Facts about space shuttle endeavour
When Endeavour next flew, launching on STS-47 on Sept. Along with the improved steering and braking systems soon to also adorn Columbia, Discovery and Atlantis, the upgrades made it possible for the shuttles to begin routine landings in Florida. "She's at the top of the heap, no doubt about it."Īs Brandenstein piloted Endeavour to its first landing on May 16, 1992, a billowing drag chute was released from the orbiter's tail, among the most visible safety upgrades added to the shuttle fleet in response to Challenger's loss. It came out of the factory, we launched and we didn't have a hiccup at all," Brandenstein recalled. The crew's satellite-saving ad-lib would have been made much more difficult, if not impossible, were it not for the stable platform provided by NASA's newest orbiter. "There were times there during the middle when I wasn't sure we were having much fun." "It was really a fun mission, once we knew the ending," said Dan Brandenstein, Endeavour's first commander and United Space Alliance executive vice president and chief operating officer, in a statement released by the company. In contrast, its modern day namesake is 78 tons, 122 feet in length and 78 feet wide. His Endeavour was small at about 368 tons, 100 feet in length and 20 feet wide. Bush in May 1989.Įndeavour's name was inspired by the 18th century sailing ship assigned to chart the South Pacific under British explorer Capt. The winner was announced by President George H.W. The NASA Orbiter-Naming Project received 6,154 entries, representing more than 70,000 students. NASA opened the competition with the provision the proposals were drawn from nautical tradition. "There was a little contest that decided how we're going to name it," recalled Kelly.Įndeavour was christened through a contest initiated by Congress in response to the concern by students over the loss of Challenger. Largely assembled from spare parts pre-fabricated during the development of Discovery and Atlantis, NASA's fifth orbiter, or OV-105, was completed in 1991. "It was decided that to build a new one would actually be more cost-effective to do, build a brand new orbiter, and that became Endeavour." "At the time the thought was, well, maybe we could modify Enterprise, which was the approach and landing test orbiter," said Kelly. After 25 flights, we will hopefully land here and then Endeavour is done with its service to the country," added Kelly. "We are going to take Endeavour out for a couple more, probably about five or six million more miles. Mark Kelly, commander of Endeavour's final mission, after arriving April 27 in Florida for the orbiter's last launch.
"Since Endeavour's first flight to this flight, it's had a really outstanding career," said Capt. Now it is set to fly one last mission to the ISS to deliver a state-of-the-art experiment, a crowning achievement for an accomplished spacecraft. It also launched the first African-American woman and the first married couple. NASA is retiring all three of its shuttles after 30 years to make wayfor a new program aimed at sending astronauts on deep space missions to anasteroid and other targets.In the two decades since, Endeavour has left its mark on history, saving the Hubble Space Telescope, giving birth to the International Space Station (ISS), and completing a mission begun by the fallen shuttle it was built to replace.
They are: commander Chris Ferguson Astro_Ferg), pilot Doug Hurley Astro_Doug), mission specialistSandy Magnus Astro_Sandy)and mission specialist Rex Walheim Astro_Rex).Ītlantis's final mission is STS-135 and will fly a 12-daymission to deliver vital supplies and spare parts to the International SpaceStation. One, NASA spaceflyer DougWheelock, won a Twitter Shorty Award earlier this year for the posts and photoshe shared from space using the website during his months-long stay aboard theInternational Space Station.įor NASA's final space shuttle mission, all four ofAtlantis' crewmembers have Twitter alias. Since then, many astronauts from NASA and other spaceagencies have posted Twitter messages from space. Writing as he tweeted "From orbit:Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying themagnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!" Massimino, acrewmember of the space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-125 mission, became the firstperson to use the microblogging site Twitter in space.