The space shuttle is a unique national resource. One of only two operating vehicles that carries humans into space, the space shuttle functions as a scientific laboratory and as a base for construction, repair, and salvage missions in low Earth orbit. It is also a heavy-lift launch vehicle (able to deliver more than 18,000 kg of payload to low Earth orbit) and the only current means of returning large payloads to Earth. Designed in the 1970s, the shuttle has frequently been upgraded to improve safety, cut operational costs, and add capability. Additional upgrades have been proposed-and some are under way-to combat obsolescence, further reduce operational costs, improve safety, and increase the ability of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to support the space station and other missions. In May 1998, NASA asked the National Research Council (NRC) to examine the agency's plans for further upgrades to the space shuttle system. The NRC was asked to assess NASA's method for evaluating and selecting upgrades and to conduct a top-level technical assessment of proposed upgrades.

The space shuttle is a unique national resource. One of only two operating vehicles that carries humans into space, the space shuttle functions as a scientific laboratory and as a base for construction, repair, and salvage missions in low Earth orbit. It is also a heavy-lift launch vehicle (able to deliver more than 18,000 kg of payload to low Earth orbit) and the only current means of returning large payloads to Earth. Designed in the 1970s, the shuttle has frequently been upgraded to improve safety, cut operational costs, and add capability. Additional upgrades have been proposed and some are under way-to combat obsolescence, further reduce operational costs, improve safety, and increase the ability of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to support the space station and other missions.

Simple explanation of the launch and journey of a space shuttle.

Get a full retrospective of all 134 flights, every mission, of the space shuttle program. This superbly designed and lavishly illustrated reissue of the best-selling hardcover book marks a special moment in history: the final mission of the space shuttle. Noted space and science author Piers Bizony's retrospective covers the entire space shuttle program that began in 1981 and ended in 2011. Every space shuttle mission is detailed, including all flights of the Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour spacecraft. The book also covers the development and design of the orbiter, as well as the technical specifications of the vehicle and details of its major assemblies and subassemblies. A full double-gatefold provides a large-scale technical drawing of the space shuttle. If you never got to watch the countdown clock in person during a space shuttle launch, The Space Shuttle is your chance to relive the history of America's first low Earth orbital spacecraft.

History of the US space shuttle programme and its first 100 missions

This book tells the story of the Space Shuttle in its many different roles as orbital launch platform, orbital workshop, and science and technology laboratory. It focuses on the technology designed and developed to support the missions of the Space Shuttle program. Each mission is examined, from both the technical and managerial viewpoints. Although outwardly identical, the capabilities of the orbiters in the late years of the program were quite different from those in 1981. Sivolella traces the various improvements and modifications made to the shuttle over the years as part of each mission story. Technically accurate but with a pleasing narrative style and simple explanations of complex engineering concepts, the book provides details of many lesser known concepts, some developed but never flown, and commemorates the ingenuity of NASA and its partners in making each Space Shuttle mission push the boundaries of what we can accomplish in space.Using press kits, original papers, newspaper and magazine articles, memoirs and interviews, this book provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive account available of the shuttle’s many missions and will refocus interest on a remarkable flying machine and space program that is often pushed to the background.