Space Shuttle

Space Transportation System, STS

Mission Profile

Space Shuttle (Space Transportation System, STS) is NASA's iconic partially reusable crewed spacecraft, comprising a winged orbiter with a large payload bay capable of carrying up to seven crew members and 24,400 kg of cargo to low Earth orbit. First flying on 12 April 1981, the orbiter returned to Earth as an unpowered glider landing on a runway, while the solid rocket boosters parachuted to ocean recovery and the large external propellant tank burned up on reentry. Across 135 missions from 1981 to 2011, five different orbiter vehicles (Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour) deployed the Hubble Space Telescope, launched interplanetary probes, conducted Spacelab science missions, and built the International Space Station. The Shuttle program was retired in 2011, leaving the US dependent on Soyuz for crew transportation until Commercial Crew vehicles began flying in 2020.