Ten years ago, an era ended when the last shuttle took off from the coast of Florida. Four astronauts on Atlantis travel to the International Space Station on a 13-day mission. Since then, the turbulent shuttle has been in the museum.
The famous spaceship ended on July 8, 2011 with its 135th flight. STS-135 took place with the Shuttle Atlantis, the last version of the Space Shuttle, five of which were finally operational. The first flight, STS-1, took place with Columbia on April 12, 1981. In total, Columbia, Atlantis, Challenger, Endeavor, and Discovery made 135 flights into space.
The space shuttle is an important tool in the construction of the International Space Station. Many of the largest units board the shuttle, and the shuttle regularly brings new astronauts to the station. The shuttle will also be used to launch satellites orbit Improvements, which practically only happen with the Hubble telescope. It was restored during several expeditions.
:strip_exif()/i/2004468064.jpeg?f=imagenormal "The last shuttle flight happened 10 years ago – IT Pro")
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The Space Shuttle is an unprecedentedly complex spacecraft, but is plagued by problems in part because of that complexity. Initially, the spacecraft would be able to return to space as a real space shuttle as soon as it was launched, but the design became very complicated due to all sorts of conditions that made spin It took weeks. The main problem is the loose ceramic tiles which ‘stick’ to the bottom and act as a heat shield. During the first test flight into space, on STS-1, it appeared to pose a potential problem when it was suspected that some tiles had separated.
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The other problem was more serious and also caused two accidents. In 1986, a problem with a solid rocket booster caused the Challenger Shuttle to explode upon launch, killing all seven crew members. In 2003, the insulation portion of the external fuel tank broke during launch, causing the Space Shuttle Columbia to disintegrate upon landing. It also killed all the passengers.
After the incident with Colombia, US President George W. Bush decided to speed up the termination of the program. As a result, for many years it was only possible for astronauts to travel to the International Space Station on Russian rockets. Meanwhile, America will focus more on conventional missiles in its spaceflight, particularly the Space Launch System, which has since been considerably delayed. Meanwhile, the commercial space programs of SpaceX, Boeing and other companies, among others, are more successful, and capsules like Dragon and Cygnus have taken many missions from space shuttles.
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Despite its fun missions, the Space Shuttle remains an icon of American technology and especially space travel. The other three shuttles Endeavor, Atlantis, and Discovery are located at the California Science Center, Kennedy Space Center, and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington.
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