National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Space Shuttle

Space Shuttle
RetiredReusable

Overview

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The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.

Manufacturer

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Variant

N/A

Alias

N/A

Maiden Flight

April 12, 1981

Technical Specifications

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56.1 m

Length

8 m

Diameter

2 t

Launch Mass

28200 kN

Liftoff Thrust

27500 kg

LEO Capacity

GTO Capacity

Launch Record

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135

Total Launches

133

Successful

2

Failed

98.5%

Success Rate

0

Attempted Landings

0

Successful Landings

0

Failed Landings

0

Consecutive Successes

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