Space Shuttle
Transbordador espacial
- Date
- 1981 · confidence high
- Place
- Kennedy Space Center, Florida, United States; built by Rockwell in Palmdale, California
- Credited to
- NASA and Rockwell International; first flight of Columbia on 12 April 1981
- Field
- Movement
What it is
The first reusable winged spacecraft, able to put 25 tonnes into orbit and bring satellites back down. It flew 135 missions, built the ISS and suffered two fatal accidents.
What it led to
- The construction of the ISS and the repair of Hubble
- The lesson on the costs of partial reusability that inspired SpaceX
- The Canadarm robotic arm and space robotics
Built on
- Apollo (programme)
- X-15
- ceramic heat shields
Made possible
- Canadarm: the Space Shuttle's robotic arm13 de noviembre de 1981
- Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU): untethered spacewalk7 de febrero de 1984
- Buran: first fully automatic orbital flight and landing of a space shuttle15 de noviembre de 1988
- Hubble Space Telescope1990
- First Hubble servicing mission (STS-61)2-13 de diciembre de 1993
- DC-X Delta Clipper: vertical takeoff and landing rocket18 de agosto de 1993
- International Space Station (ISS)1998
- SpaceShipOne: first privately funded crewed spaceflight21 de junio de 2004
- Reusable orbital rocket (Falcon 9)2015
- Artemis program: SLS, Orion and crewed return to the Moon2022-2026