Space Shuttle orbiter

About the size of a McDonnell Douglas DC-9,{{Cite news |last1=Stevens |first1=William K. |last2=Times |first2=Special To the New York |date=April 6, 1981 |title=New Generation of Astronauts Poised for Shuttle Era |language=en-US |page=A1 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/06/us/new-generation-of-astronauts-poised-for-shuttle-era.html |access-date=July 14, 2020 |issn=0362-4331}} the Space Shuttle orbiter resembled an airplane in its design, with a standard-looking fuselage and two double delta wings, both swept wings at an angle of 81 degrees at their inner leading edges and 45 degrees at their outer leading edges. The vertical stabilizer of the orbiter had a leading edge that was swept back at a 45-degree angle. There were four elevons mounted at the trailing edges of the delta wings, and the combination rudder and speed brake was attached at the trailing edge of the vertical stabilizer. These, along with a movable body flap located underneath the main engines, controlled the orbiter during later stages of reentry.

The prime contractor for the orbiter was Rockwell International, which built the pressurized cabin, thermal protection, forward attitude control system, and forward and aft fuselage in its Downey, California factory, the payload bay doors in its Tulsa, Oklahoma factory, and the body flap in its Columbus, Ohio factory. Subcontractors included Convair in San Diego for the midsection, Fairchild Aircraft in Farmingdale, New York for the vertical stabilizer, Grumman in Bethpage, New York for the wings, Marquardt Corporation in Van Nuys, California for the attitude control propulsion,{{cite web | title=Marquardt Van Nuys Site | website=Mark A Reynosa Website | date=June 14, 2000 | url=https://www.mar-prod.com/plantsvny/MVNY.htm | access-date=July 3, 2024}} Aerojet in Rancho Cordova, California for the orbital insertion and deorbit propulsion, McDonnell Douglas for the surrounding pods, and Rocketdyne in Canoga Park, Los Angeles for the launch and ascent propulsion.{{cite web | title=Rocketdyne plant that built world's most powerful rocket engines being razed | website=Canoga Park Neighborhood Council | date=August 8, 2016 | url=https://canogaparknc.org/2016/08/rocketdyne-plant-built-worlds-powerful-rocket-engines-razed/ | access-date=July 3, 2024}} 12,000 Rockwell workers were assigned to orbiter construction at the program's peak in the Downey plant.{{cite web | last=Campa | first=Andrew J. | title='This is where it all happened.' Downey's space shuttle prototype begins move to future home | website=Los Angeles Times | date=October 17, 2024 | url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-10-17/downey-space-shuttle-model-moves-to-site-near-future-home | access-date=January 19, 2025}} Final assembly was carried out at United States Air Force Plant 42 near Palmdale, California.{{cite web | title=Rockwell International Space Division 1975 Promo Film 68804 | website=YouTube|publisher=PeriscopeFilm LLC | date=January 6, 2020 | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DI6URzzMsY | access-date=July 3, 2024}}

File:Shuttle front RCS.jpg

The Reaction Control System (RCS) was composed of 44 small liquid-fueled rocket thrusters and their very sophisticated fly-by-wire flight control system, which utilized computationally intensive digital Kalman filtering. This control system carried out the usual attitude control along the pitch, roll, and yaw axes during all of the flight phases of launching, orbiting, and re-entry. This system also executed any needed orbital maneuvers, including all changes in the orbit's altitude, orbital plane, and eccentricity. These were all operations that required more thrust and impulse than mere attitude control.

The forward rockets of the Reaction Control System, located near the nose of the Space Shuttle orbiter, included 14 primary and two vernier RCS rockets. The aft RCS engines were located in the two Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) pods at the rear of the orbiter, and these included 12 primary (PRCS) and two vernier (VRCS) engines in each pod. The PRCS system provided the pointing control of the Orbiter, and the VRCS was used for fine maneuvering during the rendezvous, docking, and undocking maneuvers with the International Space Station, or formerly with the Russian Mir space station. The RCS also controlled the attitude of the orbiter during most of its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere – until the air became dense enough that the rudder, elevons and body flap became effective.{{cite web |url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/orbiter/rcs/overview.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010210010626/http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/orbiter/rcs/overview.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 10, 2001 |title=HSF – The Shuttle |publisher=NASA|access-date=July 17, 2009}} {{PD-notice}}

The orbiter's OMS and RCS fuel is monomethyl hydrazine (CH₃NHNH₂), and the oxidizer is dinitrogen tetroxide (N₂O₄). This particular propellant combination is extremely reactive and spontaneously ignites on contact (hypergolic) with each other. This chemical reaction (4CH₃NHNH₂ + 5N₂O₄ → 9N₂ + 4CO₂ + 12H₂O) occurs within the engine's combustion chamber. The reaction products are then expanded and accelerated in the engine bell to provide thrust. Due to their hypergolic characteristics these two chemicals are easily started and restarted without an ignition source, which makes them ideal for spacecraft maneuvering systems.

During the early design process of the orbiter, the forward RCS thrusters were to be hidden underneath retractable doors, which would open once the orbiter reached space. These were omitted in favor of flush-mounted thrusters for fear that the RCS doors would remain stuck open and endanger the crew and orbiter during re-entry.{{cite book |chapter=Part IV. The Shuttle Era |title=Forever Young: A Life of Adventure in Air and Space |publisher=University Press of Florida |type=Kindle eBook |first1=John W. |last1=Young |first2=James R. |last2=Hansen |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-8130-4281-7 |oclc=1039310141 |quote=In the design plans, we saw that the RCS would have big doors that opened outward. The problem was, if those doors failed to close, the orbiter would be lost as it was coming back through the atmosphere. I wrote a 'review item disposition' (RID) asking NASA to eliminate the outward-opening doors.}}

File:STSCPanel.jpg (simulated, composite image)]]

File:S123 Linnehan through the window.jpg

The orbiter's flight deck or cockpit originally had 2,214 controls and displays, about three times as many as the Apollo command module.{{r|stevens19810406}} The crew cabin consisted of the flight deck, the mid-deck, and the utility area. The uppermost of these was the flight deck, in which sat the Space Shuttle's commander and pilot in permanently fixed seats with up to two mission specialists seated behind them in stowable seats.{{Cite web |title=Seat, Commander/Pilot, Space Shuttle |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/seat-commanderpilot-shuttle/nasm_A20040027000 |access-date=July 30, 2024 |website=Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum |language=en}} The mission specialist in seat four (located behind and between commander and pilot) served as the flight engineer during ascent and landing, tracking information from CAPCOM and calling out milestones.

The mid-deck, which was below the flight deck, was normally equipped with up to three additional stowable seats, depending on the crew requirements of the mission.{{cite web |title=Human Space Flight (HSF) – Space Shuttle |url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/basics/orbiter/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000831011229/http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/basics/orbiter/index.html |archive-date=August 31, 2000}} One mission carried four seats (STS-61-A) and NASA drew up plans that were never used to carry up to seven seats in the case of an emergency rescue (STS-400).

The galley, toilet, sleep locations, storage lockers, and the side hatch for entering and exiting the orbiter were also located on the mid-deck, as well as the airlock. The airlock had an additional hatch into the payload bay. This airlock allowed two or three astronauts, wearing their Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) space suits, to depressurize before a walk in space (EVA), and also to repressurize and re-enter the orbiter at the conclusion of the EVA.

The utility area was located under the floor of the mid-deck and contained air and water tanks in addition to the carbon dioxide scrubbing system.

File:020408 STS110 Atlantis launch.jpg

Three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) were mounted on the orbiter's aft fuselage in the pattern of an equilateral triangle. These three liquid-fueled engines could be swiveled 10.5 degrees vertically and 8.5 degrees horizontally during the rocket-powered ascent of the orbiter in order to change the direction of their thrust. Hence, they steered the entire Space Shuttle, as well as providing rocket thrust towards orbit. The aft fuselage also housed three auxiliary power units (APU). The APUs chemically converted hydrazine fuel from a liquid state to a gas state, powering a hydraulic pump which supplied pressure for all of the hydraulic system, including the hydraulic sub-system that pointed the three main liquid-fueled rocket engines, under computerized flight control. The hydraulic pressure generated was also used to control all of the orbiter's flight control surfaces (the elevons, rudder, speed brake, etc.), to deploy the landing gear of the orbiter, and to retract the umbilical hose connection doors located near the rear landing gear, which supplied the orbiter's SSMEs with liquid hydrogen and oxygen from the external tank.

Two Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) thrusters were mounted in two separate removable pods on the orbiter's aft fuselage, located between the SSMEs and the vertical stabilizer. The OMS engines provided significant thrust for course orbital maneuvers, including insertion, circularization, transfer, rendezvous, deorbit, abort to orbit, and to abort once around.{{cite web |url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/sts-oms.html#sts-oms |title=Orbital Maneuvering System |publisher=NASA |access-date=July 17, 2009 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629115908/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/sts-oms.html#sts-oms |url-status=dead }} At lift-off, two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) were used to take the vehicle to an altitude of roughly 140,000 feet.{{cite conference |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20060019188 |title=Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control Requirements for an Intelligent Plug-n-Play Avionics (PAPA) Architecture |conference=AIAA Infotech@Aerospace. September 26–29, 2005. Arlington, Virginia. |first1=Nilesh |last1=Kulkarni |first2=Kalmaje |last2=Krishnakumar |date=2005 |doi=10.2514/6.2005-7123 |hdl=2060/20060019188 |id=AIAA 2005-7123|hdl-access=free }}

Electric power for the orbiter's subsystems was provided by a set of three hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells which produced 28 volt DC power and was also converted into 115 volt 400 Hz AC three-phase electric power (for systems that used AC power).{{cite web |url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/orbiter/eps/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010504093101/http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/orbiter/eps/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 4, 2001 |work=Shuttle Reference Manual |publisher=NASA Human Spaceflight |title=Electrical Power System |access-date=February 1, 2013}} These provided power to the entire Shuttle stack (including the SRBs and ET) from T-minus 3m30s up through the end of the mission. The hydrogen and oxygen for the fuel cells was kept in pairs of cryogenic storage tanks in the mid-fuselage underneath the payload bay liner, and a variable number of such tank sets could be installed (up to five pairs) depending on the requirements of the mission. The three fuel cells were capable of generating 21 kilowatts of power continuously (or a 15-minute peak of 36 kilowatts) with the orbiter consuming an average of about 14 kilowatts of that power (leaving 7 kilowatts for the payload).

Additionally, the fuel cells provided potable water for the crew during the mission.

The orbiter's computer system consisted of five identical IBM AP-101 avionics computers, which redundantly controlled the vehicle's on-board systems. The specialized HAL/S programming language was used for orbiter systems.{{cite web |url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/orbiter/avionics/dps/gpc.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010608173130/http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/orbiter/avionics/dps/gpc.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 8, 2001 |title=General-Purpose Computers |publisher=NASA |access-date=January 18, 2014}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/07/us/loss-shuttle-technology-computers-driving-shuttle-are-be-included-inquiry.html?pagewanted=all |title=Loss of the Shuttle: Technology; Computers Driving Shuttle Are to Be Included in Inquiry |work=The New York Times |first=Steve |last=Lohr |date=February 7, 2003 |access-date=January 18, 2014}}

File:STS-114 Discovery thermal protection system (S114-E-6412).jpg

The orbiters were protected by Thermal Protection System (TPS) materials (developed by Rockwell Space Systems) inside and out, from the orbiter's outer surface to the payload bay.{{cite journal |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20110003618 |title=Automotive Design & Manufacturing |series=40 Years of Innovations |journal=NASA Tech Briefs |volume=22 |issue=9 |page=26 |date=September 1998 |hdl=2060/20110003618}}{{cite web | last=Oakes | first=Ryan | title=Space Shuttle Tiles | website=UW Departments Web Server | date=June 2, 2003 | url=https://depts.washington.edu/matseed/mse_resources/Webpage/Space%20Shuttle%20Tiles/Space%20Shuttle%20Tiles.htm | access-date=March 24, 2023}} The TPS protected it from the cold soak of {{convert|−121|C}} in space to the {{convert|1649|C}} heat of re-entry. The tile materials comprising much of the orbiter's outermost layer were mostly air held within near-pure silica fibers, which made it efficient at refractory insulation that absorbed and redirected heat back out into the air, and covered in silicon borides and borosilicate glass, with blacker tiles covering the lower surface, and whiter tiles covering the tail, parts of the upper wing and crew cabin surfaces, and the outsides of the payload bay doors. The nose cap, nose landing gear doors, and leading edges were made of reinforced carbon–carbon, which is rayon impregnated with graphite-filled resins and coated in silicon carbide.{{cite journal | last1=Lyle | first1=Karen H. | last2=Fasanella | first2=Edwin L. | title=Permanent set of the Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System Reinforced Carbon–Carbon material | journal=Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=40 | issue=6–7 | year=2009 | issn=1359-835X | doi=10.1016/j.compositesa.2009.02.016 | pages=702–708}} The upper, white materials that were not in tiles were mostly made of either Nomex felt coated in silicon-rich elastomer or beta cloth, woven silica fibers covered in Teflon. This was especially true in the interior of the payload bay.{{Cite web|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19990047691.pdf|title = Multilayer Insulation Material Guidelines|date = April 1999|last1 = Finckenor|first1 = M. M.|last2 = Dooling|first2 = D.|access-date=April 1, 2023}}{{cite web|title=STS-6 Press Information|url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/shuttle_pk/mrk/FLIGHT_006_STS-006_MRK.pdf|publisher=Rockwell International – Space Transportation & Systems Group|access-date=March 16, 2023|page=7|date=March 1983|quote="Orbital maneuvering system/reaction control system low temperature reusable surface insulation tiles (LRSI) replaced with advanced flexible reusable surface insulation (AFRSI) consisting of a sewn composite quilted fabric blanket with same silica tile material sandwiched between outer and inner blanket."}}{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/pdf/167473main_TPS-06rev.pdf |title=Orbiter Thermal Protection System, Thermal Materials |publisher=NASA |year=2006 |pages=3 |accessdate=March 16, 2023 |archive-date=February 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212114346/https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/pdf/167473main_TPS-06rev.pdf |url-status=dead }}

The orbiter's structure was made primarily from aluminum alloy, although the engine thrust structure was made from titanium alloy. The later orbiters (Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour) substituted graphite epoxy for aluminum in some structural elements in order to reduce weight. The windows were made of aluminum silicate glass and fused silica glass, and comprised an internal pressure pane, a {{convert|1.3|in|mm|adj=mid|-thick}} optical pane, and an external thermal pane.{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/webcasts/shuttle/sts113/processing-qa.html |title=STS-113 Space Shuttle Processing Questions & Answers (NASA KSC) |publisher=NASA |date=November 15, 2002 |access-date=July 17, 2009 |archive-date=January 14, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114034922/http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/webcasts/shuttle/sts113/processing-qa.html |url-status=dead }} The windows were tinted with the same ink used to make American banknotes.{{cite news |url=http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/441167-p4.html |title=Mysterious $100 'supernote' counterfeit bills appear across world |work=The Kansas City Star |first=Linjin |last=Fan |date=January 11, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117121138/http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/441167-p4.html |archive-date=January 17, 2008}}

File:Space Shuttle Atlantis landing at KSC following STS-122 (crop).jpg

The Space Shuttle orbiter had three sets of landing gear which emerged downwards through doors in the heat shield. As a weight-saving measure, the gear could not be retracted once deployed. Since any premature extension of the landing gear would very likely have been catastrophic (as it opened through the heat shield layers), the landing gear could only be lowered by manual controls, and not by any automatic system.

Similarly, since the Shuttle landed at high speed and could not abort its landing attempt, the gear had to deploy reliably on the first try every time. The gear were unlocked and deployed by triple redundant hydraulics, with the gear doors actuated by mechanical linkages to the gear strut. If all three hydraulic systems failed to release the landing gear uplocks within one second of the release command, pyrotechnic charges automatically cut the lock hooks and a set of springs deployed the gear.

During landing, the Shuttle nose wheel could be steered with the rudder pedals in the cockpit. During the construction of {{OV|105}}, an improved nose wheel steering system was developed which allowed easier and more effective nose wheel steering. After Endeavour{{'s}} roll-out, the system was installed on the other shuttles during their overhauls in the early 1990s.

The Space Shuttle orbiter did not carry anti-collision lights, navigational lights, or landing lights, because the orbiter always landed in areas that had been specially cleared by both the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Air Force. The orbiter always landed at either Edwards Air Force Base, California or at the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility, Florida, except STS-3 at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Similar special clearances (no-fly zones) were also in effect at potential emergency landing sites, such as in Spain and in West Africa during all launches.

When an orbiter landing was carried out at night, the runway was always strongly illuminated with light from floodlights and spotlights on the ground, making landing lights on the orbiter unnecessary and also an unneeded spaceflight weight load. A total of 26 landings took place at night, the first being STS-8 in September 1983.{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/night_landings.html|title=Space Shuttle Night Landings|publisher=NASA|access-date=July 23, 2011}} {{PD-notice}}

File:World's First Five Spaceplanes.PNG orbiter ranks second among the world's first spaceplanes, preceded only by the North American X-15 and followed by the Buran, SpaceShipOne, and the Boeing X-37.]]

File:Enterprise free flight.jpg

The typeface used on the Space Shuttle orbiter was Helvetica.{{cite video|date=September 12, 2007|title=Helvetica|medium=Documentary}}

The prototype orbiter Enterprise originally had a flag of the United States on the upper surface of the left wing and the letters "USA" in black on the right wing. The name "Enterprise" in black was painted on the payload bay doors just above the forwardmost hinge and behind the crew module; on the aft end of the payload bay doors was the NASA "worm" logotype in gray. Underneath the rear of the payload bay doors on the side of the fuselage just above the wing was the text "United States" in black with a flag of the United States ahead of it.

The first operational orbiter, Columbia, originally had the same markings as Enterprise, although the letters "USA" on the right wing were slightly larger and spaced farther apart. Columbia also had black tiles which Enterprise lacked on its forward RCS module, around the cockpit windows, and on its vertical stabilizer. Columbia also had distinctive black chines on the forward part of its upper wing surfaces, which none of the other orbiters had.

File:NASA Worm logo (gray).svg

Challenger established a modified marking scheme for the shuttle fleet that would be matched by Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour. The letters "USA" in black above an American flag were displayed on the left wing, with the NASA "worm" logotype in gray centered above the name of the orbiter in black on the right wing. Also, the name of the orbiter was inscribed not on the payload bay doors, but on the forward fuselage just below and behind the cockpit windows. This would make the name visible when the orbiter was photographed in orbit with the doors open. Challenger also had black tiles on the tip of its vertical stabilizer much like Columbia, which the other orbiters lacked.

In 1983, Enterprise had its wing markings changed to match Challenger, and the NASA "worm" logotype on the aft end of the payload bay doors was changed from gray to black. Some black markings were added to the nose, cockpit windows and vertical tail to more closely resemble the flight vehicles, but the name "Enterprise" remained on the payload bay doors as there was never any need to open them. Columbia had its name moved to the forward fuselage to match the other flight vehicles after STS-61-C, during the 1986–1988 hiatus when the shuttle fleet was grounded following the loss of Challenger, but retained its original wing markings until its last overhaul (after STS-93), and its unique black chines for the remainder of its operational life.

File:NASA logo.svg

Beginning in STS-95 (1998), the flight vehicles' markings were modified to incorporate the NASA "meatball" insignia. The "worm" logotype, which the agency had phased out, was removed from the payload bay doors and the "meatball" insignia was added aft of the "United States" text on the lower aft fuselage. The "meatball" insignia was also displayed on the left wing, with the American flag above the orbiter's name, left-justified rather than centered, on the right wing. The three surviving flight vehicles, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour, still bear these markings as museum displays. Enterprise became the property of the Smithsonian Institution in 1985 and was no longer under NASA's control when these changes were made, hence the prototype orbiter still has its 1983 markings and still has its name on the payload bay doors.

With the end of the Shuttle program, plans were made to place the three remaining Space Shuttle orbiters on permanent display. NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. announced the disposition location of the orbiters on April 12, 2011, the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight and the 30th anniversary of the first flight of Columbia.

Discovery went to the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, replacing Enterprise which was moved to the Intrepid Museum in New York City. Endeavour went to the California Science Center in Los Angeles arriving on October 14, 2012. Atlantis went to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Merritt Island on November 2, 2012. Hundreds of other shuttle artifacts will be put on display at various other museums and educational institutions around the U.S.{{cite news|url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/apr/HQ_11-107_Orbiter_Disposition.html|title=NASA Announces New Homes For Shuttle Orbiters After Retirement|first=David|last=Weaver|publisher=NASA|date=April 12, 2011|access-date=April 12, 2011|archive-date=March 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324152602/https://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/apr/HQ_11-107_Orbiter_Disposition.html|url-status=dead}} {{PD-notice}}

One of the Crew Compartment Trainer Flight and mid-deck training hardware is on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force,{{cite web|title=Space Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer |url=https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/195845/space-shuttle-crew-compartment-trainer/|publisher=National Museum of the United States Air Force|date=March 14, 2016|access-date=May 1, 2020}} {{PD-notice}} while the other is on display at the JSC.{{cite web|last1=Hutchinson|first1=Lee|title=A detailed photo tour of NASA's space shuttle cockpit trainer |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2015/06/a-detailed-photo-tour-of-nasas-space-shuttle-cockpit-trainer/|publisher=Ars Technica|date=June 26, 2015|access-date=May 1, 2020}} The Full Fuselage Trainer, which includes the payload bay and aft section but no wings, is on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.{{cite web|last1=Pearlman|first1=Robert|title=NASA Space Shuttle Trainer Lands at seattle's Museum of Flight|url=https://www.space.com/16384-space-shuttle-trainer-seattle-museum.html|date=July 1, 2012|publisher=Space.com|access-date=May 1, 2020}} The Mission Simulation and Training Facility's Shuttle Mission Simulator Fixed Base Simulator originally went to the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois{{cite news|last1=Mullen|first1=W.|title=No shuttle for Adler, but museum will fly with simulator|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2011/04/12/no-shuttle-for-adler-but-museum-will-fly-with-simulator/|newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=April 12, 2011|access-date=May 1, 2020}} but was later transferred to the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma.{{cite web|last1=Pearlman|first1=Robert|title='Sooner State' shuttle: Stafford Museum to display NASA simulator in Oklahoma|url=http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-080316a-shuttle-simulator-stafford-museum.html|date=August 3, 2016|publisher=collectSPACE|access-date=May 1, 2020}} The Motion Base Simulator was transferred to the Texas A&M Aerospace Engineering Department in College Station, Texas,{{cite web|last1=Pearlman|first1=Robert|title=Retired Space Shuttle Simulator to 'Fly' Again at Texas A&M|url=https://www.space.com/14074-retired-space-shuttle-simulator-texas-university.html|date=December 29, 2011|publisher=Space.com|access-date=May 1, 2020}} and the Guidance and Navigation Simulator went to the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum in Starke, Florida.{{cite web|last1=Winston|first1=Hannah|title=A piece of NASA history lands at Keystone Heights museum|url=https://www.gainesville.com/news/20120506/a-piece-of-nasa-history-lands--at-keystone-heights-museum|newspaper=The Gainesville Sun|access-date=May 1, 2020}} NASA also made approximately 7,000 TPS tiles available to schools and universities.{{cite web|last1=Pearlman|first1=Robert|title=NASA Offers Space Shuttle Tiles to Schools|url=https://www.space.com/9641-nasa-offers-space-shuttle-tiles-schools.html|date=December 3, 2010|publisher=Space.com|access-date=May 1, 2020}}

File:STS orbiter 4-view diagram (EG-0076-07).png

{{Aircraft specs

|ref={{cite web|url=http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Space_Shuttle/Shuttle_technical_facts|title=Shuttle Technical Facts|series=Tribute to the Space Shuttle |publisher=European Space Agency|access-date=January 5, 2019}}

|prime units?=imp

|crew = 2 (commander and pilot)

|capacity = 6 passengers (up to three mission and up to three payload specialists) or {{cvt|25060|kg}}

|length m = 37.237

|span m = 23.79

|height m = 17.86

|wing area sqm = 249.9

|wing area note = {{cite book|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19770018245|title=Analysis of Separation of the Space Shuttle Orbiter from a Large Transport Airplane |publisher=NASA/Langley Research Center|first=Alan W.|last=Wilhite|page=10|date=June 1977|hdl=2060/19770018245|id=NASA TM X-3492; 77N-25189}} {{PD-notice}}

|empty weight kg = 78000

|max takeoff weight kg = 110000

|more general =

• Payload to LEO: {{cvt|24310|kg}}

• Cargo bay dimensions: {{cvt|60|xx|15|ft}}

| eng1 number = 3

| eng1 name = Rocketdyne Block 2-A RS-25

| eng1 type = liquid-fuelled rocket engine

| eng1 lbf = 418000

| eng2 number = 2

| eng2 name = Aerojet AJ10-190

| eng2 type = liquid-fuelled rocket engine

| eng2 kn = 26.7

| more power =

| max speed kmh = 27870

| range km = 190-960

| ceiling m = 185000-643000

| glide ratio = Variable with speed, 1:1 at hypersonic speed - 2:1 at supersonic speed - 4.5:1 at subsonic speed{{cite book|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19850008580

|title=Space Shuttle Technical Conference, Part 1|publisher=NASA|editor-first=Norman|editor-last=Chaffee|date=January 1985|id=NASA CP-2342-Pt-1; N85-16889|hdl=2060/19850008580}} {{PD-notice}}

| more performance =

}}

The cargo bay is {{cvt|60|ft}} by {{cvt|15|ft}},{{cite book|chapter-url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20110011792|chapter=The Space Shuttle and Its Operations|title=Wings in Orbit: Scientific and Engineering Legacies of the Space Shuttle, 1971-2010|publisher=NASA|editor1-first=Wayne|editor1-last=Hale|editor2-first=Helen|editor2-last=Lane|editor3-first=Gail|editor3-last=Chapline|editor4-first=Kamlesh|editor4-last=Lulla|page=59|date=2011|isbn=978-0-16-086846-7|hdl=2060/20110011792|id=NASA SP-2010-3409}} {{PD-notice}} and could transport {{cvt|24400|kg}} to {{cvt|204|km}}, or {{cvt|12500|kg}} to the ISS at {{cvt|407|km}}.{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/s/spaceshuttle.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160712165527/http://www.astronautix.com/s/spaceshuttle.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 12, 2016|title=Space Shuttle|publisher=Astronautix.com|first=Mark|last=Wade|access-date=January 5, 2019}} The most massive payload launched by the Space Shuttle was the Chandra X-ray Observatory in 1999 at {{cvt|50162|lb|kg}}, including its Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) and support equipment.{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/background/facts/cxoquick.html|title=Chandra X-ray Observatory Quick Facts|publisher=NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center|date=August 1999|access-date=January 5, 2019|archive-date=February 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220212002150/https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/background/facts/cxoquick.html|url-status=dead}} {{PD-notice}} The Shuttle was capable of returning approximately {{cvt|16000|kg}} of cargo to Earth.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/167126main_Transportation_Logistics.pdf|chapter=Transportation/Logistics|title=Reference Guide to the International Space Station|publisher=NASA|editor-first=Gary H. |editor-last=Kitmacher|date=August 2006|isbn=0-9710327-2-6|id=NASA SP-2006-557}} {{PD-notice}}

The orbiter's maximum glide ratio / lift-to-drag ratio varied considerably with speed, ranging from 1:1 at hypersonic speeds, 2:1 at supersonic speeds, and reaching 4.5:1 at subsonic speeds during approach and landing.

File:Shuttle profiles.jpg, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.]]

Individual Space Shuttle orbiters were named in honor of antique sailing ships of the navies of the world (though the test orbiter Enterprise, originally to be named "Constitution", had its name changed after the Star Trek starship, itself named after a series of US Navy ships), and they were also numbered using the NASA Orbiter Vehicle designation system. Three of the names had also been given to Apollo spacecraft between 1969 and 1972: Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia, Apollo 15 Command Module Endeavour, and Apollo 17 Lunar Module Challenger.

While all of the orbiters were externally practically identical, they had minor differences in their interiors. New equipment for the Orbiters was installed in the same order that they underwent maintenance work, and the newer orbiters were constructed by Rockwell International, under NASA supervision, with some more advanced, lighter in weight, structural elements. Thus, the newer orbiters (Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour) had slightly more cargo capacity than Columbia or Challenger.

The Space Shuttle orbiters were assembled at Rockwell's assembly facility in Palmdale, California,{{cite web |url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/sts_asm.html |title=Orbiter Manufacturing and Assembly |publisher=NASA |quote=Rockwell's Palmdale assembly facility was where all the individual parts, pieces and systems (many of which were built by various subcontractors) came together and were assembled and tested |access-date=August 19, 2012 |archive-date=April 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425124651/https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/sts_asm.html |url-status=dead }} at the federally owned Plant 42 complex.

{{More citations needed|section|date=April 2021}}

Each NASA Space Shuttle designation was composed of a prefix and suffix separated by a dash. The prefix for operational shuttles is OV, for Orbiter Vehicle. The suffix is composed of two parts: the series and the vehicle number; "0" was used for non-flight ready orbiters, and "1" was used for flight-ready orbiters. The vehicle number is sequentially assigned within the series, beginning with 1. Therefore, there can never be an OV-100 as it would read "Orbiter Vehicle Series 1 Vehicle 0". Many proposals to build a second generation of orbiters, externally compatible with the current system but internally new, refer to them as "OV-200" or "OV-2xx" in order to differentiate them from the "first generation", the OV-100s. This terminology is informal, and it is unlikely that any Shuttle-derived vehicle built will be given such designation. Challenger was originally intended to be used as a Structural Test Article (STA), rather than a flight-capable orbiter; as such, the numbering was changed when it was rebuilt. Enterprise, on the other hand, was intended to be rebuilt into a flight-capable orbiter; it was found to be cheaper to rebuild STA-099 than OV-101, so it remained unflown. The designations were not altered, despite these changes in plans. An "OV-106" designation was given to the set of structural components manufactured to replace those used in the construction of Endeavour; however, the contract for these was canceled shortly afterwards, and they were never completed.[http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/1b.pdf SPACE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM HAER No. TX-116, page 59, note 205] Retrieved June 8, 2017 {{PD-notice}} The "096" and "097" designators were given to structural test articles that were canceled, but while they exist in some NASA records, the NASA History Office has no official record of STA-096 and STA-097.[http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/1b.pdf SPACE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM HAER No. TX-116, page 55] Retrieved June 24, 2014 {{PD-notice}}

• Columbia was first launched on April 12, 1981. On February 1, 2003, Columbia disintegrated during re-entry on its 28th spaceflight.

• Challenger was first launched on April 4, 1983. On January 28, 1986, it disintegrated 73 seconds after launch on its 10th mission.

• Discovery was first launched on August 30, 1984. It flew 39 missions, and was NASA's "Return to Flight" vehicle, following the accidental destructions of Challenger and Columbia. Discovery completed its last mission, STS-133, in March 2011. It is currently on display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, near Dulles International Airport.

• Atlantis was first launched on October 3, 1985. It flew 33 spaceflights including the final Space Shuttle mission, STS-135, in July 2011.

• Endeavour was first launched on May 7, 1992. It flew 25 spaceflights, the final being STS-134, launched May 16, 2011.

In addition to the operational orbiters and test articles produced for use in the Shuttle program, there are also various mockup replicas on display throughout the United States:

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{{Shuttle timeline}}

• Space Shuttle for program history and description of operations
• Buran program (USSR's reusable shuttle program)
• Dream Chaser
• SpaceX Starship (spacecraft)

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{{Commons category|Space Shuttles}}

• [http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/resources/orbiters/orbiters.html Orbiter Vehicles] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209023806/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/resources/orbiters/orbiters.html |date=February 9, 2021 }}
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documentation, filed under Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Harris County, TX:
• {{HAER|survey=TX-116-A|id=tx1107|title=Space Transportation System, Orbiter Discovery (OV-103)|photos=121|dwgs=14|cap=28|link=no}}
• {{HAER|survey=TX-116-B|id=tx1108|title=Space Transportation System, Orbiter Atlantis (OV-104)|photos=24|cap=5|link=no}}
• {{HAER|survey=TX-116-C|id=tx1109|title=Space Transportation System, Orbiter Endeavour (OV-105)|photos=22|cap=5|link=no}}
• {{HAER|survey=TX-116-I|id=tx1115|title=Space Transportation System, Space Shuttle Main Engine|photos=20|dwgs=2|cap=8|link=no}}

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