spacecraft.co.ukSpace Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is the name given to the manned spacecraft that NASA uses for low orbit missions. The Space shuttle program has been running since the late 1960s when it soon became the focus of the United States’s manned space missions. The first Space Shuttle to make a successful crewed orbit was the Columbia in 1981.
The Space Shuttle can carry up to eight crew members. It is launched on a vertical launch pad but has the thruster technology available to it to be able to move out of low earth orbit back into the atmosphere where it can be landed by its crew. This is the only type of spacecraft with wings that is crewed that has made an orbit and landed safely.
NASA uses the Space Shuttle for various missions. At times, for example, it will shuttle astronauts to and from the International Space Station and it can also be used to transport parts and hardware back and forth in that context too. It can also be used to bring unmanned spacecraft such as satellites back to earth and to carry out manned servicing missions and experiments. The actual Space Shuttle program will be closed down in around 2010 with a view to it being replaced by the Orion program.