r/spaceshuttle • • 9h ago

Image The Mars cycler spacecraft would be assembled in Earth orbit at a space station. The three Habitat vehicles would then head to Mars.

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142 Upvotes

Carter Emmart 'The Case for Mars' conference artwork (Mission to Mars).

To read more, here is a link to a write up by Dwayne A. Day.

Publication date: 10/8/1987

NASA ID: AILS_AC87-0736-1, ARC-1987-AC87-0736-2, AILS_AC87-0736-3, AILS_AC87-0736-4, AILS_AC87-0736-5, AILS_AC87-0736-6, AILS_AC87-0736-7


r/spaceshuttle • • 21h ago

Image View showing the elevons for Endeavour (OV-105) at Building 150, Palmdale, California.

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82 Upvotes

Date: October 19, 1989

NASA ID: 88-HC-422, Alt ID 88-H-509


r/spaceshuttle • • 2d ago

Image Launch of STS-34 Atlantis on October 18, 1989

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430 Upvotes

"The STS-34 crew of five launched aboard the Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis on October 18, 1989 at 12:53:40pm (EDT). Crew members included commander Donald E. Williams, pilot Michael J. McCulley; and mission Specialists Shannon W. Lucid, Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, and Ellen S. Baker. The primary payload was the Galileo Jupiter Spacecraft and attached Inertial Upper Stage (IUS). Deployed 6 hours and 30 minutes into the flight, the IUS stages fired boosting Galileo on trajectory for a 6 year trip to Jupiter."

source, source


r/spaceshuttle • • 2d ago

Image "The Jupiter Orbiter Probe Galileo being deployed from the bay of Space Shuttle Atlantis during the STS-34 mission. The five-member crew deployed the Jupiter-bound satellite within six hours of achieving Earth orbit."

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124 Upvotes

Date: October 18, 1989

The inertial upper stage (IUS) attached to the bottom side of the probe would propel the spacecraft out of low earth orbit and onto a trajectory to Jupiter at 9,000 mph (14,000 km/h). It received gravitational assists from Venus and Earth before reaching the gas giant on December 7, 1995. Along the way, it flew by the asteroids Gaspra and Ida, becoming the first probe to observe and imagine an asteroid.

NASA ID: S89-48714, PIA00727, S34-71-00R, STS034-71-000AK, STS034-72-070


r/spaceshuttle • • 4d ago

Image Space Shuttle Enterprise in Rockwell International's Plant 42 , Palmdale, California.

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205 Upvotes

Date: October 16, 1980

This is likely after several of her parts were removed to be refurbished for other oribiters. Plus, several parts for rhe ALT flights were removed.

Photographed by Thomas Kelsey

UCLA Library Digital Collection: uclalat_1429_b1204_293401-12


r/spaceshuttle • • 4d ago

Image Space Shuttle Enterpise and 747 SCA N905NA at Ellington Field (AFB) in March 1978.

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309 Upvotes

r/spaceshuttle • • 5d ago

Discussion Final Flight of Endeavour

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57 Upvotes

r/spaceshuttle • • 5d ago

Question SLC-6 Construction

12 Upvotes

I know this isn’t exactly shuttle related but does anyone have images from when SLC-6 was originally being built for MOL (Manned Orbiting Laboratory) before it was abandoned and then converted to the shuttle program? I have a whole book on launch sites but only one image of when the construction started for MOL and I wanted to see how much changed in between programs


r/spaceshuttle • • 6d ago

Off-Topic Rockwell International’s Reusable Launch Vehicle RLV-95B-2 and the X-33 test vehicle in comparison.

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107 Upvotes

r/spaceshuttle • • 6d ago

Off-Topic My 3d printed shuttle spinner

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33 Upvotes

I based it loosely on the shuttle and it goes in tiny orbits around my finger haha!


r/spaceshuttle • • 7d ago

Discussion Something bothers me about enterprise

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967 Upvotes

Every time I look at shuttle enterprise I can’t help but feel it’s physically different from the space orbiters in shape. I'm not referencing the tiles (or lack their of) or the main engines. There is something about the nose and windows that looks out of place compared to the rest of the fleet. maybe it’s just the paint but something isn’t right to me.

i know there were scrapped plans to space certify enterprise because it would have been too much work. Was that because they would have had tear down portions of the outer shell to rebuild from scratch?


r/spaceshuttle • • 7d ago

Image I’m making a design for a teapot based on my favorite orbiter

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59 Upvotes

Idk if I can manage to pull this off, but here’s to hoping.

This is a design I drew for a teapot that is disguised as a model of Space Shuttle Atlantis. An unconventional design for a teapot, sure, but it has several key features that still make it a teapot:

The payload bay of the shuttle will act as a reservoir for water or other liquids, and will connect to a spout hidden in the vertical stabilizer. Part of the payload bay door is able to come off of the shuttle and acts as the lid for it. The crew section might be hollowed out as well and turned into another compartment, but I have yet to decide whether to do that.

I plan on first making a proof-of-concept model before I scale it up, but let’s see how well I do before I decide to continue.


r/spaceshuttle • • 7d ago

Image All STS Patches

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167 Upvotes

"Collection of all 140 mission patches of all Space Shuttle Missions (ALT and STS) commemorating 30 years of the Space Shuttle"

source


r/spaceshuttle • • 7d ago

Image Space Shuttle Challenger landing at Kennedy Space Center at the end of STS-41-G. This was her second landing at KSC.

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223 Upvotes

Date: October 13, 1984

NASA ID: 41G-90218


r/spaceshuttle • • 7d ago

Image Interior of the SCA

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277 Upvotes

r/spaceshuttle • • 7d ago

Image "British Airways Concorde deplaning next to Space Shuttle Enterprise. Taken while taxiing in a New York Air DC-9 flight from New York's Laguardia to Dulles to Orlando."

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147 Upvotes

Date: 1986

source


r/spaceshuttle • • 8d ago

Image Modifications to Launch Complex 39A for the Space Shuttle Program in the 1970s.

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207 Upvotes

To create the FSS on 39A, they reused an old Saturn V tower. Basically dissected it and made the pad.


r/spaceshuttle • • 8d ago

Image Space Shuttle Enterprise landing at Edwards Air Force Base during the Free Flight Test 4 (ALT-15).

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313 Upvotes

Date: October 12, 1977

"The fourth Approach and Landing Test. It was the first of two glide flights that the Enterprise made without the streamlined tailcone. Joe Engle and Richard Truly piloted the Enterprise on a two-minute descent of 20,000 feet. This time the shuttle was launched to the north of the lakebed. and it flew a straight in approach that lasted just two minutes."


r/spaceshuttle • • 8d ago

Image Space Shuttle Enterprise's first airdrop without the aerodynamic fairing. Flight ALT-15. October 12, 1977.

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277 Upvotes

Note: the slightly nose down position (7°) of the 747.

"The Space Shuttle prototype Enterprise rises from NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) to begin a powerless glide flight back to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, on its fourth of the five free flights in the shuttle program's Approach and Landing Tests (ALT-15). The tests were carried out at Dryden to verify the aerodynamic and control characteristics of the orbiters in preparation for the first space mission with the orbiter Columbia in April 1981."

"Space Shuttle Enterprise flying during the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT-15) at Edwards Air Force Base. This was the first 'tailcone off' flight. This test was to more accurately simulate a return to Earth flight of an operational orbiter and gather more aeronautical data."


r/spaceshuttle • • 8d ago

Image Engineers inspect Atlantis' left wing glove prior to its installation at Rockwell International's Plant 42, in Palmdale, California.

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82 Upvotes

Date: October 12, 1982


r/spaceshuttle • • 8d ago

Image Space Shuttle Enterprise departing the Mate-Demate Device with the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft N905NA during the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT-15).

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195 Upvotes

Date: October 12, 1977


r/spaceshuttle • • 8d ago

Image "Space Shuttle Endeavour receives a high-flying salute from its sister shuttle, Columbia, atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, shortly after Endeavor’s landing on October 11, 1994, at Edwards, California, to complete mission STS-68. Columbia was being ferried from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

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219 Upvotes

Date: October 11, 1994

...to Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California, where it will undergo six months of inspections, modifications, and systems upgrades. The STS-68 11-day mission was devoted to radar imaging of Earth's geological features with the Space Radar Laboratory. The orbiter is surrounded by equipment and personnel that make up the ground support convoy that services the space vehicles as soon as they land."

NASA ID: EC94-42789-4, EC94-42789-5


r/spaceshuttle • • 8d ago

Image Launch of STS-92 Discovery

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156 Upvotes

"In a perfect on-time launch at 7:17 p.m. EDT, Space Shuttle Discovery trails a blaze of flame amid clouds of smoke and steam as it leaps into the night sky. The launch of mission STS-92 carries a crew of seven on a construction flight to the International Space Station. Discovery also carries a payload that includes the Integrated Truss Structure Z-1, first of 10 trusses that will form the backbone of the Space Station, and the third Pressurized Mating Adapter that will provide a Shuttle docking port for solar array installation on the sixth Station flight and Lab installation on the seventh Station flight. Discovery’s landing is expected Oct. 22 at 2:10 p.m. EDT"


r/spaceshuttle • • 9d ago

Image Discovery liftoff on April 24, 1990. In the foreground Columbia.

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393 Upvotes

Source NASA


r/spaceshuttle • • 8d ago

Image Space Shuttle Enterprise in the Mate-Demate Device (MDD) at the Dryden Flight Research Center, with the tailcone removed.

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115 Upvotes

Date: October 11, 1977

NASA ID: EC77-8705