Space shuttle: NASA's Space Shuttle launched in

NASA's Space Shuttle launched in 1981 and flew its final mission in 2011. Over three decades its 135 missions changed spaceflight forever. Space Shuttle Era Facts NASA’s shuttle fleet achieved numerous firsts and opened up space to more people than ever before during the Space Shuttle Program’s 30 years of missions. The Space Shuttle orbiter is the spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle, a partially reusable orbital spacecraft system that was part of the discontinued Space Shuttle program. Operated from 1981 to 2011 by NASA, [1] the U.S. space agency, this vehicle could carry astronauts and payloads into low Earth orbit, perform in-space operations, then re-enter the atmosphere and land as a glider, returning its crew and any on-board payload to the Earth. Six orbiters were built for flight ... The Space Shuttle The world's first reusable spacecraft launched like a rocket, maneuvered in Earth orbit like a spacecraft and landed like an airplane. It was comprised of the orbiter, the main engines, the external tank, and the solid rocket boosters.