shuttle program has
been a waste of money, yet these same people use the technology every day that
the US space
programs invented.
The International Space Station (ISS) could not have been
built without the Space Shuttle Program. The Hubble telescope couldn’t have
been repaired and upgraded without the Space Shuttle program. Other inventions
related to the US Space Shuttle program include:
- Light Emitting Diode (LED) as a cancer treatment allows destruction of cancer cells while leaving the surrounding tissue unharmed.
- Pill sized monitors that can monitor what is going on inside our body.
- Lightning and wind shear protection at airports.
- Helmets that can protect us from concussions
- Hydroponics has been improved.
- Instant reading ear thermometers
- The launching and repairing of GPS and communication satellites so everyone can use their cells phones.
Conclusion
As the US Space Shuttle program was winding down,
the current US
administration changed plans by canceling the Constellation Program, the
spacecraft that was to replace the shuttle and also take Americans back to the
moon. Part of the Constellation Program, the Orion is going to be kept.
As of now, the U.S. is
getting their astronauts to the International Space Station via Russian
spacecraft. The Orion spacecraft is being tested at this time to return U.S.
astronauts into space with the hopes of landing on asteroids, Mars and deep
space exploration.
Copyright © 2010-2014 Sam Montana
Notes and Resources
[1] Because of delays and postponements of certain shuttle missions, the STS mission numbers are not in order and some have letters after them.
[2] NASA - President Nixon's 1972 Announcement on the Space Shuttle
NASA - Complete detailed listing of every
shuttle mission
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