A safe landing
Shuttles glide down, belly first.
Once the orbiter touches the
runway, it releases a 12 m (40 ft)
drag chute to slow it down.
Space shuttle
283
It takes just over eight minutes.
Pop it in there!
Each orbiter has a
huge payload bay.
You could park
a school bus in
this cavity, which
holds the satellites,
experiments, and
laboratories that
need to be taken
into space.
The future shuttle
NASA are currently working
on designs for a new orbiter,
the
Orion
Crew Exploration
Vehicle (CEV). It will travel
into space on an
Ares 1
rocket
launcher, and carry up to six
astronauts on each mission.
Challenger
was
destroyed in 1986, just
73 seconds after launch.
Discovery
first flew in
1984. It marked the 100th
shuttle mission in 2000.
Atlantis
first flew in
1985. It has completed
more than 25 missions.
Columbia
first flew in
1981. It disintegrated on
re-entry in 2003.
The orbiter fleet
Five orbiters were built.
Two have been lost in
tragic accidents.
Endeavour
was built
to replace
Challenger
.
It first flew in 1992.
The payload’s doors open
once the shuttle is in orbit.
Launcher
Command module
Ares 1
rocket launcher
Service module
Space shuttle
Endeavour
landing at
Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA.
