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The Astronomical Observatory of Mallorca (Spanish: Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca, OAM) is an observatory just south of Costitx, Mallorca, Spain.
The observatory was inaugurated in May 1991 and was the first astronomical center in the Balearic Islands autonomous community and province of Spain.
The observatory is a pioneer among Spanish observatories and uses robotic telescopes (four of them located at La Sagra in Andalucia) to discover and track asteroids.
Researchers at the OAM have found asteroids that are potential threats to Earth, such as the 2006 WH1.
Salvador Sánchez is director of the OAM.
In 2008, asteroid number 128036, discovered at the OAM in 2003, was named after Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal.
As of 2008, the OAM tracks more than 2,000 asteroids.
There is a large planetarium attached to the observatory, which often runs performances open to the public. The Open University is one of a number of academic institutions which runs summer schools at the observatory.
In March 2017, the observatory has closed and gone into liquidation. The land will be up for auction at €1.7 million.
== List of discovered minor planets ==
== See also ==
List of minor planet discoverers § Discovering dedicated institutions
Miguel Hurtado
Observatorio Astronómico de La Sagra
Consell Observatory
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website

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The Chilbolton Observatory is a facility for atmospheric and radio research located on the edge of the village of Chilbolton near Stockbridge in Hampshire, England. The facilities are run by the STFC Radio Communications Research Unit of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and form part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council.
== Overview ==
The Chilbolton Observatory operates many pieces of research equipment associated with radar propagation and meteorology. As of 2007, these include:
An S band Doppler weather radar with its distinctive, fully steerable, 25 metres (82 ft) parabolic antenna. This equipment can be referred to as CAMRa (Chilbolton Advanced Meteorological Radar).
An L band Clear-air radar
A W band bistatic zenith radar
A UV Raman Lidar
Multiple Ka band radiometers
Multiple rain gauges
The observatory also hosts the UK's LOFAR station.
== Timeline of projects ==
1998 - CLARE'98 Cloud Lidar and Radar experiment, which eventually fed into the European Space Agency EarthCARE programme
2001 to 2004 - CLOUDMAP2 project to assist in Numerical weather prediction models
2006 - Chilbolton Observatory joined forces with several European Space Agency sites to verify the L band radio transmissions from the GIOVE-A satellite
2006 - NERC Cirrus and Anvils: European Satellite and Airborne Radiation measurements project
2008 - In-Orbit Test (IOT) performed for GIOVE-B
2008-9 - APPRAISE, during which the CAMRa and Lidar were used to direct airborne measurements in mixed-phase clouds
2010 - LOFAR station UK608 constructed
== History ==
Construction of Chilbolton Observatory started in 1963. It was built partially on the site of RAF Chilbolton, which was decommissioned in 1946. Several sites around the south-east of England were considered for the construction. The site at Chilbolton, on the edge of Salisbury Plain, was chosen in part because of excellent visibility of the horizon and its relative remoteness from major roads whose cars could cause interference.
The facility was opened in April 1967. Within several months of being commissioned the azimuth bearing of the antenna suffered a catastrophic failure. GEC were contracted to repair the bearing and devised a system to replace the failed part while leaving the 400 tonne dish ostensibly in-place.
Originally, the antenna was engaged in Ku band radio astronomy, but now operates as a S and L band radar.
== References ==
== External links ==
Chilbolton Observatory Facilities retrieved May 17, 2006
CLOUDMAP2 project homepage
ESA News 'GIOVE A transmits loud and clear', ESA Portal - Improving Daily Life, March 9, 2006, retrieved May 17, 2006

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SERV, short for Single-stage Earth-orbital Reusable Vehicle, was a proposed space launch system designed by Chrysler's Space Division for the Space Shuttle project. SERV was radically different from the two-stage spaceplanes that almost every other competitor entered into the Shuttle development process and was never given serious consideration for the shuttle program.
SERV was to be a single-stage to orbit spacecraft that would take off from the existing Saturn V complexes and land vertically at Kennedy for re-use. SERV looked like a greatly expanded Apollo capsule, with an empty central core able to carry 125,000 lb (57,000 kg) of cargo. SERV could be launched uncrewed for cargo missions, ejecting a cargo capsule and returning to Earth. For crewed missions, a separate spaceplane, MURP (Manned Upper-stage Reusable Payload), could be carried atop the vehicle.
The name "SERV" was also used by an entirely unrelated NASA project, the "Space Emergency Re-entry Vehicle".
== History ==
=== Background ===
In 1966 the US Air Force started a study effort that explored a variety of crewed spacecraft and associated launchers. As the proposals were studied, they broke them down into one of three classes, based on the level of reusability. On the simpler end of the development scale were the "Class I" vehicles that placed a spaceplane on top of an existing or modified ICBM-based launcher. "Class II" vehicles added partial reusability for some of the launcher components, while the "Class III" vehicles were fully reusable. The USAF had already started work on a Class I design in their X-20 Dyna Soar program, which had been cancelled in December 1963, but were interested in the Lockheed Star Clipper Class II design as a possible future development. Nothing ever came of the study effort, as the USAF wound down their interest in crewed space programs.
At the time, NASA was in the midst of winding down the Project Apollo build-out, as the vehicles progressed to flight. Looking into the future, a number of NASA offices started programs to explore crewed missions in the 1970s and beyond. Among the many proposals, a permanently crewed space station was a favorite. These plans generally assumed the use of the existing Saturn rockets to launch the stations, and even the crews, but the Saturn systems were not set up for the sort of constant supply and crew turnaround being envisioned. The idea of a simple and inexpensive crewed launcher, a "ferry and logistics vehicle", developed out of the space station studies almost as an afterthought, the first mention of it being in the fiscal year 1967 budgets.
Design of a low cost, reusable Space Transportation System (STS) started in earnest in December 1967, when George Mueller organized a one-day brainstorming session on the topic. He jump-started the discussion by inviting the USAF to attend, even keeping the original USAF acronym for the project, "ILRV". Like the original USAF studies, a small vehicle was envisioned, carrying replacement crews and basic supplies, with an emphasis on low cost of operations and fast turnarounds. Unlike the USAF, however, NASA's Space Task Force quickly decided to move directly to the Class III designs.
=== Phase A ===
NASA envisioned a four-phase program of development for the STS. "Phase A" was a series of initial studies to select an overall technology path, and development contracts for proposals were released in 1968 with the proposals expected back in the fall of 1969. A number of designs were presented from a variety of industry partners. Almost universally, the designs were small, fully reusable, and based around delta wing or lifting body spaceplanes.
Chrysler Aerospace won contract NAS8-26341 for their entry into the Phase A series, forming a team under Charles Tharratt. Their 1969 report, NASA-CR-148948, outlined the SERV design, preliminary performance measures, and basic mission profiles. This report described a 23 foot (7.0 m) wide cargo bay Tharratt was convinced that SERV offered better flexibility than any of the winged platforms, allowing it to launch both crewed and uncrewed missions, and being much smaller overall.
With most of the NASA centers backing one of the winged vehicles, and being dramatically different from any of them, SERV found no supporters within the bureaucracy and was never seriously considered for STS. Additionally, the astronaut corps was adamant that any future NASA spacecraft would have to be crewed, (so the potentially uncrewed SERV won no converts there either), and the concept had high technological risk as an SSTO due to weight growth sensitivity.
An extension contract was offered anyway, producing the final NASA-CR-150241 report on the SERV design that was turned in on 1 July 1971. This differed mostly in minor details, the major change being the reduction of the cargo bay width from 23 feet to 15 foot (4.6 m) in keeping with the rest of the Shuttle proposals.
== Description ==

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=== Vehicle design ===
SERV consisted of a large conical body with a rounded base that Chrysler referred to as a "modified Apollo design". The resemblance is due to the fact that both vehicles used blunt body re-entry profiles, which lessen heating load during re-entry by creating a very large shock wave in front of a rounded surface. Tilting the vehicle in relation to the direction of motion changes the pattern of the shock waves, producing lift that can be used to maneuver the spacecraft - in the case of SERV, up to about 100 NM on either side of its ballistic path. To aid lift generation, SERV was "stepped", with the lower portion of the cone angled in at about 30 degrees, and the upper portion closer to 45 degrees. SERV was 96 feet (29 m) across at the widest point, and 83 feet (25 m) tall. Gross lift off weight was just over 6,000,000 lb (2,700,000 kg), about the same as the Saturn V's 6,200,000 lb (2,800,000 kg) but more than the Shuttle's 4,500,000 lb (2,000,000 kg).
The majority of the SERV airframe consisted of steel composite honeycomb. The base was covered with screw-on ablative heat shield panels, which allowed for easy replacement between missions. The upper portions of the airframe, which received dramatically lower heating loads, were covered with metal shingles covering a quartz insulation below. Four landing legs extended from the bottom, their "foot" forming their portion of heat shield surface when retracted.
A twelve module LH2/LOX aerospike engine was arranged around the rim of the base, covered by movable metal shields. During the ascent the shields would move out from the body to adjust for decreasing air pressure, forming a large altitude compensating nozzle. The module was fed from a set of four cross-linked turbopumps that in normal operations would run at 75% of their design capacity, if one turbopump failed then throttling up the remaining 3 to 100% would allow full power to be maintained. The engine as a whole would provide 7,454,000 lbf (25.8 MN) of thrust, about the same as the S-IC, the first stage of the Saturn V.
Also arranged around the base were forty 20,000 lbf (89 kN) jet engines, which were fired just prior to touchdown in order to slow the descent. Movable doors above the engines opened for feed air. Two RL-10's provided de-orbit thrust, so the main engine did not have to be restarted in space. Even on-orbit maneuvering, which was not extensive for the SERV (see below), was provided by small LOX/LH2 engines instead of thrusters using different fuels.
A series of conical tanks around the outside rim of the craft, just above the engines, stored the LOX. LH2 was stored in much larger tanks closer to the center of the craft. Much smaller spherical tanks, located in the gaps below the rounded end of the LOX tanks, held the JP-4 used to feed the jet engines. Orbital maneuvering and de-orbit engines were clustered around the top of the spacecraft, fed by their own tanks interspersed between the LH2. This arrangement of tanks left a large open space in the middle of the craft, 15 by 60 feet (18 m), which served as the cargo hold.

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=== Operational modes ===
Two basic spacecraft configurations and mission profiles were envisioned. "Mode A" missions flew SERV to a high-altitude parking orbit at 260 nmi (480 km) inclined at 55 degrees, just below the space station's orbit at 270 nmi (500 km). "Mode B" missions flew to a 110 nmi (200 km) low Earth orbit (LEO) inclined at 28.5 degrees, a due-east launch from the Kennedy Space Center. In either case the SERV was paired with a long cargo container in its bay, and optionally combined with a crewed spacecraft on top.
The original proposals used a lifting body spaceplane known as MURP to support crewed missions. The MURP was based on the HL-10 design already under study by North American Rockwell as part of their STS efforts. MURP was fitted on top of a cargo container and fairing, which was 114 feet (35 m) long overall. In the second version of the study, Chrysler also added an option that replaced MURP with a "personnel module", based on the Apollo CSM, which was 74 feet (23 m) long when combined with the same cargo container. The original, "SERV-MURP", was 137 ft (42 m) when combined with SERV, while the new configuration, "SERV-PM", was 101 ft (31 m) tall. Both systems included an all-aspect abort of the crewed portion throughout the entire ascent.
After considering all four combinations of mode and module, two basic mission profiles were selected as the most efficient. With SERV-PM the high Earth orbit would be used and the PM would maneuver only a short distance to reach the station. With SERV-MURP, the low Earth orbit would be used and the MURP would maneuver the rest of the way on its own. In either case, the SERV could return to Earth immediately and let the PM or MURP land on their own, or more commonly, wait in the parking orbit for a cargo module from an earlier mission to rendezvous with it for return to Earth. Weight and balance considerations limited the return payload.
Both configurations delivered 25,000 lb (11,000 kg) of cargo to the space station, although in the PM configuration the overall thrown weights were much lower. If the PM configuration was used with a fairing instead of the capsule, SERV could deliver 112,000 lb (51,000 kg) to LEO, or as much as 125,000 lb (57,000 kg) with an "Extended Nosecone". The Extended Nosecone was a long spike with a high fineness ratio that lowered atmospheric drag by creating shock waves that cleared the vehicle body during ascent.
In addition, Chrysler also outlined ways to support 33 ft (10 m) wide loads on the front of SERV. This was the diameter of the S-IC and S-II, the lower stages of the Saturn V. NASA had proposed a wide variety of payloads for the Apollo Applications Program that were based on this diameter that were intended to be launched on the Saturn INT-21. Chrysler demonstrated that they could also be launched on SERV, if weight considerations taken into account. However, these plans were based on the earlier SERV designs with the larger 23 ft (7.0 m) cargo bay. When NASA's loads were adapted to fit to the smaller 15 ft (4.6 m) bay common to all the STS proposals, this option was dropped.
SERV was not expected to remain on orbit for extended periods of time, with the longest missions outlined in the report at just under 48 hours. Typically it would return after a small number of orbits brought its ground track close enough to Kennedy, and abort-once-around missions were contemplated. The vehicle was designed to return to a location within four miles (6 km) of the touchdown point using re-entry maneuvering, the rest would be made up during the jet-powered descent.
=== Construction and operations ===
NASA had partnered with Chrysler to build the NASA-designed Saturn IB, at the Michoud Assembly Facility outside New Orleans. Chrysler proposed building SERVs at Michoud as well, delivering them to KSC on the Bay-class ships used to deliver Boeing's S-IC from the same factory. Since the SERV was wider than the ships, it had to be carried slightly tilted in order to reduce its overall width. Pontoons were then added to the side of the ships to protect the spacecraft from spray.
SERVs would be fitted out in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) High Bay, mated with the PM or MURP which were prepared in the Low Bay, and then transported to the LC39 pads on the existing crawler-transporters. The LC39 pads required only minor modifications for SERV use, similar to those needed to launch the Saturn IB. Chrysler proposed building several SERV landing pads between LC39 and the VAB, and a landing strip for the MURP near the existing Space Shuttle landing strip. The SERVs would be returned to the VAB on an enormous flatbed truck. The only other new infrastructure was a set of test stands at the Mississippi Test Operations engine testing complex, near Michoud.
=== Development and construction costs ===
Re-using much of the existing infrastructure lowered overall program costs; total costs were estimated as $3.565 billion, with each SERV costing $350 million in FY1971 dollars, and being rated for 100 flights over a 10-year service life. This was far less expensive than the two-stage flyback proposals entered by most companies, which had peak development costs on the order of $10 billion.
== Similar designs ==
SERV was similar to the later McDonnell Douglas DC-X design. The primary difference between the two was that the DC-X was built to a military mission and required much greater re-entry maneuvering capability. Because of this, the airframe was long and skinny, and the spacecraft re-entered nose-first. Tilting this shape relative to the path of motion generates considerably more lift than the blunt base of SERV, but also subjects the airframe to much higher heating loads.
More recently, the original SERV layout was used in the Blue Origin Goddard spacecraft. Like the SERV, Goddard did not need the extended crossrange capabilities of a military launcher, and returned to the simpler blunt-base re-entry profile. The similar Kankoh-maru design study also used the same blunt-body VTOL profile.
== See also ==
Douglas SASSTO
List of space launch system designs
== Notes ==
== References ==
=== Citations ===
=== Bibliography ===

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Douglas Aircraft's SASSTO, short for "Saturn Application Single Stage to Orbit", was a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) reusable launch system designed by Philip Bono's team in 1967. SASSTO was a study in minimalist designs, a launcher with the specific intent of repeatedly placing a Gemini capsule in orbit for the lowest possible cost. The SASSTO booster was based on the layout of the S-IVB upper stage from the Saturn family, modified with a plug nozzle. Although the SASSTO design was never followed up at Douglas, it is widely referred to in newer studies for SSTO launchers, notably the MBB "Beta" (Ballistisches Einstufiges Träger-Aggregat) design, which was largely an updated version of SASSTO.
== History ==
In 1962 NASA sent out a series of studies on post-Apollo launch needs, which generally assumed very large launchers for a crewed mission to Mars. At Douglas, makers of the S-IVB, Philip Bono led a team that studied a number of very large liquid-fueled boosters as a way to lower the cost of space exploration. His designs were based on an economy of scale which makes larger rockets more economical than smaller ones as the structure accounts for less and less of the overall weight of the launcher. At some point the dry weight of the launcher becomes lower than the payload it can launch, after which increases in payload fraction are essentially free. However, this point is crossed at relatively large vehicle sizes - Bono's original OOST study from 1963 was over 500 feet (150 m) long - and this path to lower costs only makes sense if there is an enormous amount of payload that needs to be launched.
After designing a number of such vehicles, including ROOST and the ROMBUS/Ithacus/Pegasus series, Bono noticed that the S-IVB stage, then just starting to be used operationally, was very close to being able to reach orbit on its own if launched from the ground. Intrigued, Bono started looking at what missions a small S-IVB-based SSTO could accomplish, realizing that it would be able to launch a crewed Gemini capsule if it was equipped with some upgrades, notably an aerospike engine that would improve the specific impulse and provide altitude compensation. He called the design "SASSTO", short for "Saturn Application Single-Stage To Orbit".
These same upgrades would also have the side-effect of lowering the weight of the SASSTO compared to the original S-IVB, while at the same time increasing its performance. Thus the study also outlined a number of ways that it could be used in place of the S-IV in existing Saturn IB and Saturn V stacks, increasing their performance. When used with the existing Saturn I lower stage, it would improve payload to low Earth orbit from 35,000 to 52,500 lb (23,800 kg), or 57,000 lb (26,000 kg) if the landing gear were removed and it was expended like the S-IVB. SASSTO would thus give NASA a short-term inexpensive crewed launch capability, while also offering improved heavy-launch capability on the existing Saturn infrastructure.
SASSTO required a number of new technologies, however, which made development risky. In particular, the performance of the aerospike engine had to be considerably higher than the J-2 it would replace, yet also offer the ability to be restarted multiple times as the single engine was used for launch, de-orbit and landing. Of particular note was the final landing burn, which required the engines to be restarted at 2,500 ft (760 m) during the descent. The vehicle's weight was also greatly reduced, almost by half, which would not have been trivial considering the relatively good performance of the S-IVB design.

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== Design ==
Although the SASSTO claimed the S-IVB as its starting point, this was a conceit, and the vehicle had little in common with the S-IVB except its size.
The internal fuel tankage was considerably different from in the S-IV. The LH2 was no longer cylindrical, but spherical, and moved to the forward location in the fuselage. The LOX tankage, originally on top of the LH2, was re-positioned into a series of smaller spherical tanks arranged in a ring below the LH2. The tanks were all moved forward within the airframe compared to the engine, all of these changes being made in order to reduce changes in the center of gravity as the fuel was burned off. The fuselage section immediately above the engine was necked down, forming what appeared to be a larger single plug. The upper section of the fuselage, over the top of the hydrogen tank, was likewise necked down.
In order to increase the amount of LH2 being carried, given the fixed dimensions, SASSTO proposed freezing 50% of the fuel to produce a slush hydrogen mixture. This improvement was not uncommon in designs of the era, although it was not until the 1990s that any serious development work on the concept was carried out.
The rearmost portion of the spacecraft was a single large plug nozzle, fed by a series of 36 injectors operating at 1500 psia, producing 277,000 lbf (1,230 kN) of thrust. Since plug nozzles gain efficiency as they grow larger, the 465 sec specific impulse (compared to the J-2's 425) was not particularly aggressive. The engine also served as the primary heat shield, actively cooled by liquid hydrogen that was then dumped overboard.
Four landing legs extended from fairings on the fuselage sides, retracting to a point about even with the "active" portion of the engine area. Four clusters of small maneuvering engines were located between the legs, about half-way from front to back along the fuselage. A series of six smaller tanks arranged in the gaps between the LOX and LH2 tanks fed the maneuvering engines.
SASSTO delivered 6,200 lb (2,800 kg) of cargo to a 110 nmi (200 km) orbit when launched due east from the Kennedy Space Center. Empty weight was 14,700 lb (6,700 kg), considerably lighter than the S-IVB's 28,500 lb (12,900 kg), and gross lift off weight was 216,000 lb (98,000 kg). The typical payload was the Gemini, which was covered with a large aerodynamic fairing.
Re-entry maneuverability was through a blunt-body lifting profile, similar to the Apollo CSM. The cross-range was limited, about 230 miles (370 km), and there was basically no maneuverability at all on final approach. There was enough fuel for about 10 seconds of hovering and small maneuvers to select a flat landing spot. Because SASSTO was the same basic size as the S-IVB, Douglas proposed transporting it in the existing Aero Spacelines Super Guppy after landing at either Wendover Air Force Base in Utah, or Fort Bliss outside El Paso, Texas.
== Developments ==
Dietrich Koelle used SASSTO as the starting point for a similar development at Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm in the late 1960s. Unlike Bono's version, Koelle used as much existing technology and materials as possible, while abandoning the need for the specific S-IVB sizing. The result was a slightly larger spacecraft, the Beta, that launched 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) of payload without the use of slush fuel, advanced lightweight construction, or a real aerospike engine. As part of the Beta proposal, Koelle pointed out that even the existing S-IVB could reach orbit, with zero payload, if equipped with a high-pressure LOX/LH2 engine of 460 Isp.
Gary Hudson, in 1991, pointed out that such an engine existed, the RS-25, using a RS-25-powered S-IVB as a thought experiment to demonstrate the real-world feasibility of SSTO launchers. This study was part of his "Phoenix" series of launchers, all similar to the SASSTO.
== See also ==
List of space launch system designs
== References ==
=== Notes ===
=== Bibliography ===
=== Further reading ===
== External links ==
SASSTO - Encyclopedia Astronautica
PC-compatible flight simulation for the SASSTO. Requires prior installation Orbiter general space flight simulator package, both Orbiter and SASSTO are freeware.

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EISCAT (European Incoherent Scatter AB, formerly EISCAT Scientific Association) is a non-profit scientific research organisation that operates three incoherent scatter radar systems in Northern Scandinavia and Svalbard, as well as an ionospheric heating and short-wave radar facility.
The facilities are used to study the interaction between the Sun and the Earth as revealed by disturbances in the ionosphere and magnetosphere.
The EISCAT Scientific Association exists to provide scientists with access to incoherent scatter radar facilities of the highest technical standard.
== EISCAT 3D ==
The construction of EISCAT's new generation of incoherent radar sites, EISCAT 3D, started in November 2022.
The first stage of the new system will consist of three radar sites, functioning together, just as the old mainland system has. Transmitter upgrades and more sites will be added to the system in the future.
Instead of parabolic dishes, as used by the old system, EISCAT 3D is a multistatic radar composed of three phased-array antenna fields. Many small antennas working together as one. Each field will have between 5 000 - 10 000 crossed dipole antenna mounted on top of a ground plane 70 meters in diameter.
The core site of EISCAT 3D is located just outside Skibotn, Norway. The facility will have 109 hexagonal antenna units as its main antenna, and 10 antenna units spread out around the main site. On top of the antenna units the dipole antennas are mounted. The Skibotn facility will have 10 000 of these small antennas. The Skibotn facility will act both as a transceiver and receiver of the EISCAT 3D system.
Two receiver sites are located in Karesuvando, Finland and Kaiseniemi, Sweden. The facilities consist of 54 and 55 antenna units with approximately 5 000 dipole antennas. These sites were completed by September 2023.
Space debris tracking, tracking of meteorites, research on GPS and radio traffic, space weather, aurora research, climate research and near-Earth space are some of the areas where EISCAT 3D will be able to offer much more flexible and meticulous research data. .
== The mainland system ==
Inaugurated on 26 August 1981, the mainland system consisted of three parabolic dish research radar antennas, designed as a tristatic radar, that is, three facilities that work together. The radar antennas were erected in Tromsø, Norway; Sodankylä, Finland and Kiruna, Sweden, north of the Scandinavian Arctic Circle.
The core in the tri-static system, is located at Ramfjordmoen, outside Tromsø, Norway with a 32-meter mechanically fully steerable parabolic dish used for transmission and reception in the UHF-band. Operating in the 930 MHz band with a transmitter peak power 2.0 MW, 12.5% duty cycle and 1 μs – 10 ms pulse length with frequency and phase modulation capability.
And the VHF radar that operates in the 224 MHz band with transmitter peak power 3 MW, 12.5% duty cycle and 1 μs – 2 ms pulse length with frequency and phase modulation capability. The antenna, used for transmission and reception, is a parabolic cylinder antenna consisting of 4 quarters, constituting a total aperture of 120 m x 40 m. This antenna is mechanically steerable in the meridional plane (-30° to 60° zenith angle), and electronically steerable in the longitudinal direction (±12° off-boresight).The receiving antennas in Sodankylä, Finland and Kiruna, Sweden, is fully steerable 32 meter parabolic dish antennas. The receivers include multiple channels the UHF radar and the VHF radars. The data are pre-processed in signal processors, displayed and analysed in real-time and can be recorded to mass storage media.
The Kiruna antenna was demolished on 13 October 2024 and the Sodankylä antenna was demolished on 23 April 2025.
== EISCAT Svalbard Radar ==
The location in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, high above the arctic circle and near the north pole, offers unique capabilities in auroral research. Svalbard's unique climate with polar night from November until February, make the season for observing the northern lights long.
The EISCAT Svalbard Radar (ESR) also operates the UHF-band, at 500 MHz with a transmitter peak power of 1000 kW, 25% duty cycle and 1 μs – 2 ms pulse length with frequency and phase modulation capability. There are two antennas, a 32-meter mechanically fully steerable parabolic dish antenna, and a 42-meter fixed parabolic antenna aligned along the direction of the local geomagnetic field.
The whole radar system is controlled by computers, and the sites in Tromsø, Kiruna, Sodankylä, and Longyearbyen are interconnected via the Internet.
== Tromsø Ionospheric Modification facility ==
An ionospheric heating facility, Heating, is also located in Ramfjordmoen outside Tromsø, Norway. It consists of 12 transmitters of 100 kW CW power, which can be modulated, and three antenna arrays covering the frequency range 3.85 MHz to 8 MHz.
== History ==
EISCAT was officially founded in December 1975, as an association of research councils in six member countries. Plans to establish a research facility focusing on incoherent scatter technology in the Northern Lights zone had started as early as 1969. Many meetings with interested researchers were held in the early 70s, but it was not until Professor Sir Granville Beynon organized a meeting in 1973, where a board and a chairman were appointed, that clear plans began take shape. In 1974, the Council presented a report on how the organisation, operations and implementation of EISCAT's UHF system could take place, and at the end of 1975 the first six member states agreed to start the work towards the construction of EISCAT.
The member countries are now Sweden, Norway, Finland, Japan, China and the United Kingdom. The members have changed somewhat: Germany is no longer a full member, France was a member from the start of the organization in 1975 until 2005, while Japan and China were added later (1996 and 2007 respectively).
== Governance ==
EISCAT is governed by The EISCAT Council, which consists of representatives from research institutions in the various member countries. Two committees, the Administrative and Financial Committee (AFC) and the Advisory Scientific Committee (SAC), assist the Council in its work.
== References ==
== External links ==
https://eiscat.se/about/
https://eiscat.se/eiscat3d-information/
https://eiscat.se/eiscat3d-information/eiscat_3d-faq/
University Courses on Svalbard (UNIS)

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The ESA Optical Ground Station (OGS Telescope or ESA Space Debris Telescope) is the European Space Agency's ground based observatory at the Teide Observatory on Tenerife, Spain, built for the observation of space debris. OGS is part of the Artemis experiment and is operated by the IAC (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias) and Ataman Science S.L.U.
The observatory is a 1-meter Coudé telescope with a 0.7 degree field of view, supported by an English cross-axial mount inside a dome 12.5-meters in diameter. Its main purposes are:
to be the optical ground station of the Artemis telecommunications satellite (the project from which the telescope takes its name)
to survey space debris in different orbits around the Earth,
to conduct surveys and follow-up observations of near-Earth objects as part of ESA's Space Situational Awareness programme, and
to make scientific astronomical night observations.
It is equipped with a cryogenically cooled mosaic CCD-Camera of 4k×4k pixels. The detection threshold is between 19th and 21st magnitude, which corresponds to a capability to detect space debris objects as small as 10 cm in the geostationary ring. As a large part of the observation time is dedicated to space debris surveys, in particular the observation of space debris in the geostationary ring and in geostationary transfer orbits, the term ESA Space Debris Telescope became used very frequently. Space debris surveys are carried out every month, centered on New Moon.
Since 2006, the telescope has also been used as a receiver station for quantum communication experiments (such as testing Bell's inequality, quantum cryptography, and quantum teleportation), with the sender station being 143 km away in the observatory on La Palma. This is possible because this telescope can be tilted to a near-horizontal position to point it at La Palma, which many large astronomical telescopes are unable to do.
== List of discovered minor planets ==
EAS OGS has been credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 37 minor planets. These are:
== See also ==
List of largest optical telescopes in the 20th century
List of minor planet discoverers § Discovering dedicated institutions
== References ==
== External links ==
http://www.iac.es/eno.php?op1=3&op2=6&lang=en&id=7
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=36520
http://vmo.estec.esa.int/totas

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GRAVES (French: Grand Réseau Adapté à la Veille Spatiale) is a French radar-based space surveillance system, akin to the United States Space Force Space Surveillance System.
== Space surveillance system ==
Using radar measurements, the French Air and Space Force is able to spot satellites orbiting the Earth and determine their orbit. The GRAVES system took 15 years to develop, and became operational in November, 2005. GRAVES is also a contributing system to the European Space Agency's Space Situational Awareness Programme (SSA).
GRAVES is a bistatic radar system using Doppler and directional information to derive the orbits of the detected satellites. Its operating frequency is 143.050 MHz, with the transmitter being located on a decommissioned airfield near Broye-lès-Pesmes at 47.3480°N 5.5151°E / 47.3480; 5.5151 and the receiver at a former missile site near Revest du Bion on the Plateau d'Albion at 44.0715°N 5.5346°E / 44.0715; 5.5346. Data processing and generation of satellite orbital elements is performed at the Balard Air Complex in Paris, 48.835°N 2.280°E / 48.835; 2.280.
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website
[1]

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The Kanzelhoehe Solar Observatory or KSO is an astronomical observatory affiliated with the Institute of Geophysics, Astrophysics and Meteorology out of the University of Graz. It is located near Villach on the southern border of Austria.
Its Web page usually posts current images of the sun, especially in the hydrogen-alpha line that is the strongest visible-light line of hydrogen and that reveals the solar chromosphere.
== History ==
Founded in 1941 by the German Luftwaffe to research the effects of the Sun on the Earth's ionosphere, the KSO focuses on multispectral synoptic observations of the sun using several telescope on the same mount.
== Climate ==
== See also ==
List of astronomical observatories
== References ==
== External links ==
www.kso.ac.at/

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Korabl-Sputnik 1 (Russian: Корабль Спутник 1 meaning Vessel Satellite 1), also known as Sputnik 4 in the West, was the first test flight of the Soviet Vostok programme, and the first Vostok spacecraft. It was launched on May 15, 1960. Though Korabl-Sputnik 1 was uncrewed, it was a precursor to the first human spaceflight, Vostok 1. Its mass was 4,540 kilograms (10,010 lb), of which 1,477 kilograms (3,256 lb) was instrumentation.
The spacecraft, the first of a series of spacecraft used to investigate the means for crewed space flight, contained scientific instruments, a television system, and a self-sustaining biological cabin with a dummy of a man. It was designed to study the operation of the life support system and the stresses of flight. The spacecraft radioed both extensive telemetry and prerecorded voice communications. After four days of flight, the retro rocket was fired and the descent module was separated from its equipment module, but because the spacecraft was not in the correct flight attitude when its retro fired, the descent module did not reenter the atmosphere as planned.
The descent module re-entered the atmosphere on September 5, 1962, while the equipment module re-entered on October 15, 1965. A 20-pound piece of the descent module landed in Manitowoc, Wisconsin in the northern United States.
Giovanni Battista Judica Cordiglia, who set up his own amateur listening station at Torre Bert near Turin, is reported to have claimed that radio signals were received on November 28, 1960, which could have originated from this spacecraft; the spacecraft is known to have radioed prerecorded voice communications. It has led some to believe a conspiracy theory that the spacecraft may have been crewed by one of the Lost Cosmonauts.
== Notes ==
== References ==
Hall, Rex; Shayler, David (May 18, 2001). The rocket men: Vostok & Voskhod, the first Soviet manned spaceflights. Springer. p. 350. ISBN 1-85233-391-X.

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Sputnik (Спутник, Russian for "satellite") is a name for multiple spacecrafts launched under the Soviet space program. "Sputnik 1", "Sputnik 2" and "Sputnik 3" were the official Soviet names of those objects, and the remaining designations in the series ("Sputnik 4" and so on) were not official names but names applied in the West to objects whose original Soviet names may not have been known at the time.
== Spacecraft officially named Sputnik ==
Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to go into orbit, launched 4 October 1957
Sputnik 2, the first spacecraft to carry a living animal (the dog Laika) into orbit, launched 3 November 1957
Sputnik 3, a research satellite launched 15 May 1958
== Spacecrafts with names containing Sputnik ==
Being the Russian term for "satellite", the word Sputnik has appeared in the names of other spacecrafts:
Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik, a series of scientific and technology development satellites
Istrebitel Sputnikov, "Destroyer of Satellites", a series of antisatellite weapons and targets
Tyazhely Sputnik, "Heavy Satellite", a failed Venus probe
Upravlyaemy Sputnik, "Controllable Satellite", a series of ocean surveillance and missile detection satellites
US-A, nuclear-powered ocean radar surveillance satellites
US-K, molniya orbit missile detection satellites
US-KS, geosynchronous orbit missile detection satellites
US-KMO, Modernised geosynchronous orbit missile detection satellites
US-P, electronic ocean surveillance satellites
US-PM, modernised electronic ocean surveillance satellites
== Spacecrafts designated "Sputnik" in the West ==
These objects are listed with their official Soviet names:
Sputnik 4 – Korabl-Sputnik 1
Sputnik 5 – Korabl-Sputnik 2
Sputnik 6 – Korabl-Sputnik 3
Sputnik 7 – Tyazhely Sputnik
Sputnik 8 – Venera 1
Sputnik 9 – Korabl-Sputnik 4
Sputnik 10 – Korabl-Sputnik 5
Sputnik 11 – Kosmos 1
Sputnik 12 – Kosmos 2
Sputnik 13 – Kosmos 3
Sputnik 14 – Kosmos 4
Sputnik 15 – Kosmos 5
Sputnik 16 – Kosmos 6
Sputnik 17 – Kosmos 7
Sputnik 18 – Kosmos 8
Sputnik 19 – Venera 2MV-1 No.1
Sputnik 20 – Venera 2MV-1 No.2
Sputnik 21 – Venera 2MV-2 No.1
Sputnik 22 – Mars 2MV-4 No.1
Sputnik 23 – Mars 1
Sputnik 24 – Mars 2MV-3 No.1
Sputnik 25 – Luna E-6 No.2
== Spacecrafts named after Sputnik 1 ==
Sputnik 40
Sputnik 41
Sputnik 99
== See also ==
Lists of spacecraft
== Notes ==

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The Lockheed Star Clipper was a proposed Earth-to-orbit spaceplane based on a large lifting body spacecraft and a wrap-around drop tank. Originally proposed during a United States Air Force program in 1966, the basic Star Clipper concept lived on during the early years of the NASA Space Shuttle program, and as that project evolved, in a variety of new versions like the LS-200.
Although the Star Clipper design did not progress far in the Space Transportation System (STS) program, it had an enormous effect on the emerging Space Shuttle design. The detailed study of the cost advantages of the drop tank design demonstrated a dramatic reduction in development risk, and as a result, development costs. When funding for STS development was cut, the drop tank was taken up as a way to meet the developmental budgets, leading to the semi-reusable Space Shuttle design.
== History ==
=== Max Hunter ===
Maxwell Hunter was working at Douglas Aircraft where he formalized the calculation of aircraft operation economics. His methodologies were first published in 1940, and were later applied to the Douglas DC-6 and DC-7. The methodologies were later adopted as a standard by the Air Transport Association.
He later joined the Thor missile project as the chief design engineer, and this introduced him to the world of space launchers. With new upper stages, Thor became the Delta, one of the most-used launchers in the 1960s. In spite of Thor's success, Hunter was dissatisfied with the state of the launcher market and later wrote that "by the end of 1963 the state of recoverable rockets was terrible." He was convinced that as long as launchers were thrown away, access to space would never be affordable.
Several companies had already completed early feasibility studies of fully reusable spacecraft, like the Martin Marietta Astrorocket and Douglas Astro. The designs used two flyback stages, one of which flew back to the launch point, while the other flew into orbit and landed after its mission. Hunter thought that any such design was tantamount to making two aircraft to do the job of one, and it was only the upper stage that was of any real use. By March 1964 he had developed a new concept, the stage-and-a-half configuration.
In a two-stage rocket, one rocket fires to lift a second high into the air, and then falls off. The second then fires and travels into orbit. The advantage to this design is that the weight of the rocket decreases as it climbs, reducing the amount of mass that has to be carried all the way into orbit. The downside to this approach is that it needs two complete rockets, both expensive, and a time-consuming operation.
In his stage-and-a-half configuration, Hunter had only one rocket. However, no rocket of the era had the performance needed to reach orbit on its own with a useful payload, so some sort of staging was needed. Hunter's solution was to place just the fuel tanks in the "stage", which would be ejected during the ascent. This gave the vehicle the advantages of staging, but threw away only the tankage, returning all of the expensive parts for re-use. After landing the vehicle would be refit, mated with another tank, and be ready for another mission.
Hunter moved to Lockheed in the fall of 1965. On his first day he was asked if there was anything Lockheed should be looking at, and he immediately suggested development of his stage-and-a-half design. His suggestions caught the ear of Eugene Root, president of Lockheed Missiles and Space, who gave him the go-ahead to study what became known as the Star Clipper.
=== Space Transportation System ===

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As the Apollo build-out started to wind down in 1966, NASA started looking at their future through and after the 1970s. In the short term a number of different uses of surplus Saturn hardware were grouped together into the Apollo Applications Program office, rounding out missions into the mid-1970s. Beyond that, NASA evolved an aggressive program that included a permanently crewed space station, a small lunar base, and eventually a crewed mission to Mars. Almost as an afterthought, the idea of a "logistics vehicle" developed in order to lower the cost of space station operations. The vehicle was dedicated to changing crews on the space station on a weekly basis, or as Walter Dornberger put it, "an economical space plane capable of putting a fresh egg, every morning, on the table of every crew member of a space station circling the globe."
In 1967, George Mueller organized a one-day meeting to discuss the logistics vehicle concept. A year earlier the Air Force and NASA had collaborated on a study of existing technologies in the "Integrated Launch and Re-entry Vehicle" project, or ILRV. ILRV had grouped the various industry submissions into three groups, "Class I" which placed a reusable spaceplane on top of an expendable booster, "Class II" were fully reusable rocket-based designs, and "Class III" used advanced air-breathing engines. Mueller dusted off the ILRV work and invited the same industry partners to present, deciding to concentrate only on the Class II designs.
Lockheed submitted Star Clipper, and McDonnell introduced another stage-and-a-half design, Tip Tank. General Dynamics addressed Hunters concerns about building two aircraft for one mission in their Triamese, which used several identical spacecraft grouped together with only one travelling onto orbit. Chrysler had the oddest submission, SERV, which was so different that it was never considered seriously. The vast majority of the entries, however, were two-stage spaceplanes. As it became clear that the program was moving forward, NASA's own teams entered the fray, adding their own designs to the mix.
NASA supported the "classic" flyback design until 1971, when the maximum development budget was cut in half by the Office of Management and Budget, from about $10 to $5 billion. This was not enough to develop a fully reusable design, and the entire concept went back to the drawing board. It was then that Hunter's arguments for the Star Clipper made their lasting mark; the development costs for a stage-and-a-half design were much lower because there was only one spacecraft being developed. Ironically it was not Lockheed's spacecraft that would be eventually built, but North American Aviation's version of the concept.
== Description ==
Star Clipper was based around a large lifting body re-entry vehicle known as the LSC-8MX, which was based on the FDL-5LD and FDL-8H designs developed at the Air Force's Flight Dynamics Laboratory. At hypersonic speeds, during re-entry, the craft had a lift-to-drag ratio of 1.8 to 1, giving it ample maneuvering capability. In the lower atmosphere this was far too low to allow safe landings in the case of a go-around, so the Star Clipper featured small wings that rotated out of the side of the spacecraft at subsonic speeds, improving the L/D to 8.1:1. To aid landings, two jet engines extended from the top of the fuselage, giving it the ability to abort landings. It was 186 ft (57 m) long and had a 106 ft (32 m) wide at the tips of its upturned wingtips.
The Clipper was powered by three 1.5-million-pound-force (6,700 kN) thrust M-1 engines. Public versions of the design showed the engines being equipped with expanding nozzles, a way to improve the performance of the rocket engines by better matching them to the local atmospheric pressure as it climbs. However it was later revealed that Lockheed was actually proposing using a linear aerospike engine for the production design. LOX and some of the LH2 fuel was carried in tanks in the fuselage, but most of the LH2 was carried in a large external tank. The tank was shaped like an upside-down V, matching the shape of the sharply swept leading-edge of the lifting body. LH2 would be drawn from this tank first, and when it was empty it would detach and be released during the ascent. It was mounted and shaped such that the airflow around the craft would pull the tank up and over the spacecraft.
As the Space Transportation System (STS) proposals moved from the initial Phase A designs into the Phase B detailed development, NASA set the cargo requirements smaller than the original Star Clipper's capabilities. A new version of the same design, the LS-200, emerged. Although the LS-200 was very similar to the earlier version, it was smaller overall, reduced the tank diameter from 285 to 156 inches (7,200 to 4,000 mm), the maximum allowed for road transport, and reduced payload from 50,000 to 25,000 lb (23,000 to 11,000 kg). The M-1 engines were replaced with the Space Shuttle Main Engine, reducing total thrust from 5,000,000 to 915,085 lbf (22,241.11 to 4,070.50 kN), while overall gross lift off weight fell from 3,500,000 to 662,286 lb (1,587,573 to 300,408 kg).
== See also ==
List of space launch system designs
== References ==
=== Notes ===
=== Bibliography ===
== External links ==
Lockheed's LS-200 Star Clipper Spaceplane, a Space Shuttle alternative, video rendering by Hazegrayart

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The Medicina Radio Observatory is an astronomical observatory located 30 km from Bologna, Italy. It is operated by the Institute for Radio Astronomy of the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) of the government of Italy.
The site includes:
32-metre diameter parabolic antenna for observing between 1.4 and 23 GHz. The 32-m antenna is used as a single-dish instrument for astrophysical observations (such as water and methanol maser spectroscopy), SETI experiments and radar monitoring of Near Earth Objects. In interferometric mode it functions as a VLBI station, part of the European VLBI Network (EVN).
564 by 640 m (30000 square meter) multi-element Northern Cross cylindrical-parabolic transit radio telescope for observing at 408 MHz.
== Northern Cross Radio Telescope ==
The Northern Cross Radio Telescope (also known as the Medicina Northern Cross (MNC)) (and Croce del Nord in Italian) is one of the largest transit radio telescopes in the world. Observations are focused around 408 MHz (UHF band), corresponding to 73.5 cm wavelength. The older receivers of the telescope function with a 2.5 MHz wide frequency band, while the upgraded parts have a 16 MHz bandwidth. The telescope is steerable only in declination, meaning that it can solely observe objects that are culminating on the local celestial meridian. The telescope is T-shaped and consists of:
E/W (east–west) arm – Single reflector 560 m x 35 m (1536 dipoles)
N/S (north–south) arm – Array of 64 reflectors 640 m x 23.5 m (4096 dipoles)
The telescope can provide 22880 possible theoretical independent beams and has a field of view of 55.47 degrees (east–west) by 1.8 degrees (north–south). The resolution is around 4–5 arcminutes in the north–south direction, and 4 arcminutes in the east–west direction. While less than the resolution of large optical telescopes, the amount of radiation that can be gathered with the Northern Cross is much greater, proportional to the mirror surface of approximately 27400 square meters. Northern Cross represents the largest UHF-band antenna in the Northern Hemisphere, with an aperture efficiency of 60%, making it second in the world, after the Arecibo radio telescope. This allows the Northern Cross to identify and measure extremely faint sources, making the telescope is particularly suitable to extragalactic research.
There are plans upgrade of the east–west arm telescope to a LOFAR SuperStation, due to the good performances of a cylindrical-parabolic antenna in the 100–700 MHz frequency range. Since LOFAR operates in the 120–240 MHz range, some of the sensors on the Northern Cross Radio Telescope, optimized for 408 MHz, will have to be replaced with broadband antennas. This installation will have an effective area much larger than any other remote LOFAR station. If extended to the whole 22000 square meters area of the east–west arm, this single element effective area of 20 standard remote LOFAR stations. The resulting system will provide significant improvement in observation sensitivity.
== Square Kilometre Array pathfinder ==
The Cross is currently used as a pathfinder for the Square Kilometre Array. The work is focused on studying the amplification and filtering of signals between the LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) output and the analog-to-digital converter input for the SKA. The Medicina Radio Observatory is studying all problems related to "antenna array implementation" through a prototype installation called MAD (Medicina Array Demonstrator).
The observatory staff have also built new receiver demonstrators for the SKA called BEST (Basic Element for SKA Training), part of the EU-funded SKADS (SKA Design Studies) programme. The project started in 2005 and finished in 2009. It involved the installation of the new receivers on some reflectors of the north–south section (and later east–west section) of the Northern Cross telescope, along with new analog fiber-optic and coaxial digital finks from the front-end receiver boxes to the back-ends. The BEST project was divided in three parts:
BEST-1 – 4 new receivers were installed on a single reflector of the north–south arm.
BEST-2 – 32 receivers were installed on 8 reflectors of the north–south arm.
BEST-3lo focused on lower frequencies – between 120 and 240 MHz. Log periodic antennas optimized for 120–240 MHz, along with 18 receivers were installed on part of the east–west arm.
== Space debris tracking ==
There is an ongoing effort to use the 32-meter dish as a receiver for radar-based tracking of artificial satellites and space debris in Earth orbit. The system functions as a bistatic radar, where an emitter located in a different location sends a signal, which bounces off objects in orbit and the echo is picked up by a receiver. The 32-meter dish acts as a receiver, while usually the Yevpatoria 70 meter located in Crimea, functions as a transmitter. The systems can either actively track debris to determine their orbit more precisely or utilize a technique called beam park, where the transmitting and receiving antennas are kept fixed at a given position and the debris pass in and out of the observed area. The measurements obtain through such a system can be used to determine object radar cross-section, time of peak occurrence, polarization ratio, bistatic doppler shift and target rotation. In one of the carried-out tests, Yevpatoria-Medicina system was able to detect an object with an estimated radar cross-section of 0.0002 square meters, which was created by the Iridium 33 and Kosmos-2251 satellite collision. The system can also function as a multistatic radar using the 32-meter receivers at Medicina, the Noto Radio Observatory in Italy and the Ventspils Starptautiskais Radioastronomijas Centrs in Latvia.
The Northern Cross radio telescope has also been part of space debris tracking studies, utilized as a multiple-beam receiver for a bistatic radar system. The first tested configuration is a quasi-monostatic radar system with a 3 m dish as the transmitter, located in Bagnara – 20 km from the receiver. The second configuration was a simulation of a true bistatic radar system with 7 m dish as the transmitter located at the site of the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT). The system has a maximum field-of-view of about 100 square degrees and a collecting area of approximately 27400 square meters and is capable of providing up to 22880 beams, each 4 by 4 arcminutes wide. Tracking the sequence of beams that are illuminated, makes it possible for the system to track with a higher level of detail, with respect to the single-beam systems, the ground track of a transiting object. The Northern Cross radio telescope in a bistatic radar configuration is also part of the Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) segment of the ESA Space Situational Awareness Programme (SSA).
== See also ==
Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna
List of radio telescopes
Noto Radio Observatory
Sardinia Radio Telescope
== References ==
== External links ==
Media related to Medicina Radio Observatory at Wikimedia Commons
Medicina Radio Astronomical Station website
Older website
Northern Cross website

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Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) is a class of hangars where U.S. Space Shuttle orbiters underwent maintenance between flights. They are located west of the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the orbiter was mated with its external tank and Solid Rocket Boosters before transport to the launch pad. OPF-1 and OPF-2 are connected with a low bay between them, while OPF-3 is across the street.
OPF-3 was previously called the Orbiter Maintenance & Refurbishment Facility (OMRF), but was upgraded to a fully functioning OPF.
== Processing flow ==
When a Shuttle mission was completed, the orbiter was towed from the Shuttle Landing Facility to its assigned OPF where it spent several months (typically less than 100 days) being prepared for the next mission. Any remaining payloads from the previous mission were removed and the vehicle was fully inspected, tested, and refurbished.
The orbiter's main engines were purged to remove the moisture that was a by-product of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen combustion.
payload bay doors were opened and any hazardous payloads were processed for safety
fuel cell tanks were drained of remaining cryogenic reactants. The oxygen system was rendered inert with gaseous nitrogen and the hydrogen system with gaseous helium.
high-pressure gases were vented from the environmental control and life support systems.
refuse and other waste products including draining of the potable water system were offloaded
heat shields were removed from the engines and aft access were opened
main engines were locked in place and covers installed.
scaffolding was installed around the orbiters aft to allow technicians to access the main engines
main engines were removed and transferred to the Main Engine Processing Facility for checkout and service
any needed repairs on the orbiter's thermal protection system including the thermal blankets and the silica tiles were completed.
the Orbital Maneuvering System and Reaction Control System pods were possibly removed and transferred to the Hypergol Maintenance Facility for troubleshooting, repair or other services.
any modifications to the orbiter were completed in the OPF.
After all its flights, the orbiter went through "Down Mission Processing."
Prior to rollout to the Vehicle Assembly Building, several weeks before scheduled launch, the orbiter was prepared for the next mission by installing mission flight kits, payloads, consumable fluids and gases where possible. Remaining payloads, fuels and fluids were installed on the pad closer to launch day. The last step before rollover to the VAB was weighing the orbiter to determine its center of gravity.
== Current status ==
OPF-1 was closed following Atlantis's rollout on June 29, 2012, and OPF-2 was closed following its departure on October 18, 2012. OPF-3 is under lease to Boeing for the manufacture and testing of their CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.
On 8 October 2014, NASA confirmed that Boeing X-37B vehicles would be housed at Kennedy Space Center in OPF-1 and 2, hangars previously occupied by the Space Shuttle. Boeing had said the space planes would use OPF-1 in January 2014, and the Air Force had previously said it was considering consolidating X-37B operations, housed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, nearer to their launch site at Cape Canaveral. NASA also stated that the program had completed tests to determine whether the X-37B, one-fourth the size of the Space Shuttle, could land on the former Shuttle runways. NASA furthermore stated that renovations of the two hangars would be completed by the end of 2014; the main doors of OPF-1 were marked with the message "Home of the X-37B" by this point.
== References ==
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
== External links ==
Kennedy Space Center page on the Orbiter Processing Facility (as of 1997–99)
Orbiter Processing Facility Payload Processing and Support Capabilities Handbook Archived 2008-11-21 at the Wayback Machine

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PROBA-2 is the second satellite in the European Space Agency's series of PROBA low-cost satellites that are being used to validate new spacecraft technologies while also carrying scientific instruments. PROBA-2 is a small satellite (130 kg) developed under an ESA General Support Technology Program (GSTP) contract by a Belgian consortium led by Verhaert (now QinetiQ Space) of Kruibeke, Belgium. The nominal mission duration was two years. As of 2022,
the mission continues.
== Mission summary ==
It was launched on 2 November 2009, with the Rockot launch system together with ESA's SMOS mission. The platform was launched in a Sun-synchronous orbit low Earth orbit (altitude of 725 km).
PROBA-2 contains five scientific instruments. Two of them are designated to observe the Sun: "The Sun Watcher using APS and Image Processing" (SWAP, an EUV imager) and the "Large Yield Radiometer" (LYRA), a radiometer made of diamond photodiodes. The Principal investigator teams of both instruments are hosted at the Royal Observatory of Belgium. This institute will also host the PROBA-2 Science Center from which the SWAP and LYRA instruments will be operated and their data distributed. There are three other instruments to measure basic space plasma properties: the Dual segmented Langmuir probe (DSLP) (developed by the Astronomical Institute and Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic), the Thermal Plasma Measurement Unit (TPMU), and the Science Grade Vector Magnetometer (SGVM) developed by the Technical University of Denmark.
== See also ==
List of European Space Agency programs and missions
PROBA-1
PROBA-V
PROBA-3
== References ==
== External links ==
PROBA-2 Science Center

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Paul Desmond Scully-Power, AM GOSE FRAeS (born May 28, 1944) is an Australian-born American oceanographer, technology expert, business executive and astronaut. In 1984, while a civilian employee of the United States Naval Undersea Warfare Center, he flew aboard NASA Space Shuttle mission STS-41-G as a Payload Specialist. He was the first Australian-born person to journey into space, and the first astronaut with a beard.
During his time in space he was able to confirm the existence of spiral eddies, and observe them with the naked eye.
Scully-Power went on to work in private industry. He is considered a world expert in remote sensing: visible, infra-red, radar and acoustic and is considered a security, aviation and aerospace expert.
He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2004 Australia Day Honours "for service to science in the fields of oceanography and space remote sensing, and to the community through contributions to a range of government regulatory agencies and through raising public awareness of conservation issues."
== Early life and education ==
Paul Scully-Power was born in Sydney, Australia. He attended schools in London, and Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview and St Pius X College, Chatswood, in Sydney. He studied applied mathematics at the University of Sydney, where he resided at St John's College, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in 1966 and a Diploma of Education in 1967.
== Career ==
In January 1967, after graduating from the University of Sydney, Scully-Power was approached by the Royal Australian Navy to set up the first oceanographic group within the Navy.
From January 1967 to July 1972 he was a Scientific officer, and remained the first permanent head of the oceanographic group.
From July 1972 to March 1974 he was an Australian Navy Exchange Scientist, U.S. Navy. He also worked at the U.S. Naval Underwater Systems Center, New London, Connecticut, and at the Office of Naval Research, Washington, D.C. During this period, he was invited to assist the Earth Observations team on the Skylab Project and has worked in space oceanography for each crewed spacecraft mission since that time.
From March 1974 to March 1975 he returned to Australia, planned and executed the joint Australia, New Zealand, United States project ANZUS EDDY, which was the first combined oceanographic and acoustic measurement of an ocean eddy ever conducted.
In 1976, he was appointed a foreign principal investigator for the Heat Capacity Mapping Mission, which was one of a series of satellites launched by NASA to explore the usefulness of remote sensing measurements.
In October 1977, he emigrated to the United States and was offered a position at the Naval Underwater Systems Center. This position is that of a senior scientist and technical specialist on the staff of the Associate Technical Director for Research and Technology with the responsibility to insure the development of a comprehensive and balanced technology base within the Center. He became a U.S. citizen in 1982.
=== NASA career ===
In June 1984, Scully-Power was chosen by NASA to be a Payload Specialist (known among the crew affectionately as a blanket counter) on the 13th Shuttle mission, which would study Earth Sciences. His space flight STS-41-G Challenger (October 5–13, 1984) was launched from and returned to land at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. STS-41-G was the first mission with a 7-person crew, and the first to demonstrate American orbital fuel transfer. During the 8-day flight, the crew deployed the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, conducted scientific observations of the earth with the OSTA-3 pallet and Large Format Camera, and demonstrated potential satellite refueling with an EVA and associated hydrazine transfer. At mission conclusion, Scully-Power had traveled over 3.4 million miles in 133 Earth orbits, and logged over 197 hours in space.
His role was to investigate spiral eddies, which at the time were thought to be rare. He was able to photograph them with an ordinary camera, and show that they were ubiquitous.
NASA initially expected him to shave his beard before spaceflight, but allowed it after he was able to demonstrate that it did not affect his helmet's seal.

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=== Corporate career ===
Scully-Power became the CTO of Tenix Group in 2004, Australia's largest Defence & Technology contractor. In 2007 was appointed chairman and CEO of SensorConnect Inc., a Silicon Valley high-tech company.
Scully-Power has extensive commercial, government and academic experience in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and is widely recognised in the fields of defence & national security, aviation & aerospace, marine science, communications & systems analysis, and education.
Scully-Power has served as a director of a number of public and private corporate and advisory boards worldwide.
Scully-Power is past chairman of the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority and the Federal Government's International Space Advisory Group, a former Chancellor of Bond University (Australia's largest private university), and was the inaugural Chairman of the Queensland Premier's Science and Technology Council. Prior to that he spent over twenty years in the United States where he managed and led many high technology and defence industry programs. He served with the U.S. Navy, NASA, the Pentagon, and the White House, where he was the head of a Government-Industry partnership for the development of advanced communications systems as part of the White House National Technology Strategy Program. He was also responsible for the funding of major programs at universities and research institutions on behalf of the U.S. government. Additionally, he held the Distinguished Chair of Environmental Acoustics, was a research associate at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, chairman of Membership of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, served on the University & College Accreditation Board, and was president of the Fort Trumbull Federal Credit Union. Before going to America, he was the inaugural head of the Royal Australian Navy's Oceanographic Group, deploying to sea on 26 cruises and qualifying as a naval ship's diver.
Scully-Power was the first president of the U.N. International Commission on Space Oceanography. He is U.S. Air Force qualified for full pressure suit flying, and was a flight crew instructor in the Astronaut Office, Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. Scully-Power is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, and a Freeman of the City of London.
He is involved in many business and community groups through his roles as patron of the Australian Aviation Museum, the Royal Australian Navy Laboratory Association, and the League of Ancient Mariners; past vice president of the Naval Warfare Officers' Association; a member of the International Trade and Government Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; and a director of the Australia Youth Trust set up by Princess Diana. He is also a founding member of the advisory board of Environment Business Australia. Scully-Power served for five years on the Australian Trade Commission, and for eight years on the Australian Institute of Company Directors. A larger than life-size oil painting of Dr Scully-Power hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.
He was an advocate for the NSW bid to host the Australian Space Agency.
== Awards and honors ==
U.S. Navy Distinguished Service Medal
NASA Space Flight Medal
The Casey Baldwin Medallion of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute
United States Presidential Letter of Commendation
U.S. Congressional Certificate of Merit
United Nations Association Distinguished Service Award
Laureate of the Albatross (Oceanography's 'Nobel Prize')
The Order of the Decibel (the highest award in the field of Underwater Acoustics)
Oswald Watt Gold Medal (Australia's highest aviation award).
Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
Grand Officer (Second Class) of the Order of the Star of Ethiopia (GOSE) (for developing a water filtration system)
Life Membership of the Space Industry Association of Australia
== Organizations ==
American Geophysical Union
Acoustical Society of America
American Meteorological Society
American Association for the Advancement of Science
U.S. Naval Institute
Australian Marine Sciences Association
Luskintyre Aviation Museum
== Personal life ==
Scully-Power is married with six children. His recreational interests include squash and racketball, sailing, and reading.
== Technical papers ==
Scully-Power is considered a world expert in remote sensing: visible, infra-red, radar and acoustic sensing and has earned the highest degree in science, a Doctor of Science in Applied Mathematics for his work. He has published over ninety international scientific reports and technical journal articles, including the Bakerian Lecture of the Royal Society. He has been a major contributor to the U.S. Navy's warfare appraisal and surveillance strategies, and was recognised by the University of Sydney in 1995 as its Distinguished Graduate. He discovered the phenomenon of ocean spiral eddies.
He has published in many fields, including physical oceanography, underwater acoustics, remote sensing, applied mathematics, space oceanography, marine biology, meteorology, and ocean engineering.
== Biography ==
Oceans to Orbit: The Story of Australia's First Man in Space, Paul Scully-Power, 1995, by Colin Burgess.
Australia's Astronauts: Three Men and a Spaceflight Dream, 1999, by Colin Burgess.
Australia's Astronauts: Countdown to a Spaceflight Dream, 2009, by Colin Burgess.
== References ==
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
== External links ==
"NASA biography of Scully-Power" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
Spacefacts biography of Paul D. Scully-Power

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Personal Egress Air Packs, or PEAPs, were devices on board a Space Shuttle that provided crew members with about six minutes of breathable air in the case of a mishap while the vehicle was still on the ground. PEAPs did not provide pressurized air, meaning they were only intended to be used if the air inside the shuttle cabin become unbreathable because of noxious gases.
The devices gained public attention after the Challenger disaster. After the recovery of the vehicle cockpit, it was found that three of the crew PEAPs were activated: those of mission specialist Ellison Onizuka, mission specialist Judith Resnik, and pilot Michael J. Smith. The location of Smith's activation switch, on the back side of his seat, means that either Resnik or Onizuka likely activated it for him. Mike Mullane writes: "Mike Smith’s PEAP had been turned on by Judy or El, I wondered if I would have had the presence of mind to do the same thing had I been in Challenger’s cockpit. Or would I have been locked in a catatonic paralysis of fear? There had been nothing in our training concerning the activation of a PEAP in the event of an in-flight emergency. The fact that Judy or El had done so for Mike Smith made them heroic in my mind. They had been able to block out the terrifying sights and sounds and motions of Challenger’s destruction and had reached for that switch. It was the type of thing a true astronaut would do—maintain their cool in the direst of circumstances."
This showed that at least two of the crew members (Onizuka and Resnik) were alive after the cockpit separated from the vehicle. However, if the cabin had lost pressure, the packs alone would not have sustained the crew during the two-minute descent.
The partial-pressure launch-entry suits replaced the PEAPs, which were subsequently followed by the "ACES" full-pressure suits, which include self-contained oxygen tanks.
== References ==

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The personal rescue enclosure (PRE), or "rescue ball", was a device for transporting astronauts from one Space Shuttle to another in case of an emergency. It was produced as a prototype but never flew on any missions.
The ball was 36 inches (91 cm) in diameter and had a volume of 0.33 cubic meters (12 cubic feet). The structure comprised three fabric layers and incorporated a window and a zipper to allow the astronaut to enter and exit the ball. The ball enabled one crew member to curl up inside and don an oxygen mask and hold a carbon dioxide scrubber/oxygen supply device with one hour's worth of oxygen. The ball would have been connected by an umbilical to the shuttle to supply air until the airlock depressurized. The rescue ball containing the crew member would have been carried to the rescue shuttle by a space-suited astronaut.
The PRE was designed to protect humans in space in the event of an emergency where not enough full space suits were available. It was developed in the 1970s and 1980s to support the Space Shuttle program. The PRE was designed to be used in conjunction with a fully suited astronaut that would provide mobility to the person in the ball. The ball's life-support systems consisting of oxygen and a carbon dioxide scrubber could support a person for about an hour.
The life support system that supplied oxygen was called the Personal Oxygen Supply, or, alternatively, it could be supplied with oxygen from an external source after being sealed. The ball was made of fabric, and was sealed by way of zippers, with a small circular window to allow the occupant to see out.
NASA evaluated three methods of transporting the balls:
By hand, a suited astronaut would haul the balls
By robotic arm, a robotic manipulator arm would move the balls through space (see Canadarm)
The balls would be attached to a line between two spaceships and pulled along like a clothesline.
Dimensions:
86-centimeter-diameter (2-foot-10-inch) sphere
As a flexible not rigid item this figure would be subject to some variation, especially if not pressurized.
Materials/construction methods
Fabric consisting of three layers
urethane
Kevlar
Thermal protective layer (outermost)
Window constructed of Lexan
== See also ==
Space suit
Rescue Agreement
Single-person spacecraft
The Yes Men § New York Post and SurvivaBall
== References ==
== External links ==
"ABSTRACTS/GPN-2002-000207". grin.hq.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 2006-07-18. Retrieved 2017-02-23.

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Project POSTAR was the first space experiment created entirely by members of the Boy Scouts of America.
On September 12, 1992, Space Shuttle Endeavour mission STS-47 carried 10 Get Away Special (GAS) canisters. Amongst these GAS cansisters was G-102 sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America's Exploring Division in cooperation with the TRW Systems Integration Group, Fairfax, Virginia. The project was named Project POSTAR. (The name was a combination of the words "Post" and "Star").
== Beginnings ==
What was to become Project POSTAR began in late 1978 when TRW purchased the "GAS Can" for $10,000. The Exploring Division of the Boy Scouts of America announced the opportunity for Explorer Posts and Sea Explorer (see: Sea Scouting) Ships to design experiments to fly on the Space Shuttle.
Approximately two-hundred Posts and Ships from around the United States expressed interest in developing an experiment, and thirty-eight submitted a first phase proposal. A panel of scientists and engineers from NASA, TRW, and the Boy Scouts of America, headed by astronaut James A. Lovell, selected eighteen experiments for the second phase. In 1982, the experiments were pared down to a final eleven. NASA Explorer Post 1275 located at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland integrated all the experiments into the GAS canister.
== Tragedy and success ==
NASA grounded the Space Shuttle program after the explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger during the launch of mission STS-51-L on January 28, 1986. This action meant that Project POSTAR might not ever fly. Due to the hard work of many, an albeit smaller Project POSTAR was launched on Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992.
The final seven experiments and their sponsors were:
Capillary Pumping developed by Explorer Post 9005 and sponsored by the McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, MO.
Cosmic Ray developed by Sea Explorer Ship 101 and sponsored by the American Legion of Bridgeport, CT.
Crystal Growth developed by Explorer Post 310 and Emulsions developed by Explorer Post 310, both sponsored by Chesebrough-Pond's Research Laboratory, Trumbull, CT.
Fiber Optics developed by Explorer Post 475 sponsored by the Naval Avionics Center, Indianapolis, IN.
Floppy Disk developed by Explorer Post 1022 sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Columbia, Maryland.
Fluid Droplets developed by Explorer Posts 822 and 2268 sponsored by Martin Marietta, Littleton, CO and the Denver Museum of Natural History, Denver, CO.
Command, Power and Mechanical Systems designed by Explorer Post 1275 sponsored by the Goddard Explorer Club of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD.
== See also ==
Get Away Special
Boy Scouts of America
== References ==
== External links ==
NASA mission summary Archived 2020-08-09 at the Wayback Machine
Explorer Post 1275, Goddard Space Flight Center

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Royal Air Force Fylingdales (RAF Fylingdales) is a Royal Air Force station on Snod Hill in the North York Moors, England. Its motto is Vigilamus ("We are watching"). It is a radar base, former part of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS), and now part of the Solid State Phased Array Radar System (SSPARS).
As part of intelligence-sharing arrangements between the United States and United Kingdom (see, for example, the UKUSA Agreement), data collected at RAF Fylingdales are shared between the two countries. Its primary purpose is to give the British and US governments warning of an impending ballistic missile attack (part of the so-called four minute warning during the Cold War). A secondary role is the detection and tracking of orbiting objects; Fylingdales is part of the United States Space Surveillance Network.
As well as its early-warning and space-tracking roles, Fylingdales has a third function – the Satellite Warning Service for the UK. It keeps track of spy satellites used by other countries, so that secret activities in the UK can be carried out when they are not overhead. The armed services, defence manufacturers and research organisations, including universities, take advantage of this facility.
== History ==
=== Cold War ===
The station was sited on a former wartime mortar range on Snod Hill, which had to be comprehensively cleared by RAF Bomb Disposal before building could begin. The station was built by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1962, and was maintained by RCA (Great Britain), now Serco Group plc. RAF Fylingdales consisted of three 130-foot (40 m) diameter 'golfballs' or geodesic domes (radomes) containing mechanically steered radar. Operation of the Fylingdales site transferred to RAF Fighter Command on 15 January 1964
although the site became operational on 17 September 1963. It became a local tourist attraction as a result.
Between 1989 and 13 November 1992, Raytheon, the US defence contractor, completed a contract that saw the domes replaced by the current tetrahedron ('pyramid') structure, originally housing the AN/FPS-126 AESA phased array radar system. The site is 820 feet (250 m) above sea level and the structure is nine floors high rising from its ground level to 120 feet (37 m) high.
The radar system was upgraded in 2007 by Boeing to the Raytheon AN/FPS-132 Upgraded Early Warning Radar (UEWR).
=== National Missile Defence ===
In the late 1990s, the United States decided to pursue a National Missile Defense plan fully, and RAF Fylingdales attracted further publicity. To improve tracking capabilities (for launches from Africa and the Middle East) the United States wanted the use of Fylingdales as part of its NMD network. After receiving a formal request from the US, the British Government agreed to its use as an NMD tracking facility. The decision was criticised, because the proposed NMD system was solely for US benefit.
According to the BBC, The Independent reported that the British Government secretly agreed to the US request to station NMD missile interceptors at Fylingdales Moor in late 2004. This has subsequently been denied by the Ministry of Defence. The £449 million upgrade for RAF Fylingdales to become an NMD tracking facility was undertaken by Boeing, with Raytheon as the major subcontractor.
== Operation ==
=== BMEWS ===
While the radar station remains a British asset operated and commanded by the Royal Air Force, it also forms one of three stations in the United States BMEWS network (the United States also funds the cost of the radar units). The other two stations in the network are Thule Air Base, Greenland and Clear Space Force Station, Alaska. The data obtained by Fylingdales is shared fully and freely with the United States, where it feeds into the US-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs.
The British Government advised in March 2018, that as of the beginning of that month, fewer than five United States military personnel and ten US contractors worked at the station.
Space Delta 4 of the United States Space Force, maintains a liaison officer at Fylingdales to act as link to US missile warning operations and advises the RAF station commander on operational issues.
The secondary role of detection and tracking of orbiting objects, also called Space Situational Awareness (SSA), as part of the United States Space Surveillance Network is carried out in conjunction with RAF High Wycombe.
=== Systems ===
The primary radars of RAF Fylingdales are active electronically scanned array (AESA) phased array radars, mounted on each face of a truncated tetrahedron, typically referred to as the "pyramid" or the Solid State Phased Array Radar System (SSPARS). This makes Fylingdales unique amongst its peers in that it covers a full 360 degrees. Each of the three arrays is 84 feet (26 m) across and contains around 2560 transmit/receive modules; mean power output is about 2.5 MW, with a tracking range of 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi).
=== Protests by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament ===
The functions of RAF Fylingdales have been subject to criticism from opposition groups, such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), leading to protests being held on occasion. These stem from concerns regarding the base's association with nuclear warfare and the militarisation of space. They argue against the UK assisting the US National Missile Defense (NMD) programme with RAF Fylingdales' ability to detect attacks, saying it is destabilising US and European relations with Russia, makes the UK the front line in any future conflict and it could be information from Fylingdales that initiates a nuclear response from the US and/or the UK to a perceived threat – real or false; intended or accidental.

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=== Concerns over radiation levels ===
The radar beam has created serious concern of radiation risks due to leakage from the sides of the beam's "side lobes". Although the radiation levels are within UK limits (NRPB), it would be harder for the base to keep within the tighter European Union limits (INIRPB), which the UK may soon adopt, though Britain's exit from the EU makes this less likely.
=== 2019 bomb hoax ===
On 26 August 2019, Laura Woodwardsmith telephoned North Yorkshire Police and made a bomb threat in relation to RAF Fylingdales. Although, the Ministry of Defence Police locked down the base as a precaution, it was later revealed that Woodwardsmith was both drunk and having a mental breakdown when making the threat.
=== Guarding and security ===
The Northern Echo states that Fylingdales is guarded by 80 military policemen, however RAF Fylingdales is guarded by the Ministry of Defence Guard Service (approx 19 officers) and Ministry of Defence Police (approx 60–100 officers) neither of which operate under a military capacity. The station has a checkpoint by the A169 roadside and further checkpoints at each of its fences. The outer fence is an 8000 volt electrified fence and all entrance gates can be locked and razor wire placed in the opening on metal truss frames.
== Cultural references ==
The monitoring function is referred to in the Jethro Tull song "Fylingdale Flyer" which appears on the album A and in the Slipstream video.
In the 1983 film The Day After, the Fylingdales facility is referred to 'as some place in England' with response to the early detection of a nuclear strike by two radar facilities (the other being Beale Air Force Base, California, US).
RAF Fylingdales can be seen in earlier episodes of the 1960s set ITV Drama Heartbeat, filmed in the village of Goathland just a few miles away.
Turning Fylingdales Inside Out is a Newcastle University project to make RAF Fylingdale's history visible to the public for the first time
== See also ==
List of Royal Air Force stations
Space Situational Awareness Programme
GRAVES – French space surveillance system
== References ==
=== Citations ===
=== Bibliography ===
Halpenny, B. B. (1982). Action Stations: Military Airfields of Yorkshire v. 4. Cambridge, UK: Patrick Stephens. ISBN 978-0850595321.
March, P. (1993). Royal Air Force Yearbook 1993. Fairford, UK: Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.
Missile Defence: A Public Discussion Paper Archived 5 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine, Ministry of Defence, 9 December 2002
Upgrade to RAF Fylingdales Early Warning Radar: Environment and Land Use Report Archived 5 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine Ministry of Defence, 16 June 2003
Wilson, B. C. F. (1983). A history : Royal Air Force Fylingdales. Royal Air Force Fylingdales. ISBN 0950852104.
== External links ==
Official website

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The R-bar pitch maneuver (RPM), popularly called the rendezvous pitch maneuver or backflip, was a maneuver performed by the Space Shuttle as it rendezvoused with the International Space Station (ISS) prior to docking. The Shuttle performed a backflip that exposed its heat-shield so the crew of the ISS could photograph it. Based on the information gathered during the rendezvous pitch maneuver, the mission team could decide whether the orbiter was safe for re-entry. They may have then decided either to wait on the ISS for a rescue mission or attempt extra-vehicular activity to repair the heat shield and secure the safe re-entry of the orbiter. This was a standard procedure recommended by CAIB for all space shuttles docking to the International Space Station after a damaged heat shield caused the Columbia disaster.
== Maneuver description ==
The name of the maneuver was based on the R-bar and V-bar lines that are used in the approach of the space station. R-bar or Earth Radius Vector is an imaginary line connecting the space station to the center of the Earth. V-bar would be the velocity vector of the space station.
The shuttle approached the station along the R-bar line and at a small distance from the ISS, usually around 600 feet (180 meters), the shuttle performed a slow 360° pitch, during which it exposed its underside, the heat shield, to the ISS. The crew inside the ISS visually inspected and photographed the heat shield to determine whether or not it had been damaged during liftoff and ascent. This maneuver required skilled piloting, as the Shuttle commander must fly very close to the ISS without the station always in full view. After the maneuver is complete the shuttle flew from the R-bar to the V-bar, a 90-degree angle change as seen from ISS and then continued along the V-bar line to close in on the space station and eventually complete the docking.
The rendezvous pitch maneuver was developed by NASA engineers Steve Walker, Mark Schrock and Jessica LoPresti after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Columbia had sustained damage to its heat shield due to insulating foam breaking off the external tank and hitting the shield at liftoff. The damage was too great for the heat shield to protect the shuttle from the heat and structural strain of atmospheric reentry, causing it to break apart. For this reason, the integrity of the heat shield had been a critical concern of NASA ever since. The maneuver was first performed by Mission Commander Eileen Collins on STS-114, which was one of Space Shuttle Discovery's two "Return To Flight" missions after the Columbia STS-107 disaster.
== Photographers and photographic equipment used during RPMs ==
=== STS-114 ===
During STS-114, the rendezvous pitch maneuver was performed by Commander Eileen Collins shortly before docking with the ISS at 11:18 UTC on July 28, 2005, when Space Shuttle Discovery was photographed by Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer John L. Phillips, of the ISS Expedition 11, using handheld Kodak 760 DCS digital cameras. On this occasion, astronaut Stephen Robinson undertook a precautionary spacewalk to remove protruding gap fillers prior to re-entry.
=== STS-115 ===
During STS-115, Atlantis' belly was photographed by the ISS Expedition 13.
=== STS-116 ===
During STS-116, Discovery, commanded by Mark L. Polansky, performed the RPM and was photographed by the ISS Expedition 14.
=== STS-117 ===
During the RPM of STS-117 performed by mission commander Rick Sturckow, Sunita Williams and another member of Expedition 15 used 400mm and 800mm lenses for taking photos out of two windows of the ISS.
=== STS-118 ===
During STS-118 the RPM of Endeavour was photographed by Expedition 15. The maneuver was videotaped by Clay Anderson and photographed by Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov with 800mm and 400mm lenses. A Focused Inspection of a damaged portion of Endeavour's heat shield was performed by the STS-118 crew later in the mission after ground engineers reviewed the RPM photographs.
=== STS-120 ===
Expedition 16 crewmembers Clay Anderson and Yuri Malenchenko photographed and videotaped the RPM of Discovery during STS-120.
=== STS-121 ===
During STS-121, the rendezvous pitch maneuver was performed at 14:02 UTC on July 6, 2006, when Discovery was photographed by Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeffrey Williams of the ISS Expedition 13, using 400mm and 800mm lenses.
=== STS-122 ===
The STS-122 RPM occurred on February 9, 2008. From 16:24 to 16:31 UTC, Atlantis pilot Alan G. Poindexter performed the RPM. The RPM was photographed by Expedition 16 crew members Peggy Whitson and Yuri Malenchenko with 400mm and 800mm lenses, respectively, from the Zvezda service module. Malenchenko had been directed to take extra images of the starboard OMS pod, so an "area of interest" on the thermal blanket could be evaluated. Some 300 images were expected to be captured.
== See also ==
Space rendezvous
== References ==
== External links ==
NASA offers the video of the STS-121 backflip streamed in WMV and Real Archived 2006-07-15 at the Wayback Machine; and for download in mp4 Archived 2007-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
STS-114 executes a backflip for ISS crew inspection on YouTube
STS-135 performs the final RVM in Space Shuttle history, Flash and mp4 from NASA

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Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut is a 2006 book by retired astronaut Richard "Mike" Mullane. The book describes Mullane's experiences in the NASA astronaut corps from 1978 to 1990, including his flights on the Space Shuttle and his personal relationships with other astronauts, especially Judy Resnik, who perished in the Challenger accident. The book gives a critical glimpse into the culture of NASA and the astronaut corps. The Publishers Weekly review of the book noted that Mullane "holds female astronauts in special disregard". Kirkus Reviews summarized the book as "one astronaut’s messy, exhilarating story, with no edges sanded off".
== References ==
== External links ==
Riding Rockets at Google Books
Library holdings of Riding Rockets

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Space Shuttle missions designated STS-3xx (officially called Launch On Need (LON) missions) were rescue missions which would have been mounted to rescue the crew of a Space Shuttle if their vehicle was damaged and deemed unable to make a successful reentry. Such a mission would have been flown if Mission Control determined that the heat shielding tiles and reinforced carbon-carbon panels of a currently flying orbiter were damaged beyond the repair capabilities of the available on-orbit repair methods. These missions were also referred to as Launch on Demand (LOD) and Contingency Shuttle Crew Support. The program was initiated following loss of Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003 during that Shuttle's investigation board. No mission of this type was launched before the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.
== Procedure ==
The orbiter and four of the crew which were scheduled to fly the next planned mission would be retasked to the rescue mission. The planning and training processes for a rescue flight would have allowed NASA to launch the mission within a period of 40 days of its being called up. During that time, the damaged (or disabled) shuttle's crew would have to take refuge on the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS was able to support both crews for around 80 days, with oxygen supply being the limiting factor. Within NASA, this plan for maintaining the shuttle crew at the ISS was known as Contingency Shuttle Crew Support (CSCS) operations. Up to STS-121 all rescue missions were to be designated STS-300.
In the case of an abort to orbit, where the shuttle could have been unable to reach the ISS orbit and the thermal protection system inspections suggested that the shuttle could not have returned to Earth safely, the ISS may have been capable of descending to meet the shuttle. Such a procedure was known as a joint underspeed recovery.
* – originally scheduled to be Endeavour, changed to Discovery for contamination issues.
To save weight, and to allow the combined crews of both shuttles to return to Earth safely, many shortcuts would have had to be made, and the risks of launching another orbiter without resolving the failure which caused the previous orbiter to become disabled would have to have been faced.
== Flight hardware ==
A number of pieces of Launch on Need flight hardware were built in preparation for a rescue mission including:
An extra three recumbent seats to be located in the aft middeck (ditch area)
Two handholds located on the starboard wall of the ditch area
Individual Cooling Units mounting provisions
Seat 5 modification to properly secure in a recumbent position
Mounting provisions for four additional Sky Genie egress devices (see picture)
Escape Pole mounting provisions for three additional lanyards
== Remote Control Orbiter ==
The Remote Control Orbiter (RCO), also known as the Autonomous Orbiter Rapid Prototype (AORP), was a term used by NASA to describe a shuttle that could perform entry and landing without a human crew on board via remote control. NASA developed the RCO in-flight maintenance (IFM) cable to extend existing auto-land capabilities of the shuttle to allow remaining tasks to be completed from the ground. The purpose of the RCO IFM cable was to provide an electrical signal connection between the Ground Command Interface Logic (GCIL) and the flight deck panel switches. The cable is approximately 28 feet (8.5 m) long, weighs over 5 lb (2.3 kg), and has 16 connectors. With this system, signals could be sent from the Mission Control Center to the unmanned shuttle to control the following systems:
Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) start and run
Air Data Probe (ADP) deployment
Main Landing Gear (MLG) arming and deployment
Drag chute arming and deployment
Fuel cell reactant valve closure
Pitot tube clearing check
The RCO IFM cable first flew aboard STS-121 and was transferred to the ISS for storage during the mission. The cable remained aboard the ISS until the end of the Shuttle program. Prior to STS-121 the plan was for the damaged shuttle to be abandoned and allowed to burn up on reentry. The prime landing site for an RCO orbiter would be Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Edwards Air Force Base, a site already used to support shuttle landings, was the prime RCO landing site for the first missions carrying the equipment; however Vandenberg was later selected as the prime site as it is nearer the coast, and the shuttle can be ditched in the Pacific should a problem develop that would make landing dangerous. White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico is a likely alternate site. A major consideration in determining the landing site would be the desire to perform a high-risk re-entry far away from populated areas. The flight resource book, and flight rules in force during STS-121 suggest that the damaged shuttle would reenter on a trajectory such that if it should break up, it would do so with debris landing in the South Pacific Ocean.
The Soviet Buran shuttle was also remotely controlled during its entire maiden flight without a crew aboard. Landing was carried out by an onboard, automatic system.
As of March 2011 the Boeing X-37 extended duration robotic spaceplane has demonstrated autonomous orbital flight, reentry and landing. The X-37 was originally intended for launch from the Shuttle payload bay, but following the Columbia disaster, it was launched in a shrouded configuration on an Atlas V.
== Sample timeline ==
Had a LON mission been required, a timeline would have been developed similar to the following:

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FD-10 A decision on the requirement for Contingency Shuttle Crew Support (CSCS) is expected by flight day 10 of a nominal mission.
FD-10 Shortly after the need for CSCS operations a group C power down of the shuttle will take place.
FD-11→21 During flight days 11–21 of the mission the shuttle will remain docked to the international space station (ISS) with the hatch open. Various items will be transferred between the shuttle and ISS.
FD-21 Hatch closure will be conducted from the ISS side. The shuttle crew remains on the ISS, leaving the shuttle unmanned
FD-21 Deorbit burn – burn occurs four hours after separation. Orbiter lands at Vandenberg Air Force Base under remote control from Houston. (Prior to STS-121, the payload bay doors would have been left open to promote vehicle breakup.)
FD-45 Launch of rescue flight. 35 days from call-up to launch for the rescue flight is a best estimate of the minimum time it will take before a rescue flight is launched.
FD-45→47 The rescue flight catches up with the ISS, conducting heat shield inspections en route.
FD-47 The rescue flight docks with the station, on day three of its mission.
FD-48 Shuttle crew enters the rescue orbiter. Vehicle with a crew complement of 11 undocks from ISS.
FD-49 Rescue orbiter re-enters atmosphere over Indian or Pacific Ocean for landing at either Kennedy Space Center or Edwards Air Force Base. A Russian Progress resupply spacecraft is launched at later date to resupply ISS crew. ISS precautionary de-crew preparations begin.
FD-58 De-crew ISS due to ECLSS O2 exhaustion in event Progress unable to perform resupply function.
== STS-125 rescue plan ==
STS-400 was the Space Shuttle contingency support (Launch On Need) flight that would have been launched using Space Shuttle Endeavour if a major problem occurred on Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-125, the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission (HST SM-4).
Due to the much lower orbital inclination of the HST compared to the ISS, the shuttle crew would have been unable to use the International Space Station as a "safe haven", and NASA would not have been able to follow the usual plan of recovering the crew with another shuttle at a later date. Instead, NASA developed a plan to conduct a shuttle-to-shuttle rescue mission, similar to proposed rescue missions for pre-ISS flights The rescue mission would have been launched only three days after call-up and as early as seven days after the launch of STS-125, since the crew of Atlantis would only have about three weeks of consumables after launch.
The mission was first rolled out in September 2008 to Launch Complex 39B two weeks after the STS-125 shuttle was rolled out to Launch Complex 39A, creating a rare scenario in which two shuttles were on launch pads at the same time. In October 2008, however, STS-125 was delayed and rolled back to the VAB.
Initially, STS-125 was retargeted for no earlier than February 2009. This changed the STS-400 vehicle from Endeavour to Discovery. The mission was redesignated STS-401 due to the swap from Endeavour to Discovery. STS-125 was then delayed further, allowing Discovery mission STS-119 to fly beforehand. This resulted in the rescue mission reverting to Endeavour, and the STS-400 designation being reinstated. In January, 2009, it was announced that NASA was evaluating conducting both launches from Complex 39A in order to avoid further delays to Ares I-X, which, at the time, was scheduled for launch from LC-39B in the September 2009 timeframe. It was planned that after the STS-125 mission in October 2008, Launch Complex 39B would undergo the conversion for use in Project Constellation for the Ares I-X rocket. Several of the members on the NASA mission management team said at the time (2009) that single-pad operations were possible, but the decision was made to use both pads.
=== Crew ===
The crew assigned to this mission was a subset of the STS-126 crew:
=== Early mission plans ===
Three different concept mission plans were evaluated: The first would be to use a shuttle-to-shuttle docking, where the rescue shuttle docks with the damaged shuttle, by flying upside down and backwards, relative to the damaged shuttle. It was unclear whether this would be practical, as the forward structure of either orbiter could collide with the payload bay of the other, resulting in damage to both orbiters. The second option that was evaluated, would be for the rescue orbiter to rendezvous with the damaged orbiter, and perform station-keeping while using its Remote Manipulator System (RMS) to transfer crew from the damaged orbiter. This mission plan would result in heavy fuel consumption. The third concept would be for the damaged orbiter to grapple the rescue orbiter using its RMS, eliminating the need for station-keeping. The rescue orbiter would then transfer crew using its RMS, as in the second option, and would be more fuel efficient than the station-keeping option.
The concept that was eventually decided upon was a modified version of the third concept. The rescue orbiter would use its RMS to grapple the end of the damaged orbiter's RMS.
=== Preparations ===
After its most recent mission (STS-123), Endeavour was taken to the Orbiter Processing Facility for routine maintenance. Following the maintenance, Endeavour was on stand-by for STS-326 which would have been flown in the case that STS-124 would not have been able to return to Earth safely. Stacking of the solid rocket boosters (SRB) began on 11 July 2008. One month later, the external tank arrived at KSC and was mated with the SRBs on 29 August 2008. Endeavour joined the stack on 12 September 2008 and was rolled out to Pad 39B one week later.
Since STS-126 launched before STS-125, Atlantis was rolled back to the VAB on 20 October, and Endeavour rolled around to Launch Pad 39A on 23 October. When it was time to launch STS-125, Atlantis rolled out to pad 39A.

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=== Mission plan ===
The Mission would not have included the extended heatshield inspection normally performed on flight day two. Instead, an inspection would have been performed after the crew was rescued. On flight day two, Endeavour would have performed the rendezvous and grapple with Atlantis. On flight day three, the first EVA would have been performed. During the first EVA, Megan McArthur, Andrew Feustel and John Grunsfeld would have set up a tether between airlocks 1-C and 1-A. They would have also transferred a large size Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) and, after McArthur had repressurized; transferred McArthur's EMU back to Atlantis. Afterwards they would have repressurized on Endeavour, ending day two flight activities.
The final two EVA's were planned for flight day three. During the first, Grunsfeld would have depressurized on Endeavour in order to assist Gregory Johnson and Michael Massimino in transferring an EMU to Atlantis. He and Johnson would then repressurize on Endeavour, and Massimino would have gone back to Atlantis. He, along with Scott Altman and Michael Good would have taken the rest of the equipment and themselves to Endeavour during the final EVA. They would have been standing by in case the RMS system should malfunction. The damaged orbiter would have been commanded by the ground to deorbit and go through landing procedures over the Pacific, with the impact area being north of Hawaii. On flight day five, Endeavour would have had a full heat shield inspection, and land on flight day eight.
This mission could have marked the end of the Space Shuttle program, as it is considered unlikely that the program would have been able to continue with just two remaining orbiters, Discovery and Endeavour.
On Thursday, 21 May 2009, NASA officially released Endeavour from the rescue mission, freeing the orbiter to begin processing for STS-127. This also allowed NASA to continue processing LC-39B for the upcoming Ares I-X launch, as during the stand-down period, NASA installed a new lightning protection system, similar to those found on the Atlas V and Delta IV pads, to protect the newer, taller Ares I rocket from lightning strikes.
== STS-335 ==
STS-134 was the last scheduled flight of the Shuttle program. Because no more were planned after this, a special mission was developed as STS-335 to act as the LON mission for this flight. This would have paired Atlantis with ET-122, which had been refurbished following damage by Hurricane Katrina. Since there would be no next mission, STS-335 would also carry a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module filled with supplies to replenish the station.
The Senate authorized STS-135 as a regular flight on 5 August 2010, followed by the House on 29 September 2010, and later signed by President Obama on 11 October 2010. However funding for the mission remained dependent on a subsequent appropriations bill.
Nonetheless NASA converted STS-335, the final Launch On Need mission, into an operational mission (STS-135) on 20 January 2011. On 13 February 2011, program managers told their workforce that STS-135 would fly "regardless" of the funding situation via a continuing resolution. Finally the U.S. government budget approved in mid-April 2011 called for $5.5 billion for NASA's space operations division, including the Space Shuttle and space station programs. According to NASA, the budget running through 30 September 2011 ended all concerns about funding the STS-135 mission.
With the successful completion of STS-134, STS-335 was rendered unnecessary and launch preparations for STS-135 continued as Atlantis neared LC-39A during its rollout as STS-134 landed at the nearby Shuttle Landing Facility.
For STS-135, no shuttle was available for a rescue mission. A different rescue plan was devised, involving the four crew members remaining aboard the International Space Station, and returning aboard Soyuz spacecraft one at a time over the next year. That contingency was not required.
== References ==
== External links ==
"CSCS Flight Rules" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2006. (34.2 KiB)

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STS-400 was the Space Shuttle contingency support (Launch On Need) flight that would have been launched using Space Shuttle Endeavour if a major problem occurred on Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-125, the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission (HST SM-4).
Due to the much lower orbital inclination of the HST compared to the ISS, the shuttle crew would have been unable to use the International Space Station as a "safe haven", and NASA would not have been able to follow the usual plan of recovering the crew with another shuttle at a later date. Instead, NASA developed a plan to conduct a shuttle-to-shuttle rescue mission, similar to proposed rescue missions for pre-ISS flights. The rescue mission would have been launched only three days after call-up and as early as seven days after the launch of STS-125, since the crew of Atlantis would only have about three weeks of consumables after launch.
The mission was first rolled out in September 2008 to Launch Complex 39B two weeks after the STS-125 shuttle was rolled out to Launch Complex 39A, creating a rare scenario in which two shuttles were on launch pads at the same time. In October 2008, however, STS-125 was delayed and rolled back to the VAB.
Initially, STS-125 was retargeted for no earlier than February 2009. This changed the STS-400 vehicle from Endeavour to Discovery. The mission was redesignated STS-401 due to the swap from Endeavour to Discovery. STS-125 was then delayed further, allowing Discovery mission STS-119 to fly beforehand. This resulted in the rescue mission reverting to Endeavour, and the STS-400 designation being reinstated. In January, 2009, it was announced that NASA was evaluating conducting both launches from Complex 39A in order to avoid further delays to Ares I-X, which, at the time, was scheduled for launch from LC-39B in the September 2009 timeframe. It was planned that after the STS-125 mission in October 2008, Launch Complex 39B would undergo the conversion for use in Project Constellation for the Ares I-X rocket. Several of the members on the NASA mission management team said at the time (2009) that single-pad operations were possible, but the decision was made to use both pads.
== Crew ==
The crew assigned to this mission was a subset of the STS-126 crew:
== Early mission plans ==
Three different concept mission plans were evaluated: The first would be to use a shuttle-to-shuttle docking, where the rescue shuttle docks with the damaged shuttle, by flying upside down and backwards, relative to the damaged shuttle. It was unclear whether this would be practical, as the forward structure of either orbiter could collide with the payload bay of the other, resulting in damage to both orbiters. The second option that was evaluated would be for the rescue orbiter to rendezvous with the damaged orbiter, and perform station-keeping while using its Remote Manipulator System (RMS) to transfer crew from the damaged orbiter. This mission plan would result in heavy fuel consumption. The third concept would be for the damaged orbiter to grapple the rescue orbiter using its RMS, eliminating the need for station-keeping. The rescue orbiter would then transfer crew using its RMS, as in the second option, and would be more fuel efficient than the station-keeping option.
The concept that was eventually decided upon was a modified version of the third concept. The rescue orbiter would use its RMS to grapple the end of the damaged orbiter's RMS.
== Preparations ==
After its most recent mission (STS-123), Endeavour was taken to the Orbiter Processing Facility for routine maintenance. Following the maintenance, Endeavour was on stand-by for STS-326 which would have been flown in the case that STS-124 would not have been able to return to Earth safely. Stacking of the solid rocket boosters (SRB) began on 11 July 2008. One month later, the external tank arrived at KSC and was mated with the SRBs on 29 August 2008. Endeavour joined the stack on 12 September 2008 and was rolled out to Pad 39B one week later.
Since STS-126 launched before STS-125, Atlantis was rolled back to the VAB on 20 October, and Endeavour rolled around to Launch Pad 39A on 23 October. When it was time to launch STS-125, Atlantis rolled out to pad 39A.
== Mission plan ==

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The mission would not have included the extended heatshield inspection normally performed on flight day two. Instead, an inspection would have been performed after the crew was rescued. On flight day two, Endeavour would have performed the rendezvous and grapple with Atlantis. On flight day three, the first EVA would have been performed. During the first EVA, Megan McArthur, Andrew Feustel and John Grunsfeld would have set up a tether between the airlocks. They would have also transferred a large size Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) and, after McArthur had repressurized, transferred McArthur's EMU back to Atlantis. Afterwards they would have repressurized on Endeavour, ending flight day two activities.
The final two EVA were planned for flight day three. During the first, Grunsfeld would have depressurized on Endeavour in order to assist Gregory Johnson and Michael Massimino in transferring an EMU to Atlantis. He and Johnson would then repressurize on Endeavour, and Massimino would have gone back to Atlantis. He, along with Scott Altman and Michael Good would have taken the rest of the equipment and themselves to Endeavour during the final EVA. They would have been standing by in case the RMS system should malfunction. The damaged orbiter would have been commanded by the ground to deorbit and go through landing procedures over the Pacific, with the impact area being north of Hawaii. On flight day five, Endeavour would have had a full heat shield inspection, and land on flight day eight.
This mission could have marked the end of the Space Shuttle program, as it is considered unlikely that the program would have been able to continue with just two remaining orbiters, Discovery and Endeavour.
On Thursday, 21 May 2009, NASA officially released Endeavour from the rescue mission, freeing the orbiter to begin processing for STS-127. This also allowed NASA to continue processing LC-39B for the upcoming Ares I-X launch, as during the stand-down period, NASA installed a new lightning protection system, similar to those found on the Atlas V and Delta IV pads, to protect the newer, taller Ares I rocket from lightning strikes.
== Emblem and Crew Patches ==
As a contingency mission, STS-400 was not given official support by NASA for the production of a crew patch or emblem. However artwork was created for use by the mission team as an unofficial emblem by Mike Okuda, who also illustrated the official patch of STS-125.
As described by Paul F. Dye, Lead Flight Director of the mission, the emblem "adopts many of the elements seen in a rescue organization's patch - the square cross, bold letterers and border, and simple design. The idea is that the emblem instantly identifies the rescue organization in a crowd of others. In this case, the Shuttle outlines identify the purpose of our organization." In addition, the emblem contains 11 stars, symbolizing the combined 11 crew-members who would return to earth onboard STS-400.
The first flight crew assigned to the mission created another, more humorous design depicting a St. Bernard with its traditional barrel of brandy replaced by the Hubble Space Telescope. The final flight crew though were unsatisfied with this as a crew patch, and contacted longtime NASA artist Tim Gagnon about creating a new one, but never formally approved a design before the mission was scrubbed.
== See also ==
STS-3xx
STS-127
Hubble Space Telescope
== References ==
== External links ==
CBS Space News – Launch Team --- discontinued
Updated CBS Space News – Home

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A service structure is a permanent steel framework or tower erected on a rocket launch pad that allows assembly, servicing, and crew onboarding of the launch vehicle prior to liftoff.
In NASA launches at the Kennedy Space Center, astronauts enter the vehicle through a type of service structure called an "umbilical tower". Immediately before ignition of the rocket's engines, all connections between the tower and the craft are severed, and the connecting bridges swing away to prevent damage to structure and vehicle. An elevator in the tower also allows maintenance crew to service the vehicle.
== Kennedy Space Center ==
During the NASA Space Shuttle program, the structures at the Launch Complex 39 pads contained a two-piece access tower system, the Fixed Service Structure (FSS) and the Rotating Service Structure (RSS). The FSS permitted access to the Shuttle via a retractable arm and a "beanie cap" to capture vented liquid oxygen (LOX) from the external fuel tank. The RSS contained the Payload Changeout Room, which offered "clean" access to the orbiter's payload bay, protection from the elements, and protection in winds up to 60 knots (110 km/h).
The FSS on Pad 39A was repurposed the top of the umbilical tower of Mobile Launcher 2, while the FSS on 39B re-used the umbilical tower of Mobile Launcher 3. Mobile Launcher 3 would later become Mobile Launcher Platform 1 for the Shuttle.
In 2011 NASA removed both the FSS and RSS from LC-39B to make way for a new generation of launch vehicles. In 2017-2018 SpaceX removed the RSS from LC-39A and modified the FSS for its new series of launch vehicles.
Certain rockets such as the Delta and the Saturn V use structures consisting of a fixed portion and a mobile portion; the former is the umbilical tower and the latter is known as the "mobile service tower" or "mobile service structure," but often referred to as a gantry. This mobile structure is moved away from the vehicle several hours before launch.
=== White room ===
The white room was the small area used by astronauts to access the spacecraft during human flights up through the Space Shuttle program. The room takes its name from its white paint, which was used in Project Gemini. The room was first used in Project Mercury. Its use and white color (since Gemini) continued through subsequent programs of Apollo and the Space Shuttle.
Astronauts and closeout crew made their final preparations before liftoff, such as donning parachute packs, putting on spacesuit helmets, and detaching portable air-conditioning units.
In 2014, NASA planned to move the White Room to a museum. As of the 2020 Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission, SpaceX began calling the equivalent area of its Crew Access Arm at LC-39A the "White Room" in recognition of the original NASA structure's significance. On the first launch attempt, NASA and SpaceX flight crew began signing their respective "meatball" NASA insignia or SpaceX logos at the end of the Crew Access Arm, a practice which has become a tradition.
== Baikonur Cosmodrome ==
Similarly, Soviet-and Russian-designed service structures such as those at Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 31 feature rotating crane-like "tower arms" that stand upright to service and secure the vehicle. The tower arms then pivot outward away from the rocket at launch.
== References ==

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The Shuttle-C was a study by NASA to turn the Space Shuttle launch stack into a dedicated uncrewed cargo launcher. The Space Shuttle external tank and Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) would be combined with a cargo module to take the place of the Shuttle orbiter and include the main engines. Various Shuttle-C concepts were investigated between 1984 and 1995.
The Shuttle-C concept would theoretically cut development costs for a heavy launch vehicle by re-using technology developed for the shuttle program. End-of-life and Space Shuttle hardware would also have been used. One proposal even involved converting Columbia or Enterprise into a single-use cargo launcher. Before the loss of Space Shuttle Challenger, NASA had expected about 24 shuttle flights a year. In the aftermath of the Challenger incident, it became clear that this launch rate was not feasible for a variety of reasons. With the Shuttle-C, it was thought that the lower maintenance and safety requirements for the uncrewed vehicle would allow a higher flight rate.
The Shuttle-C would have been the main crew launch vehicle for the ILREC Piloted Lander in the International Lunar Resources Exploration Program.
In the early 1990s, NASA engineers planning a crewed mission to Mars included a Shuttle-C design to launch six non-reusable, 80-ton segments to create two Mars ships in Earth orbit. After President George W. Bush called for the end of the Space Shuttle by 2010, these proposed configurations were put aside.
As early as the 1970s, some iteration of the Shuttle-C had been studied (Encyclopedia Astronautica mentions it as "Class 1 SDV"). It was discussed in Gerard O'Neill's 1976 book The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space, with artwork by Don Davis.
== See also ==
Shuttle SERV
Magnum (rocket)
Shuttle-derived vehicle
Shuttle-Derived Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle, a heavy lift launch vehicle with a similar design.
Energia
List of space launch system designs
== References ==
== External links ==
Encyclopedia Astronautica link on the Shuttle-C

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The Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX), later called the Space Amateur Radio Experiment, was a program that promoted and supported the use of amateur ("ham") radio by astronauts in low Earth orbit aboard the United States Space Shuttle to communicate with other amateur radio stations around the world. It was superseded by the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. SAREX was sponsored by NASA, AMSAT (The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation), and the ARRL (American Radio Relay League).
== History ==
Shortly after the launch of STS-9, On November 28, 1983 Owen Garriott (W5LFL) became the first amateur radio operator active in space. Garriott had already flown on Skylab 3, but did not operate radio equipment on that trip. On STS-9, he used a handheld 2-meter radio, provided by the Motorola Amateur Radio Club in Fort Lauderdale, to talk to his mother, senator Barry Goldwater (K7UGA), King Hussein of Jordan (JY1), and many others. Garriott made approximately 300 calls and convinced NASA that amateur radio was useful to get students involved in space. Thus began the Space Amateur Radio Experiment, also known as SAREX.
The second successful use of amateur radio in space was carried out by Anthony W. England (W0ORE) on Challenger flight STS-51F in 1985. He completed 130 contacts and sent 10 images via slow-scan television. In 1991, STS-37 became the first voyage to space on which the entire crew were licensed amateur radio operators.
After these flights, amateur radios were often taken on the shuttles. Missions STS-51F through STS-37 were known as SAREX missions. The remaining missions were branded SAREX II. When the program moved to the International Space Station it became known as Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, abbreviated as ARISS. Licensed hams were able to participate during their free time.
Shuttles that Participated and Licensed Astronauts
== Educational uses ==
Most amateur radio operators used SAREX to speak with licensed astronauts during their down times. SAREX, however, has been very educational for young students from kindergarten to fifth grade involved in a program similar to young astronauts, in which elementary school children learn about astronauts' daily activities and what it is like in space. Students also have had the opportunity to communicate via video when the shuttles have had suitable equipment. Teachers have found out about how to link their classes with the SAREX program through the Amateur Radio in Space Guide distributed by NASA.
== Licensing ==
In the United States an amateur operator license is needed before operating an amateur station. The license can be obtained from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Amateur Radio Service. No special SAREX license was required for operation, but certain regulations come into play for space communications.
== References ==

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The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) are two extensively modified Boeing 747 airliners that NASA used to transport Space Shuttle orbiters. One (N905NA) is a 747-100 model, while the other (N911NA) is a short-range 747-100SR. Both are now retired.
The SCAs were used to ferry Space Shuttles from landing sites back to the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center. The orbiters were placed on top of the SCAs by Mate-Demate Devices, large gantry-like structures that hoisted the orbiters off the ground for post-flight servicing then mated them with the SCAs for ferry flights.
In approach and landing test flights conducted in 1977, the test shuttle Enterprise was released from an SCA during flight and glided to a landing under its own control.
== Design and development ==
The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy was considered for the shuttle-carrier role by NASA but rejected in favor of the 747. This was due to the 747's low-wing design in comparison to the C-5's high-wing design, and also because the U.S. Air Force would have retained ownership of the C-5, while NASA could own the 747s outright. Lockheed had also proposed a heavily modified twin body C-5, to counter the Conroy Virtus concept.
The first aircraft, a Boeing 747-123 registered N905NA, was originally manufactured for American Airlines. With a decline in air traffic and failure to fill their 747s, American Airlines sold it to NASA. It still wore the visible American cheatlines while testing Enterprise in the 1970s. It was acquired in 1974 and initially used for trailing wake vortex research as part of a broader study by NASA Dryden, as well as Shuttle tests involving an F-104 flying in close formation and simulating a release from the 747.
The aircraft was extensively modified for NASA by Boeing in 1976. While first-class seats were kept for NASA passengers, its main cabin and insulation were stripped, and the fuselage was strengthened. Mounting struts were added on top of the 747, located to match the fittings on the Shuttle that attach it to the external fuel tank for launch. With the Shuttle riding on top, the center of gravity was altered. Vertical stabilizers were added to the tail to improve stability when the Orbiter was being carried. The avionics and engines were also upgraded.
An internal escape slide was added behind the flight deck in case of catastrophic failure mid-flight. In the event of a bail-out, explosives would be detonated to make an opening in the fuselage at the bottom of the slide, allowing the crew to exit through the slide and parachute to the ground. The slide system was removed following the Approach and Landing Tests because of concerns over the possibility of escaping crew members being ingested into an engine.
Flying with the additional drag and weight of the Orbiter imposed significant fuel and altitude penalties. The range was reduced to 1,000 nautical miles (1,900 km; 1,200 mi), compared to an unladen range of 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km; 6,300 mi), requiring an SCA to stop several times to refuel on a transcontinental flight. Without the Orbiter, the SCA needed to carry ballast to balance its center of gravity. The SCA had an altitude ceiling of 15,000 feet (4,600 m) and a maximum cruise speed of Mach 0.6 with the orbiter attached. A crew of 170 took a week to prepare the shuttle and SCA for flight.
Studies were conducted to equip the SCA with aerial refueling equipment, a modification already made to the U.S. Air Force E-4 (modified 747-200s) and 747 tanker transports for the IIAF. However, during formation flying with a tanker aircraft to test refueling approaches, minor cracks were spotted on the tailfin of N905NA. While these were not likely to have been caused by the test flights, it was felt that there was no sense taking unnecessary risks. Since there was no urgent need to provide an aerial refueling capacity, the tests were suspended.By 1983, SCA N905NA no longer carried the distinct American Airlines tricolor cheatline. NASA replaced it with its own livery, consisting of a white fuselage and a single blue cheatline. That year, after secretly being fitted with an infrared countermeasures system to protect it from heat-seeking missiles, it was also used to fly Enterprise on a tour in Europe, with refueling stops in Goose Bay, Canada; Keflavik, Iceland; England; and West Germany. It then went to the Paris Air Show.
In 1988, in the wake of the Challenger accident, NASA procured a surplus 747SR-46 from Japan Airlines. Registered N911NA, it entered service with NASA in 1990 after undergoing modifications similar to N905NA. It was first used in 1991 to ferry the new shuttle Endeavour from the manufacturers in Palmdale, California to Kennedy Space Center.
Based at the Dryden Flight Research Center within Edwards Air Force Base in California the two aircraft were functionally identical, although N911NA has five upper-deck windows on each side, while N905NA has only two.
The rear mounting points on both aircraft were labeled with humorous instructions to "attach orbiter here" or "place orbiter here", clarified by the precautionary note "black side down".
Shuttle Carriers were capable of operating from alternative shuttle landing sites such as those in the United Kingdom, Spain, and France. Because Shuttle Carrier's range is reduced while mated to an orbiter, additional preparations such as removal of the payload from the orbiter may have been necessary to reduce its weight.
Boeing transported its Phantom Ray unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator from St. Louis, Missouri, to Edwards on a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft on December 11, 2010.
== Approach and Landing Tests ==

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The Approach and Landing Tests were a series of taxi and flight trials of the prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise, conducted at Edwards Air Force Base in 1977. They verified the shuttle's flight characteristics when mated to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and when flying on its own, prior to the Shuttle system becoming operational. There were three taxi tests, eight captive flight tests and five free flight tests where the Enterprise was released from the SCA during flight and glided to a landing under its own control.
== Ferry flights ==
During the decades of Shuttle operations, the SCAs were most often used to transport the orbiters from Edwards Air Force Base, the shuttle's secondary landing site, to the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at the Kennedy Space Center where the orbiter was processed for another launch. The SCAs were also used to transport the orbiters between manufacturer Rockwell International and NASA during initial delivery and mid-life refits.
At the end of the Space Shuttle program the SCA was used to deliver the retired orbiters from the Kennedy Space Center to their museums.
Discovery was flown to the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum at Dulles International Airport on April 17, 2012, making low-level passes over Washington, D.C. landmarks before landing. Enterprise, which had been on display at the Smithsonian was transported to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City on April 27, 2012, making low-level passes over the city's landmarks, before landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where it was transferred by barge to the museum.
The last ferry flight took Endeavour from Kennedy Space Center to Los Angeles between September 19 and 21, 2012 with refueling stops at Ellington Field and Edwards Air Force Base. After leaving Edwards the SCA with Endeavour performed low level flyovers above various landmarks across California, from Sacramento to the San Francisco Bay Area, before finally being delivered to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). From there the orbiter was transported through the streets of Los Angeles and Inglewood to its final destination, the California Science Center in Exposition Park.
== Retirement ==
Shuttle Carrier N911NA was retired on February 8, 2012, after its final mission to the Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards Air Force Base in Palmdale, California, and was used as a source of parts for NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft, another modified Boeing 747. N911NA is now preserved and on display at the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark in Palmdale, California as part of a long-term loan to the city from NASA.
Shuttle Carrier N905NA was used to ferry the retired Space Shuttles to their respective museums. After delivering Endeavour to the Los Angeles International Airport in September 2012, the aircraft was flown to the Dryden Flight Research Facility, where NASA intended it to join N911NA as a source of spare parts for NASA's SOFIA aircraft, but when NASA engineers surveyed N905NA they determined that it had few parts usable for SOFIA. In 2013, a decision was made to preserve N905NA and display it at Space Center Houston with the mockup Space Shuttle Independence mounted on its back. N905NA was flown to Ellington Field where it was carefully dismantled, ferried to the Johnson Space Center in seven major pieces (a process called The Big Move), reassembled, and finally mated with the replica shuttle in August 2014. The display, called Independence Plaza, opened to the public for the first time on January 23, 2016.
== Specifications ==
Data from Boeing 747-100 specifications, Jenkins 2000General characteristics
Crew: Four: two pilots, two flight engineers (one flight engineer when not carrying Shuttle)
Capacity: 108,999.6 kg (240,303 lb) payload (externally-mounted Orbiter)
Length: 231 ft 4 in (70.51 m)
Wingspan: 195 ft 8 in (59.64 m)
Height: 63 ft 5 in (19.33 m)
Wing area: 5,500 sq ft (510 m2)
Empty weight: 318,000 lb (144,242 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 710,000 lb (322,051 kg)
Powerplant: 4 × Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7J turbofan engines, 50,000 lbf (220 kN) thrust each
Performance
Cruise speed: 250 kn (290 mph, 460 km/h) / M0.6 with Shuttle Orbiter loaded
Range: 1,150 nmi (1,320 mi, 2,130 km) with Shuttle Orbiter loaded
Service ceiling: 15,000 ft (4,600 m) with Shuttle Orbiter loaded
== See also ==
Airborne aircraft carrier – Type of mother ship aircraft
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Antonov An-225 Mriya – Soviet/Ukrainian heavy strategic cargo aircraft
Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy – Infrared telescope mounted on a converted Boeing 747 SP (2010–2022)
Conroy Virtus – Proposed American large transport aircraft intended to carry the Space Shuttle
Myasishchev VM-T – Conversion of Soviet M-4 Molot bomber to carry outsized cargo
Related lists
List of Boeing 747 operators
== References ==
== Further reading ==
== External links ==
NASA fact sheet Archived January 6, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
NASA SCA images Archived February 24, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
Interview with SCA Pilot and Former Astronaut Gordon Fullerton Archived July 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
Interview with SCA Crew Chief Pete Seidl Archived July 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
"Hoot Gibson talks about John Kiker's 747 ferry model" on YouTube
Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. TX-116-L, "Space Transportation System, Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Harris County, TX", 8 photos, 3 color transparencies, 3 photo caption pages

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The Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), also known as Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) (IATA: QQS, ICAO: KTTS, FAA LID: TTS), is an airport located on Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is a part of the Kennedy Space Center and was used by Space Shuttle for landing until July 2011. It was also used for takeoffs and landings for NASA training jets such as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and for civilian aircraft.
Starting in 2015, Space Florida manages and operates the facility under a 30-year lease from NASA. In addition to ongoing use by NASA, private companies have been utilizing the SLF since the 2011 end of the Space Shuttle program.
== Facilities ==
The Shuttle Landing Facility covers 500 acres (2 km2) and has a single runway, 15/33. It is one of the longest runways in the world, at 15,000 feet (4,572 m), and is 300 feet (91 m) wide. Despite its length, astronaut Jack R. Lousma stated that he would have preferred the runway to be "half as wide and twice as long". Additionally, the SLF has 1,001 feet (305 m) of paved overruns at each end. The Mate-Demate Device (MDD), for use when the Shuttle was transported by the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, was located just off the southern end of the runway.
The runway is designated runway 15, or 33, depending on the direction of use. The runway surface consists of an extremely high-friction concrete strip designed to maximize the braking ability of the Space Shuttle at its high landing speed, with a paving thickness of 16.0 inches (40.6 cm) at the center. It uses a grooved design to provide drainage and further increase the coefficient of friction. The original groove design was found to actually provide too much friction for the rubber used in the Shuttle's tires, causing failures during several landings. This issue was resolved by grinding down the pavement, reducing the depth of the grooves significantly.
The first air traffic control tower for the SLF was built on top of the 100-foot-tall (30 m) MDD. This was replaced by a 1952-vintage portable 30-foot-tall (9.1 m) military field tower located near the center of the runway on the east bank. In September 2003, it was replaced by a 82-foot-tall (25 m) permanent tower, with a co-located weather observation station.
A local nickname for the runway is the "gator tanning facility", as some of the 4,000 alligators living at Kennedy Space Center regularly bask in the sunlight on the runway.
The landing facility is managed by contractor EG&G, which provides air traffic control services, as well as managing potential hazards to landing aircraft, such as bird life. The Bird Team kept the facility clear of both local and migratory birds during Shuttle landings using pyrotechnics, blank rounds fired from shotguns and a series of 25 propane cannons arranged around the facility.
== History and usage ==
=== Space Shuttle era ===
On April 14, 1972, NASA announced the selection of KSC as the launch and landing site for the Space Shuttle program. On December 10, 1973, KSC requested bids from 50 construction firms to build a 15,000-foot (4,572 m) runway to accommodate the Shuttle. On March 18, 1974, NASA awarded a US$21,812,737 (equivalent to $142,400,965 in 2025) contract to Morrison–Knudsen for the construction of the runway, including overruns, aprons, taxiways, and access roads. Construction of the runway began on April 1, 1974. The SLF officially opened in 1976 after receiving certification from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Columbia was the first Shuttle to arrive at the SLF via the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft on March 24, 1979.
The runway was first used to land a Space Shuttle on February 11, 1984, when Challenger's STS-41-B mission returned to Earth. This also marked the first landing of a spacecraft at its launch site. Prior to this, all Shuttle landings were performed at Edwards Air Force Base in California (with the exception of STS-3, which landed at White Sands Space Harbor) while the landing facility continued testing and Shuttle crews developed landing skills at White Sands and Edwards, where the margin for error is much greater than SLF and its water hazards. On September 22, 1993, Discovery was the first Space Shuttle to land at night at the SLF on STS-51. A total of 78 Space Shuttle missions landed at the SLF (58% of the 135 missions).
The final landing of a Space Shuttle occurred on July 21, 2011, by Atlantis for STS-135. Discovery and Endeavour took off from the SLF on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for museums in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

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=== Post-Shuttle use ===
In January 2014 it was announced that Boeing would lease the Orbiter Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center to enable the U.S. Air Force to efficiently land, recover, refurbish, and re-launch the X-37B uncrewed spacecraft.
In October 2014, NASA signed agreement for the use of the facility, and Boeing upgraded the OPF-1 for the X-37B program.
The X-37B (OTV-4 mission) first used Runway 15 on May 7, 2017 at 11:47 UTC. Subsequently OTV-5 and 6 mission used Runway 33 for landing.
In 2012, NASA's Johnson Space Center's Project Morpheus's first vehicle arrived at KSC. Prior to arrival at KSC and throughout the project, Morpheus vehicle tests were performed at other NASA centers; KSC was the site for advanced testing. Multiple tests, including free flight, were performed at the SLF in 2013–2014. Multiple vehicles and iterations of the vehicles were tested, due to upgrades and damages during this experimental test program. During the August 9, 2012, test at the SLF, a vehicle exploded; no one was injured.
The SLF has also been used by commercial users. Zero Gravity Corporation, which offers flights where passengers experience brief periods of microgravity, has operated from the SLF, as have record-setting attempts by the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer.
The SLF has been the site of high performance automobile testing and speed record attempts. In 2010, NASCAR teams used the facility for vehicle testing. In 2012, Performance Power's Johnny Bohmer drove his Ford GT modified test car at the SLF, setting the Guinness World Records mark for 'Fastest standing mile – car' with a record 283 mph (455 km/h), which still stands as of March 2023. Bohmer impressed the fact that the partnership agreement with NASA and the SLF to test the technology and designs and collect engineering data meant that "[B]y NASA allowing us access to a one-of-a-kind facility, we are given the opportunity to explore these technologies and share their benefits."
In 2014, in an attempt at an unofficial production car speed record at the SLF, a Hennessey Venom GT recorded a top speed of 270.49 mph (435.31 km/h). In 2021, in a similar attempt at the SLF, the SSC Tuatara recorded a one-way speed of 286.1 mph (460.4 km/h) and a two-way average of 282.9 mph (455.3 km/h).
In 2019, the Gulfstream G650ER of the multinational One More Orbit flight mission recorded the fastest circumnavigation of the Earth via the north and south poles of 46 h 40 min 22 s. The Shuttle Landing Facility served as launch and landing site for the world speed record, certified by the Guinness World Records and the World Air Sports Federation Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.
== Gallery ==
== See also ==
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip
List of Space Shuttle landing sites
== References ==
== External links ==
Media related to Launch and Landing Facility at Wikimedia Commons
Shuttle Landing Facility - NASA.gov fact sheet
Space Shuttle Era: Landing Sites - NASA video on YouTube
Resources for this airport:
FAA airport information for TTS
AirNav airport information for KTTS
ASN accident history for KTTS
FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
NOAA/NWS weather observations: current, past three days
SkyVector aeronautical chart, Terminal Procedures

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Shuttle Mission Simulator (SMS) was an umbrella term for three separate simulators for training Space Shuttle crews at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). The simulators were the MBS (Motion Base Simulator), the FBS (Fixed Base Simulator), and the GNS (an acronym for its original name, Guidance and Navigation Simulator).
== Description ==
The MBS consisted of the forward part of the flight deck of the Space Shuttle. It utilized a six-axis hexapod motion system with an additional extended pitch axis to provide motion cuing for all phases of flight. The FBS and GNS were fixed-base simulators which included high-fidelity mockups of the flight deck of a Space Shuttle, as well as a low-fidelity mockup of the middeck.
While the MBS provided crews with computer generated visual scenes out of the forward windows only, the FBS and the GNS were capable of supplying forward, aft, and overhead window views.
== Location at JSC ==
The FBS and the MBS were in Building 5, while the GNS was in Building 35. Before a flight, astronauts logged many hours in these simulators. Instructor stations in the complex allowed simulator instructors to monitor and control student progress in the simulations, including the insertion of malfunctions. A central simulation control office monitored the health of the facility, scheduled its use, and responded to maintenance requests.
== Simulations ==
Simulation software modeled all Space Shuttle systems including many pre-programmed malfunctions, response to cockpit controls, and interactions between systems.
Depending on training requirements, simulations were conducted with varying levels of interconnection with other simulators or control centers, each of which had a unique identifier used internally within the training and flight control divisions.
Simulations (or "sims") which took place without interfacing to the Mission Control Center (MCC) were called standalone simulations.
Any of the simulators could be interfaced to the Mission Control Center to exercise an integrated simulation using the Network Simulation System (NSS) which also simulated ground stations and satellite networks.
The fixed-base simulators could be interfaced to the Space Station Training Facility to exercise a combined simulation.
A full mission rehearsal simulation, involving both the Shuttle and Station simulators, and both Mission Control Centers, was called a dual integrated simulation.
Interfacing with payload control facilities at Marshall Space Flight Center or Goddard Space Flight Center, with the control centers of Space Station Program international partners, and/or with the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory was also possible as a joint integrated simulation.
The less complex standalone sim was controlled by the instructors in the simulator instructor station, who also portrayed the flight controllers. A dedicated console area in the Mission Control Center, called the Simulation Control Area (SCA), controlled simulation conduct during integrated activities while the instructors operated the simulator itself.
== Disposition to museums ==
As the Space Shuttle Program ended in July 2011, all the simulators in JSC's SMS complex were mothballed and prepared for removal and transport as excess NASA inventory throughout 2012. None of the three bases remain on display at the location originally assigned.
The FBS was shipped to Chicago where it was originally planned to be an attraction at the Adler Planetarium, but in 2016 it was transferred to the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma.
The MBS was planned to be used in the Aerospace Engineering department at Texas A&M University starting in 2013, but due to funding issues, the simulator remained in storage until mid-2021. At that time its cockpit was returned to the Johnson Space Center and a team of volunteers started restoring it for display. On April 12, 2022, the Motion Base cockpit was transferred to the Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston for permanent public display.
The GNS was delivered to the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum at the Keystone Heights Airport in Starke, Florida in 2012, but in 2018 the owner was forced to liquidate the museum's collection. In 2021 the GNS was shipped to the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona for display after being used as a movie prop for Moonfall (film).
== References ==
== See also ==
Shuttle Training Aircraft

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The Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) is a former NASA training vehicle that duplicated the Space Shuttle's approach profile and handling qualities, allowing pilots to simulate Shuttle landings under controlled conditions before attempting the task on board the orbiter. The STA was also flown to assess weather conditions just prior to Space Shuttle launches and landings.
== Development ==
NASA developed the STA using the Grumman Gulfstream II as the underlying aircraft platform. During the early phases of the Shuttle program, NASA considered using the Boeing 737 airliner as the basis for the STA, but rejected it due to cost and opted for the less-expensive Gulfstream II.
The aircraft's exterior was modified to withstand the high aerodynamic forces incurred during training sorties. A redesigned cockpit provided a high-fidelity simulation of the Shuttle Orbiter's controls and pilot vantage point; even the seats were fitted in the same position as those in the Space Shuttle.
== Operational history ==
The four STAs were normally located at the NASA Forward Operating Location in El Paso, Texas and rotated through Ellington Field (Houston, Texas) for maintenance. The STA was also used at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was primarily flown by astronauts practicing landings at the Shuttle Landing Facility and White Sands Space Harbor as well as to assess weather conditions prior to Space Shuttle launches and landings.
On December 3, 2003, a NASA Gulfstream II Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) was flying a series of simulated shuttle landings to the Kennedy Space Center shuttle landing facility. On board the aircraft was an unidentified NASA astronaut pilot and two training personnel. The aircraft was on final approach at 13,000 feet when onboard instruments indicated a malfunction on one of the jet engine thrust reversers. The aircraft landed safely. A post-landing inspection showed that one of the 585-pound, 4-foot-wide, 5-foot-long thrust reversers had fallen off the aircraft. Divers later found the thrust reverser on the bottom of the nearby Banana River. An investigation showed that a bolt failed, releasing the part from the aircraft.
== Flight profile ==
The STA was particularly critical for Shuttle pilots in training because the Orbiter lacked atmospheric engines that would allow the craft to "go around" after a poor approach. After re-entry, the Shuttle was a very heavy glider (it was affectionately referred to as a 'flying brick') and as such had only one chance to land successfully.
To match the descent rate and drag profile of the real Shuttle at 37,000 feet (11,300 m), the main landing gear of the C-11A was lowered (the nose gear stayed retracted due to wind load constraints) and engine thrust was reversed. Its flaps could deflect upwards to decrease lift as well as downwards to increase lift.
Covers were placed on the left hand cockpit windows to provide the same view as from a Shuttle cockpit, and the left-hand pilot's seat was fitted with the same controls as a Shuttle. The STA's normal flight controls were moved to the right, where the instructor sat. Both seat positions had a head-up display (HUD).
In a normal exercise, the pilot descended to 20,000 feet (6,000 m) at an airspeed of 280 knots (519 km/h), 15 miles (24 km) from the landing target. The pilot then rolled the STA at 12,000 feet (3,700 m), 7 miles (11 km) from landing. The nose of the aircraft was then dropped to increase speed to 300 knots (560 km/h), descending at a 20-degree angle on the outer glide slope (OGS). The outer glide slope aiming point was 7,500 feet (2,286 m) short of the runway threshold, and used PAPIs for visual guidance in addition to the MLS system. At 2,000 feet (610 m) the guidance system changed to pre-flare and shortly after, at 1,700 feet (518 m), the pilot started the flare maneuver to gradually reduce the descent angle and transition to the inner glide slope (IGS) which was 1.5 degrees from 300 feet (91 m) onwards, using a "ball-bar" system for visual guidance. The shuttle landing gear release was simulated at 300 feet (90 m) above the ground, since the STA main gear remained down for the whole simulation. The nose gear of the STA was lowered at 150 ft (46 m) AGL in case of an inadvertent touchdown with the runway surface.
If the speed was correct, a green light on the instrument panel simulated shuttle landing when the pilot's eyes were 32 feet (10 m) above the runway. This was the exact position that the pilot's head would be in during an actual landing. In the exercise, the STA was still flying 20 feet (6 m) above the ground. The instructor pilot deselected the simulation mode, stowed the thrust reversers, and the instructor executed a go-around, never actually landing the aircraft (on training approaches).
== Avionics ==
A sophisticated computer system installed on board the STA simulated the flight dynamics of the orbiter with nearly perfect accuracy. The STA's highly realistic simulation of the orbiter was not limited to handling characteristics, but also implemented the shuttle control interfaces for the pilot.
An onboard computer called the Advanced Digital Avionics System (ADAS) controlled the Direct Lift Control (DLC) and the in-flight reverse thrust during Simulation Mode.
Every shuttle commander practiced at least 1,000 landings in this manner, as had each mission's shuttle pilot.
== List of aircraft ==
Four Gulfstream II aircraft constituted the now retired STA fleet, although other Gulfstream II aircraft, lacking STA capabilities, are still used by NASA for personnel transport purposes. Although the majority of the fleet had markings similar to those pictured above, paint schemes do vary slightly across aircraft.
On August 22, 2011, NASA announced that all four Shuttle Training Aircraft would be retired at various NASA facilities around the country, with N944 retiring at the then named Dryden Flight Research Center.
The STA tail numbers were:
NASA 944: N944NA (s/n 144) - Currently in the museum restoration storage of the Flight Test Historical Foundation located at Edwards Air Force Base.
NASA 945: N945NA (s/n 118) — On July 13, 2017, a ribbon cutting ceremony was conducted and this aircraft is now in permanent display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
NASA 946: N946NA (s/n 146) — On September 21, 2011, this aircraft became a permanent display at the Texas Air & Space Museum in Amarillo, Texas.
NASA 947: N947NA (s/n 147) — Currently on permanent display at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.
== See also ==
Shuttle Mission Simulator
List of spaceflight-related accidents and incidents
== References ==
== External links ==

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The Space Mirror Memorial, which forms part of the larger Astronauts Memorial, is a National Memorial on the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Merritt Island, Florida. It is maintained by the Astronauts Memorial Foundation (AMF), whose offices are located in the NASA Center for Space Education next door to the Visitor Complex. The memorial was designed in 1987 by Holt Hinshaw Pfau Jones, and dedicated on May 9, 1991, to remember the lives of the men and women who have died in the various space programs of the United States, particularly those of NASA. The Astronauts Memorial has been designated by the U.S. Congress "as the national memorial to astronauts who die in the line of duty" (Joint Resolution 214, 1991).
In addition to 20 NASA career astronauts, the memorial includes the names of a U.S. Air Force X-15 test pilot, a U.S. Air Force officer who died while training for a then-classified military space program, a civilian spaceflight participant who died in the Challenger disaster, and an Israeli astronaut who was killed in the Columbia disaster.
In July 2019, the AMF unanimously voted to include private astronauts on the memorial, recognizing the important contributions made to the American space program by private spaceflight crew members. The first private astronaut to be added to the wall was Scaled Composites pilot Michael T. Alsbury, who died in the crash of SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise on October 31, 2014. His name was added to the memorial on January 25, 2020.
== Memorial elements ==
The primary feature of the memorial is the Space Mirror, a flat expanse of polished black granite, 42.5 feet high by 50 feet wide (13.0 m × 15.2 m), divided into 90 smaller panels. The names of the 25 astronauts who have died are scattered over the mirror, with names of astronauts who died in the same incident grouped on the same panel, or pairs of adjacent panels. The names are cut completely through the surface, exposing a translucent backing, and filled with translucent acrylic, which is then backlit with LED lights, causing the names to glow, and appear to float in a reflection of the sky.
Near the Space Mirror is a granite wall, bearing pictures and brief biographies of those listed on the Mirror. The Space Mirror Memorial was designed by Wes Jones of Holt Hinshaw Pfau Jones and was commissioned after he won an international design competition.
=== Defunct Sun tracking mechanism ===
The memorial as built incorporated motors and jackscrews to constantly track the Sun across the sky in both pan and tilt axes. Parabolic reflectors on the back side of the mirror would then direct the sunlight through the acrylic panels to brilliantly illuminate the honorees' names with sunlight. Supplemental floodlights were used when the sunlight was inadequate.
In 1997, the tracking system failed, allowing part of the monument to strike a steel beam on an adjacent platform. Insurance paid $375,000 for repair work, but later, the mechanism again ground to a halt, due to further problems with the slewing ring.
Estimated cost of repairs was around $700,000, and the Astronauts Memorial Foundation unanimously decided the money would be better spent on educational programs instead. The floodlights were repositioned and are kept shining 24 hours a day to illuminate the memorial.
== Memorial funding ==
The Space Mirror Memorial cost $6.2 million.
The memorial was to be partially funded by the sales of "Space Shots" trading cards. An agreement was made for 25% of Space Shots profits, in exchange for guaranteeing a $160,000 loan. A projected $400,000 was owed to the Foundation, which was never paid.
The Space Mirror Memorial and the Astronauts Memorial Foundation are funded in part by a specialty vehicle registration plate issued by the state of Florida. Called the Challenger plate, it was first issued in 1987, and was the first specialty plate issued by the state. The third edition, introduced in 2004, includes Columbia in the text, and is now termed the Challenger/Columbia plate. License plates brought in $377,000 in 2009.
One quarter of the revenue from the Apollo 11 Fiftieth Anniversary commemorative coins will go to the Astronauts Memorial Foundation.
== Honorees ==
Only those killed during human spaceflight missions or during training for such missions sponsored by the United States are eligible for inclusion in the memorial. For a comprehensive list of space disasters, see List of space disasters.
The people honored on the memorial are:

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Theodore Freeman, one of the NASA Astronaut Group 3 recruits from 1963, died in a T-38 training accident on October 31, 1964.
Elliot See and Charles Bassett were killed in a T-38 accident on February 28, 1966, when their aircraft crashed into McDonnell Building 101 on a foggy day. They were originally slated to be the crew of Gemini 9. Bassett was another Group 3 recruit, whereas See was an Astronaut Group 2 recruit from 1962.
Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were in the Apollo 1 capsule for plugs-out test on January 27, 1967, when a short circuit ignited flammable materials in the pressurized pure-oxygen atmosphere. The astronauts died of carbon monoxide poisoning before ground crews could reach them. Grissom, one of the Mercury Seven astronauts, had flown twice before. White conducted the first US spacewalk on Gemini 4 and was another Group 2 recruit. Chaffee, a rookie, was a Group 3 recruit.
Clifton Williams died in a T-38 training crash on October 5, 1967. Another Group 3 recruit, he was in the Apollo astronaut rotation, and would have been on the crew of Apollo 12. He was also memorialized by a fourth star on the official Apollo 12 mission patch.
Michael J. Adams died in an X-15 crash on November 15, 1967. He was not a NASA astronaut recruit, but made the memorial by virtue of having earned the Astronaut Badge according to the USAF standard by reaching just over 50 miles in altitude on his fatal flight. He was also in the United States Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory program.
Robert H. Lawrence Jr., died on December 8, 1967, when the F-104 he was in as an instructor pilot for a flight test trainee crashed and his ejection seat parachute failed to open. He was in the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program at the time, and could have been among the first African-American astronauts had he survived to take NASA's offer for all under-35 MOL candidates to join their space program when MOL was scrapped in 1969.
On January 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff on mission STS-51-L due to a defect in one of the solid rocket boosters. All seven crew members—Francis "Dick" Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, and Christa McAuliffe—died. Scobee, McNair, Resnik, and Onizuka had flown before. Resnik was the second American woman in space, after Sally Ride. McAuliffe was participating via the Teacher in Space Project.
M. L. "Sonny" Carter died on April 5, 1991, in the crash of Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311. Carter was a passenger traveling on NASA business. He had flown on STS-33 and was in training for STS-42 at the time.
On February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry at the end of mission STS-107 due to damage during ascent. The crew was Rick Husband, William C. McCool, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Michael P. Anderson, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon. Husband, Chawla and Anderson were veterans. Ramon was a pilot in the Israeli Air Force.
On October 31, 2014, SpaceShipTwo broke apart during its fourth powered flight, killing co-pilot Michael T. Alsbury and severely injuring the pilot. Both were flying for Scaled Composites on a mission for Virgin Galactic.
== Astronauts Memorial Foundation ==
The Astronauts Memorial Foundation was founded shortly (summer of 1986) after the Challenger disaster (January 28, 1986) by architect Alan Helman, then Congressman and astronaut Bill Nelson, Leland McKee, business director, Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin), Randy Berridge, executive with AT&T, Florida Governor Bob Graham, Ralph Turlington, Florida Commissioner of Education, Senator and Astronaut Jake Garn and other Central Florida and national leaders. On September 4, 1986, Alan Helman and Leland McKee were presented a resolution by Governor Bob Graham and the Florida cabinet fully endorsing the efforts of The Astronauts Memorial Foundation. This included fundraising efforts of the 67 county Challenger Run Walk a Thon and specialty license plate. The Astronauts Memorial Foundation license plate, designed by artist Robert McCall, was Florida’s first vanity plate sold starting in December 1986. The automobile license plate went on raising millions for educational purposes in the State of Florida. Other educational efforts continue to this day.
The president of the Astronaut Memorial Foundation was Stephen Feldman from 1999 to 2012. He was paid $303,000 annually. This was criticized as being the highest among 100 of Brevard County non-profits. His salary represented 18.3 percent of the fund's $1.8 million budget in fiscal year 2009. He defended his salary by saying that he was the sole fundraiser and the chief financial officer for the foundation.
Thad Altman became President and CEO of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation in August 2012. The Board of Directors include Eileen Collins - Chairman, Jack Kirschenbaum - Vice Chairman, Gregory H. Johnson - Treasurer, Sheryl L. Chaffee - Secretary.
== Gallery ==
== See also ==
Fallen Astronaut, a memorial to deceased astronauts and cosmonauts placed on the Moon during the 1971 Apollo 15 mission.
List of national memorials of the United States
== References ==
== External links ==
Map: 28°31′31″N 80°40′54″W
The Astronauts Memorial Foundation official website
Places of Commemoration: Search for Identity and Landscape Design, Volume 19, Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn, Dumbarton Oaks, 2001, pages 185-214. ISBN 9780884022602.
Congressional Record, 30 April 1991, page 9600, H2578-79. Joint Resolution 214.
Astronaut Memorial Space Mirror

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The Space Safety Programme (S2P), formerly the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme, is an initiative by the European Space Agency (ESA) to monitor hazards from space, determine their risk, make this data available to the appropriate authorities, and where possible, mitigate the threat. The programme focuses on 3 areas: space weather forecasting and nowcasting, asteroid impact prediction and prevention, and space debris mitigation. S2P is being implemented as an optional ESA programme with financial participation by 14 Member States.
== History ==
The programme started in 2009 and its mandate was extended until 2019. The second phase of the programme received €46.5 million for the 2013–2016 period. The original SSA Programme was designed to support Europe's independent space access and utilization through the timely and accurate information delivery regarding the space environment, particularly hazards to both in-orbit and ground infrastructure. In 2019 it evolved into the present Space Safety Programme (S2P) with an expanded focus, also including missions and activities to mitigate and prevent dangers from space.
At the ESA ministerial council in 2025, member states committed to a budget of €955 million for S2P over the following three years, increasing the budget by 30%. These funds were even higher than what the programme requested and covered all plans outlined in the proposal published before the council. In 2025, IAU approved the naming of 10 asteroids after people and places connected with ESA's planetary defense projects.
== Structure ==
The programme is split into three "Cornerstones" managing major missions and six "COSMIC" areas managing small missions and other aspects of the programme:
=== Space Weather Cornerstone ===
S2P's space weather projects are monitoring the activity of the Sun, the solar wind, and Earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere, that can affect spaceborne and ground-based infrastructure or endanger human life or health. This data is processed and made available freely via the Space Weather Service Network. The upcoming deep-space mission Vigil, designed to observe the Sun from the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L5, will contribute to this monitoring system, allowing for timely warnings.
=== Planetary Defence Cornerstone ===
Planetary Defence at ESA focuses on detecting natural objects, such as asteroids and comets, which can potentially impact Earth, gathering observations from telescopes around the world and plotting their path through the sky to calculate the impact risk. Another area of the Cornerstone's activity is coordinating the response to a possible impactor with the international community through groups such as the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG). The European asteroid observation network is coordinated by the S2P's Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC).
In October 2024, ESA launched the Hera mission, a follow-up to NASA's DART mission which performed the first kinetic impact test of Planetary Defence on 26 September 2022. Hera will rendezvous with the impacted Didymos binary asteroid system in 2026 to study the crater formed, the dust plume released, and more. S2P is working on another asteroid exploration mission, the Hera-derived Ramses and developing the asteroid-detecting space telescope named NEOMIR that will be placed in the Sun–Earth Lagrange point L1.
=== ADRIOS Cornerstone ===
The Active Debris Removal & In-Orbit Servicing (ADRIOS) Cornerstone supports development of technologies for space debris removal and on-orbit servicing of satellites for sustainable use of space. The ADRIOS Cornerstone is developing the CApTure Payload Bay (CAT) and RISE missions.
Space debris projects at ESA are tracking active and inactive satellites and space debris to better understand the debris environment, providing data, analysis, and advice to spacecraft engineers to perform collision avoidance manoeuvres, as well as developing a system of automated collision avoidance. The space debris office also works with the international community on norms and standards for the sustainable future of space.
Clean Space projects aim for systematically considering the entire life-cycle of space activities, from the early stages of conceptual design to the mission's end of life and beyond, to removal of space debris. ESA Clean Space includes EcoDesign (embedding environmental sustainability within space mission design), management of end-of-life, developing technologies to prevent the creation of future debris, in-orbit servicing/active debris removal, removing spacecraft from orbit, and demonstrating in-orbit servicing of spacecraft.
=== COSMIC areas ===
The "COSMIC" areas aim to develop and support:
Space weather services
Space weather sensors
Asteroid impact prediction
Technologies for increased space traffic
Clean and zero space debris future
Competitiveness
Earth-orbiting space weather missions like SWING, SAWA, Aurora, and SWORD will form the Distributed Space Weather Sensor System (D3S) complementing the deep-space observations by Vigil. ESA is also supporting development of new terrestrial solar monitoring stations, e.g. the Radio Observations of the Solar Indicative Emissions (ROSIE) station in Białków, Poland.
ESA is building the Flyeye network of automated ground-based telescopes to scan the sky every night for Near Earth Object (NEO) detection. The first telescope, built on Sicily, had its first light in 2025.
The Draco mission will study the process of satellite breakup during uncontrolled atmospheric reentry. The first mission to remove a piece of space debris from orbit will be the ESA-commissioned ClearSpace-1.
ESA is also testing laser-based technologies for precise tracking, and possibly also remote deflection, of space debris at Izaña-1 and Izaña-2 laser-ranging stations at Teide Observatory on Tenerife. The laser deflection system, named OMLET (Orbit Maintenance via Laser MomEntum Transfer), is expected to become operational in 2031.
== Space missions ==

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=== 2020s ===
Hera, launched October 2024 – European asteroid probe aimed at studying the effects of a NEO's impact created by NASA's DART mission using 65803 Didymos's moon (Dimorphos) as a target
Draco, launching in 2027 – small space capsule monitoring the breakup and demise processes of a re-entering satellite
SWING, launching in 2027 – ionosphere monitoring mission
PRELUDE, launching in 2027 – in-orbit demonstration of space manoeuvres and relative navigation technologies for active debris removal
Ramses, launching in April 2028 – mission to the near-Earth asteroid Apophis
ClearSpace-1, launching in 2028 – space debris removal demonstration mission, superseded the cancelled e.Deorbit
SAWA, launching in 2028 – thermosphere monitoring mission
CREAM in-orbit demonstration, launching in 2028 – automated collision avoidance demonstration mission
Optimist, launching in 2028 – registering tiny space debris test
RISE, launching in 2029 – in-orbit servicing demonstration mission
=== 2030s ===
Aurora-D & Aurora-C, first launch planned for 2030 – a demonstrator satellite and a satellite constellation for Auroral oval monitoring
SAILOR, launch planned for 2030 – space debris monitoring satellites using solar sail-like foils as impact detectors
Visdoms-S, launch planned for 2030 – optical observation of space debris
Satis, launch planned for 2030 – cubesat mission to an asteroid
CAT (CApTure Payload Bay), launch planned for 2030 – joint ESA-AEE mission to test a standardised docking interface for satellite removal
Erase, launch planned for 2030 – removal of a large satellite
Vigil, launch planned for 2031 – space weather mission to the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L5
Ecostars, launch planned for 2031 – Ecodesign technologies test
Circular Economy I, launch planned for 2031 – in-orbit refurbishment mission
LEMO demonstrator, launch planned for 2032 – cis-lunar debris monitoring mission
Precision Asteroid Nudging, launch planned for 2032 – ion-beam asteroid deflection test
Sword, launch planned for 2032 – two satellites in GTO-like orbit monitoring Earth's radiation belts
NEOMIR, launch planned for 2030s – asteroid-detecting space telescope in the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L1
Shield, launch planned for 2030s – CME advanced warning mission
Encore, launch planned for 2030s – mission life extension
== Former SSA programme (2009–2019) ==
== See also ==
Kessler syndrome
United States Space Surveillance Network
List of European Space Agency programmes and missions
== Links ==
esa.int/Space_Safety
ESA Space Safety Fleet
== References ==

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The Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA-098) was built by Rockwell International as a testbed for the definitive propulsion and fuel delivery systems for the U.S. Space Shuttle Program.
== Description ==
Never intended for actual spaceflight, the MPTA consisted of the internal structure of a Space Shuttle orbiter aft-fuselage, a truss structure that simulated the basic structure and shape of an orbiter mid-fuselage and a complete Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) assembly, including all main propulsion system plumbing and the associated electrical systems. Later, the very different STA (Structural Test Article) was converted into a flightworthy orbiter, re-designated OV-099, and christened Challenger. Rockwell and NASA thus retroactively re-designated the MPTA as MPTA-098, though it was never christened with a name. A Space Shuttle External Tank, commonly referred to as MPTA-ET, was built to be used in conjunction with MPTA-098 for structural tests of the Space Shuttle Main Engines prior to construction of flyable craft. It rolled off the assembly line on September 9, 1977 at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was then transported to the National Space Technology Laboratories in southern Mississippi (now known as Stennis Space Center) where it was used in the static test firing of the Shuttle's cluster of three main engines.
== History ==
On June 24, 1977, MPTA-098 was delivered by Rockwell International to the National Space Technology Laboratory (NSTL), in Hancock County, Mississippi, where it was mated with MPTA-ET, mounted in a launch orientation and used for static engine tests. On July 2, 1979, MPTA-098 suffered major structural damage due to a fractured fuel valve on Space Shuttle Main Engine number 2002. The fracture allowed hydrogen to leak into the enclosed aft compartment, raising the pressure to beyond the structural capability of the heat shield supports, severely damaging the structure. After extensive repairs were completed, testing resumed in September, but on November 4, a high-pressure oxidizer turbopump failed 9.7 seconds into a scheduled 510-second test. Finally, on December 17, 1979, a complete static firing was accomplished that included all three Space Shuttle Main Engines running at up to 100 percent of rated thrust for 554 seconds, exceeding the predicted maximum time that the SSMEs would burn during an operational shuttle launch.
The preliminary flight certification (PFC) program, which would clear the way for the SSMEs to be flown aboard crewed vehicles, began in early 1980. A number of setbacks, including an overheating high-pressure turbopump that shut down an engine 4.6 seconds into a 544-second test on April 16, 1980, in July, the burn-through of a hydrogen preburner cancelled a 581-second test after 105 seconds and the structural failure of a flight-rated nozzle shut down a November 1980 test after 20 seconds, slowed progress dramatically. These failures led to a number of critical changes to the SSMEs and their associated systems. In June 1980, due to the number of changes in the SSME design since the SSME installation on Columbia, the three flight-rated SSMEs (numbers 2005, 2006 and 2007) which had performed successful individual 520-second mission demonstration test firings on the NSTL SSME test stand in early 1979, were removed from OV-102, shipped to NSTL, and successfully recertified. The engines were then shipped back to Kennedy Space Center and reinstalled on Columbia. On January 17, 1981, with less than three months remaining before the scheduled STS-1 launch date, MPTA-098 successfully demonstrated a 625-second firing that included simulated abort profiles, completing the final PFC test and allowing the SSME design to be fully certified for flight, clearing the way for the launch of STS-1 on April 12, 1981.
From 1981 until 1988, the MPTA-098 and MPTA-ET remained in-situ on the NSTL test stand, unused. In late 1988, the Essex Corporation used the thrust structure of the MPTA as the basis for an engineering development model for the proposed Shuttle-C launch vehicle. The model was used by NASA and Boeing at Kennedy Space Center and the Marshall Space Flight Center to conduct fit-checks and manufacturing engineering studies. The Shuttle-C program was cancelled by the United States Congress in 1990 and the model was disassembled. Today, the Main Propulsion Test Article, without truss work, is on display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Visitor Information Center for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, alongside the External Tank, which is mounted under the refurbished Pathfinder orbiter simulator and has two Advanced Solid Rocket Booster casings to produce a complete Space Shuttle stack.
== Timeline ==
=== Construction ===
July 26, 1972 – Contract award
July 17, 1974 – Start of long-lead fabrication
June 24, 1975 – Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage
January 23, 1976 – Truss on dock at Rockwell Downey
March 17, 1976 – Complete premate at Downey and delivered to Palmdale
May 3, 1976 – Complete proof load test setup at Palmdale
June 29, 1976 – Move truss assembly from Palmdale Building 294 to 295
July 8, 1976 – MPTA-098 on dock at Downey
July 12, 1976 – Start of Final Assembly
July 24, 1976 – Complete MPTA-098 proof load test
May 27, 1977 – Completed Final Assembly, Transport to Seal Beach
June 3, 1977 – Transport from Seal Beach to NSTL
June 24, 1977 – Arrival at NSTL for static firing
September 10, 1977 – Arrival of MPTA-ET at NSTL
=== Test firings ===
April 21, 1978 – 1st static firing (2.5 sec)
May 19, 1978 – 2nd static firing (15 sec)
June 15, 1978 – 3rd static firing (50 sec)
July 7, 1978 – 4th static firing (100 sec)
May 4, 1979 – 5th static firing flight nozzles (1.5 sec)
June 12, 1979 – 5th static firing flight nozzles (54 sec)
October 24, 1979 – 6th static firing flight nozzles (scrubbed)
November 4, 1979 – 6th static firing flight nozzles (10 sec cutoff)
December 17, 1979 – 6th static firing non-flight (554 sec)
February 28, 1980 – 7th static firing non-flight (555 sec)
March 28, 1980 – 8th static firing non-flight (539 sec)
April 16, 1980 – 9th static firing non-flight (4.6 sec cutoff)
May 30, 1980 – 9th static firing non-flight (565 sec cutoff)
July 12, 1980 – 10th static firing flight nozzles (105 sec shutdown)
November 3, 1980 – 11th static firing flight nozzles (20 sec shutdown)
December 4, 1980 – 11th static firing non-flight (591 sec)
January 17, 1981 – 12th static firing flight nozzles (625 sec)
== See also ==
Boilerplate
Space Shuttle main engine
== References ==
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
== Further reading ==
Jenkins, Dennis R. (2002). Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System: The First 100 Missions. Hong Kong: World Print. ISBN 0-9633974-5-1.

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The Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) was the first solid-propellant rocket to be used for primary propulsion on a vehicle used for human spaceflight. A pair of them provided 85% of the Space Shuttle's thrust at liftoff and for the first two minutes of ascent. After burnout, they were jettisoned, and parachuted into the Atlantic Ocean, where they were recovered, examined, refurbished, and reused.
The Space Shuttle SRBs were the most powerful solid rocket motors ever flown at the time of their debut. The Space Launch System (SLS) SRBs, adapted from the shuttle, surpassed it as the most powerful solid rocket motors ever flown, after the launch of the Artemis 1 mission in 2022. The Space Shuttle SRBs were the most powerful solid rocket motors ever to fly humans until similarly surpassed by the SLS SRBs with the launch of the Artemis II mission in 2026. Each Space Shuttle SRB provided a maximum 14.7 MN (3,300,000 lbf) thrust, roughly double the most powerful single-combustion chamber liquid-propellant rocket engine ever flown, the Rocketdyne F-1. With a combined mass of about 1,180 metric tons (2,600,000 lb), they comprised over half the mass of the Shuttle stack at liftoff.
The motor segments of the SRBs were manufactured by Thiokol of Brigham City, Utah, which was later purchased by Alliant Techsystems (ATK). The prime contractor for the integration of all the components and retrieval of the spent SRBs, was United Space Boosters Inc., a subsidiary of Pratt & Whitney. The contract was subsequently transitioned to United Space Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Out of 270 SRBs launched over the Shuttle program, all but four were recovered – those from STS-4 (due to a parachute malfunction) and STS-51-L (destroyed by the range safety officer during the Challenger disaster). Over 5,000 parts were refurbished for reuse after each flight. The final set of SRBs that launched STS-135 included parts that had flown on 59 previous missions, including STS-1. Recovery also allowed post-flight examination of the boosters, identification of anomalies, and incremental design improvements. Refurbished segments have been used on the solid rocket boosters of the Space Launch System.
== Overview ==
The two reusable SRBs provided the main thrust to lift the shuttle off the launch pad and up to an altitude of about 150,000 ft (28 mi; 46 km). While on the pad, the two SRBs carried the entire weight of the external tank and orbiter and transmitted the weight load through their structure to the mobile launcher platform. Each booster had a liftoff thrust of approximately 12 meganewtons (2,800,000 pounds-force) at sea level, increasing shortly after liftoff to 14.7 MN (3,300,000 lbf). They were ignited after the three RS-25 main engines' thrust level was verified. Seventy-five seconds after SRB separation, SRB apogee occurred at an altitude of approximately 220,000 ft (42 mi; 36 nmi; 67 km); parachutes were then deployed and impact occurred in the ocean approximately 122 nautical miles (226 km; 140 mi) downrange, after which the two SRBs were recovered. The SRBs helped take the Space Shuttle to an altitude of 28 miles (24 nmi; 45 km) and a speed of 3,094 mph (4,979 km/h) along with the main engines.
The SRBs committed the shuttle to liftoff and ascent, without the possibility of launch abort, until both motors had fully consumed their propellants and had simultaneously been jettisoned by explosive bolts and thrusters to push them away from the Shuttle. Only then could any conceivable set of launch or post-liftoff abort procedures be contemplated. In addition, failure of an individual SRB's thrust output or ability to adhere to the designed performance profile was probably not survivable.
The SRBs were the largest solid-propellant motors ever flown until 2022 and the first solid-propellant rockets designed for reuse. Each is 149.16 ft (45.46 m) long and 12.17 ft (3.71 m) in diameter. Each SRB weighed approximately 1,300,000 lb (590 t) at launch. The two SRBs constituted about 69% of the total lift-off mass. The primary propellants were ammonium perchlorate as the oxidizer along with aluminum powder and PBAN as fuel. The total propellant load for each solid rocket motor weighed approximately 1,100,000 lb (500 t) (see § Propellant). The inert weight of each SRB was approximately 200,000 pounds (91 t).
Primary elements of each booster were the motor (including case, propellant, igniter, and nozzle), structure, separation systems, operational flight instrumentation, recovery avionics, pyrotechnics, deceleration system, thrust vector control system, and range safety destruct system.
While the terms solid rocket motor and solid rocket booster are often used interchangeably, in technical use they have specific meanings. The term solid rocket motor applied to the propellant, case, igniter and nozzle. Solid rocket booster applied to the entire rocket assembly, which included the rocket motor as well as the recovery parachutes, electronic instrumentation, separation rockets, range safety destruct system, and thrust vector control.
Each booster was attached to the external tank at the SRB's aft frame by two lateral sway braces and a diagonal attachment. The forward end of each SRB was attached to the external tank at the forward end of the SRB's forward skirt. On the launch pad, each booster also was attached to the mobile launcher platform at the aft skirt by four holddown studs, with frangible nuts that were severed at liftoff.
The boosters were composed of seven individually manufactured steel segments. These were assembled in pairs by the manufacturer and then shipped to Kennedy Space Center by rail for final assembly. The segments were fixed together using circumferential tang, clevis, and clevis pin fastening, and sealed with O-rings (originally two, changed to three after the Challenger Disaster in 1986) and heat-resistant putty.
== Components ==

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=== Hold-down posts ===
Each solid rocket booster had four hold-down posts that fit into corresponding support posts on the mobile launcher platform. Hold-down studs held the SRB and launcher platform posts together. Each stud had a nut at each end, the top one being a frangible nut. The top nut contained two explosive charges initiated by NASA standard detonators (NSDs), which were ignited at solid rocket motor ignition commands.
When the two NSDs were ignited at each hold down, the frangible nut fractured, releasing the hold-down stud. The stud traveled downward because of the release of tension in the stud (pretensioned before launch), NSD gas pressure and gravity. The stud was stopped by the stud deceleration stand, which contained sand. The hold-down stud was 28 in (710 mm) long and 3.5 in (89 mm) in diameter. The frangible nut was captured in a blast container mounted on the aft skirt of the SRB.
The solid rocket motor ignition commands were issued by the orbiter's computers through the master events controllers to the hold-down pyrotechnic initiator controllers (PICs) on the mobile launcher platform. They provided the ignition to the hold-down NSDs. The launch processing system monitored the SRB hold-down PICs for low voltage during the last 16 seconds before launch. PIC low voltage would initiate a launch hold.
=== Electrical power distribution ===
Electrical power distribution in each SRB consisted of orbiter-supplied main DC bus power to each SRB via SRB buses labeled A, B and C. Orbiter main DC buses A, B and C supplied main DC bus power to corresponding SRB buses A, B and C. In addition, orbiter main DC bus C supplied backup power to SRB buses A and B, and orbiter bus B supplied backup power to SRB bus C. This electrical power distribution arrangement allowed all SRB buses to remain powered in the event one orbiter main bus failed.
The nominal operating voltage was 28 ± 4 volts DC.
=== Hydraulic power units ===
Each SRB consists of two self-contained, independent Hydraulic Power Units (HPUs), used to actuate the thrust vector control (TVC) system. Each HPU consisted of an auxiliary power unit (APU), fuel supply module, hydraulic pump, hydraulic reservoir and hydraulic fluid manifold assembly. The APUs were fueled by hydrazine and generated mechanical shaft power to drive a hydraulic pump that produced hydraulic pressure for the SRB hydraulic system. The two separate HPUs and two hydraulic systems were located on the aft end of each SRB between the SRB nozzle and aft skirt. The HPU components were mounted on the aft skirt between the rock and tilt actuators. The two systems operated from T minus 28 seconds until SRB separation from the orbiter and external tank. The two independent hydraulic systems were connected to the nozzle rock and tilt servoactuators.
The HPU controller electronics were located in the SRB aft integrated electronic assemblies (IEAs) on the aft external tank attach rings.
The HPUs and their fuel systems were isolated from each other. Each fuel supply module (tank) contained 22 lb (10.0 kg) of hydrazine. The fuel tank was pressurized with gaseous nitrogen at 400 psi (2.8 MPa), which provided the force to expel (positive expulsion) the fuel from the tank to the fuel distribution line, maintaining a positive fuel supply to the APU throughout its operation.
In the APU, a fuel pump boosted the hydrazine pressure and fed it to a gas generator. The gas generator catalytically decomposed the hydrazine into hot, high-pressure gas; a two-stage turbine converted this into mechanical power, driving a gearbox. The waste gas, now cooler and at low pressure, was passed back over the gas generator housing to cool it before being dumped overboard. The gearbox drove the fuel pump, its own lubrication pump, and the HPU hydraulic pump. A startup bypass line went around the pump and fed the gas generator using the nitrogen tank pressure until the APU speed was such that the fuel pump outlet pressure exceeded that of the bypass line, at which point all the fuel was supplied to the fuel pump.
When the APU speed reached 100%, the APU primary control valve closed, and the APU speed was controlled by the APU controller electronics. If the primary control valve logic failed to the open state, the secondary control valve assumed control of the APU at 112% speed.
Each HPU on an SRB was connected to both servoactuators on that SRB by a switching valve that allowed the hydraulic power to be distributed from either HPU to both actuators if necessary. Each HPU served as the primary hydraulic source for one servoactuator, and a secondary source for the other servoactuator. Each HPU possessed the capacity to provide hydraulic power to both servoactuators within 115% operational limits in the event that hydraulic pressure from the other HPU should drop below 2,050 psi (14.1 MPa). A switch contact on the switching valve closed when the valve was in the secondary position. When the valve was closed, a signal was sent to the APU controller, that inhibited the 100% APU speed control logic and enabled the 112% APU speed control logic. The 100-percent APU speed enabled one APU/HPU to supply sufficient operating hydraulic pressure to both servoactuators of that SRB.
The APU 100-percent speed corresponded to 72,000 rpm, 110% to 79,200 rpm, and 112% to 80,640 rpm.
The hydraulic pump speed was 3,600 rpm and supplied hydraulic pressure of 3,050 ± 50 psi (21.03 ± 0.34 MPa). A high pressure relief valve provided overpressure protection to the hydraulic system and relieved at 3,750 psi (25.9 MPa).
The APUs/HPUs and hydraulic systems were reusable for 20 missions.
=== Thrust vector control ===

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Each SRB had two hydraulic gimbal servoactuators, to move the nozzle up/down and side-to-side. This provided thrust vectoring to help control the vehicle in all three axes (roll, pitch, and yaw).
The ascent thrust vector control portion of the flight control system directed the thrust of the three shuttle main engines and the two SRB nozzles to control shuttle attitude and trajectory during lift-off and ascent. Commands from the guidance system were transmitted to the Ascent Thrust Vector Control (ATVC) drivers, which transmitted signals proportional to the commands to each servoactuator of the main engines and SRBs. Four independent flight control system channels and four ATVC channels controlled six main engine and four SRB ATVC drivers, with each driver controlling one hydraulic port on each main and SRB servoactuator.
Each SRB servoactuator consisted of four independent, two-stage servovalves that received signals from the drivers. Each servovalve controlled one power spool in each actuator, which positioned an actuator ram and the nozzle to control the direction of thrust.
The four servovalves operating each actuator provided a force-summed majority-voting arrangement to position the power spool. With four identical commands to the four servovalves, the actuator force-sum action prevented, instantaneously, a single erroneous input affecting power ram motion. If differential-pressure sensing detected the erroneous input persisting over a predetermined time, an isolating valve would be selected, excluding it from the force-sum entirely. Failure monitors were provided for each channel to indicate which channel had been bypassed, and the isolation valve on each channel could be reset.
Each actuator ram was equipped with transducers for position feedback to the thrust vector control system. Within each servoactuator ram was a splashdown load relief assembly to cushion the nozzle at water splashdown and prevent damage to the nozzle flexible bearing.
=== Rate gyro assemblies ===
Each SRB contained three rate gyro assemblies (RGAs), with each RGA containing one pitch and one yaw gyro. These provided an output proportional to angular rates about the pitch and yaw axes to the orbiter computers and guidance, navigation and control system during first-stage ascent flight in conjunction with the orbiter roll rate gyros until SRB separation. At SRB separation, a switchover was made from the SRB RGAs to the orbiter RGAs.
The SRB RGA rates passed through the orbiter flight aft multiplexers/demultiplexers to the orbiter GPCs. The RGA rates were then mid-value-selected in redundancy management to provide SRB pitch and yaw rates to the user software. The RGAs were designed for 20 missions.
=== Segment cases ===
Made out of 2-cm-thick D6AC high-strength low-alloy steel.
=== Propellant ===
The rocket propellant mixture in each solid rocket motor consisted of ammonium perchlorate (oxidizer, 69.6% by weight), atomized aluminum powder (fuel, 16%), iron oxide (catalyst, 0.4%), PBAN (binder, also acts as fuel, 12.04%), and an epoxy curing agent (1.96%). This propellant is commonly referred to as ammonium perchlorate composite propellant (APCP). This mixture gave the solid rocket motors a specific impulse of 242 seconds (2.37 km/s) at sea level or 268 seconds (2.63 km/s) in a vacuum. Upon ignition, the motor burned the fuel at a nominal chamber pressure of 906.8 psi (6.252 MPa).
Aluminum was chosen as a propellant due to high volumetric energy density, and its resilience to accidental ignition. Aluminum has a specific energy density of about 31.0 MJ/kg .
The propellant had an 11-pointed star-shaped perforation in the forward motor segment and a double-truncated-cone perforation in each of the aft segments and aft closure. This configuration provided high thrust at ignition and then reduced the thrust by approximately a third 50 seconds after lift-off to avoid overstressing the vehicle during maximum dynamic pressure (max. Q).
== Function ==

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=== Ignition ===
SRB ignition can occur only when a manual lock pin from each SRB safe and arm device has been removed. The ground crew removes the pin during prelaunch activities. At T−5:00, the SRB safe and arm device is rotated to the arm position. The solid rocket motor ignition commands are issued when the three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) are at or above 90% of rated thrust, no SSME fail and/or SRB ignition Pyrotechnic Initiator Controller (PIC) low voltage is indicated and there are no holds from the Launch Processing System (LPS).
The solid rocket motor ignition commands are sent by the orbiter computers through the Master Events Controllers (MECs) to the safe and arm device NASA standard detonators (NSDs) in each SRB. A PIC single-channel capacitor discharge device controls the firing of each pyrotechnic device. Three signals must be present simultaneously for the PIC to generate the pyro firing output. These signals, arm, fire 1 and fire 2, originate in the orbiter general-purpose computers (GPCs) and are transmitted to the MECs. The MECs reformat them to 28 volt DC signals for the PICs. The arm signal charges the PIC capacitor to 40 volts DC (minimum of 20 volts DC).
The GPC launch sequence also controls certain critical main propulsion system valves and monitors the engine ready indications from the SSMEs. The MPS start commands are issued by the onboard computers at T−6.6 seconds (staggered start engine three, engine two, engine one all approximately within 0.25 of a second), and the sequence monitors the thrust buildup of each engine. All three SSMEs must reach the required 90% thrust within three seconds; otherwise, an orderly shutdown is commanded and safing functions are initiated.
Normal thrust buildup to the required 90% thrust level will result in the SSMEs being commanded to the lift off position at T−3 seconds as well as the fire 1 command being issued to arm the SRBs. At T−3 seconds, the vehicle base bending load modes are allowed to initialize (referred to as the "twang", movement of approximately 25.5 in (650 mm) measured at the tip of the external tank, with movement towards the external tank).
The fire 2 commands cause the redundant NSDs to fire through a thin barrier seal down a flame tunnel. This ignites a pyro. booster charge, which is retained in the safe and arm device behind a perforated plate. The booster charge ignites the propellant in the igniter initiator; and combustion products of this propellant ignite the solid rocket motor initiator, which fires down the entire vertical length of the solid rocket motor igniting the solid rocket motor propellant along its entire surface area instantaneously.
At T−0, the two SRBs are ignited, under command of the four onboard computers; separation of the four explosive bolts on each SRB is initiated; the two T-0 umbilicals (one on each side of the spacecraft) are retracted; the onboard master timing unit, event timer and mission event timers are started; the three SSMEs are at 100%; and the ground launch sequence is terminated.
=== Lift-off and ascent ===
Timing sequence referencing in ignition is critical for a successful liftoff and ascent flight. The explosive hold-down bolts relieve (through the launch support pedestals and pad structure) the asymmetric vehicle dynamic loads caused by the SSME ignition and thrust buildup, and applied thrust bearing loads. Without the hold-down bolts the SSMEs would violently tip the flight stack (orbiter, external tank, SRBs) over onto the external tank. That rotating moment is initially countered by the hold-bolts. Prior to release of the vehicle stack for liftoff, the SRBs must simultaneously ignite and pressurize their combustion chambers and exhaust nozzles to produce a thrust-derived, net counter-rotating moment exactly equal to the SSME's rotating moment. With the SRBs reaching full thrust, the hold-down bolts are blown, releasing the vehicle stack, the net rotating moment is zero, and the net vehicle thrust (opposing gravity) is positive, lifting the orbiter stack vertically from the launch pedestal, controllable through the coordinated gimbal movements of the SSMEs and the SRB exhaust nozzles.
During ascent, multiple all-axis accelerometers detect and report the vehicle's flight and orientation (referencing the flight deck aboard the orbiter), as the flight reference computers translate navigation commands (steering to a particular waypoint in space, and at a particular time) into engine and motor nozzle gimbal commands, which orient the vehicle about its center of mass. As the forces on the vehicle change due to propellant consumption, increasing speed, changes in aerodynamic drag, and other factors, the vehicle automatically adjusts its orientation in response to its dynamic control command inputs.
=== Separation ===

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The SRBs are jettisoned from the space shuttle at an altitude of about 146,000 ft (45 km). SRB separation is initiated when the three solid-rocket motor-chamber pressure transducers are processed in the redundancy-management middle-value select and the head-end chamber pressure of both SRBs is less than or equal to 50 psi (340 kPa). A backup cue is the time elapsed from booster ignition. The separation sequence is initiated, commanding the thrust vector control actuators to the null position and putting the main propulsion system into a second-stage configuration (0.8 seconds from sequence initialization), which ensures the thrust of each SRB is less than 100,000 lbf (440 kN). Orbiter yaw attitude is held for four seconds, and SRB thrust drops to less than 60,000 lbf (270 kN).
The SRBs separate from the external tank within 30 milliseconds of the ordnance firing command. The forward attachment point consists of a ball (SRB) and socket (External Tank; ET) held together by one bolt. The bolt contains one NSD pressure cartridge at each end. The forward attachment point also carries the range safety system cross-strap wiring connecting each SRB Range Safety System (RSS) and the ET RSS with each other. The aft attachment points consist of three separate struts: upper, diagonal and lower. Each strut contains one bolt with an NSD pressure cartridge at each end. The upper strut also carries the umbilical interface between its SRB and the external tank and on to the orbiter.
There are four booster separation motors (BSMs) on each end of each SRB. The BSMs separate the SRBs from the external tank. The solid rocket motors in each cluster of four are ignited by firing redundant NSD pressure cartridges into redundant confined detonating fuse manifolds. The separation commands issued from the orbiter by the SRB separation sequence initiate the redundant NSD pressure cartridge in each bolt and ignite the BSMs to effect a clean separation.
=== Range safety system ===
A range safety system (RSS) provides for destruction of a rocket or part of it with on-board explosives by remote command if the rocket is out of control, in order to limit the danger to people on the ground from crashing pieces, explosions, fire, poisonous substances, etc. The RSS was only activated once – during the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (37 seconds after the breakup of the vehicle, when the SRBs were in uncontrolled flight).
The shuttle vehicle had two RSS, one in each SRB. Both were capable of receiving two command messages (arm and fire) transmitted from the ground station. The RSS was used only when the shuttle vehicle violates a launch trajectory red line.
An RSS consists of two antenna couplers, command receivers/decoders, a dual distributor, a safe and arm device with two NASA standard detonators (NSD), two confined detonating fuse manifolds (CDF), seven CDF assemblies and one linear-shaped charge (LSC).
The antenna couplers provide the proper impedance for radio frequency and ground support equipment commands. The command receivers are tuned to RSS command frequencies and provide the input signal to the distributors when an RSS command is sent. The command decoders use a code plug to prevent any command signal other than the proper command signal from getting into the distributors. The distributors contain the logic to supply valid destruct commands to the RSS pyrotechnics.
The NSDs provide the spark to ignite the CDF, which in turn ignites the LSC for booster destruction. The safe and arm device provides mechanical isolation between the NSDs and the CDF before launch and during the SRB separation sequence.
The first message, called arm, allows the onboard logic to enable a destruct and illuminates a light on the flight deck display and control panel at the commander and pilot station. The second message transmitted is the fire command.
The SRB distributors in the SRBs are cross-strapped together. Thus, if one SRB received an arm or destruct signal, the signal would also be sent to the other SRB.
Electrical power from the RSS battery in each SRB is routed to RSS system A. The recovery battery in each SRB is used to power RSS system B as well as the recovery system in the SRB. The SRB RSS is powered down during the separation sequence, and the SRB recovery system is powered up.
=== Descent and recovery ===

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The SRBs are jettisoned from the shuttle system at 2 minutes and an altitude of about 146,000 feet (45 km). After continuing to rise to about 220,000 feet (67 km), the SRBs begin to fall back to earth and once back in the denser atmosphere are slowed by a parachute system to prevent damage on ocean impact. A command is sent from the orbiter to the SRB just before separation to apply battery power to the recovery logic network. A second, simultaneous command arms the three nose cap thrusters (for deploying the pilot and drogue parachute), the frustum ring detonator (for main parachute deployment), and the main parachute disconnect ordnance.
The recovery sequence begins with the operation of the high-altitude baroswitch, which triggers the pyrotechnic nose cap thrusters. This ejects the nose cap, which deploys the pilot parachute. Nose cap separation occurs at a nominal altitude of 15,704 ft (4,787 m), about 218 seconds after SRB separation. The 11.5 ft (3.5 m) diameter conical ribbon pilot parachute provides the force to pull lanyards attached to cut knives, which cut the loop securing the drogue retention straps. This allows the pilot chute to pull the drogue pack from the SRB, causing the drogue suspension lines to deploy from their stored position. At full extension of the twelve 105 ft (32 m) suspension lines, the drogue deployment bag is stripped away from the canopy, and the 54 ft (16 m) diameter conical ribbon drogue parachute inflates to its initial reefed condition. The drogue disreefs twice after specified time delays (using redundant 7- and 12-second reefing line cutters), and it reorients/stabilizes the SRB for main chute deployment. The drogue parachute has a design load of approximately 315,000 lb (143 t) and weighs approximately 1,200 lb (540 kg).
After the drogue chute has stabilized the SRB in a tail-first attitude, the frustum is separated from the forward skirt by a pyrotechnic charge triggered by the low-altitude baroswitch at a nominal altitude of 5,500 ft (1,700 m) about 243 seconds after SRB separation. The frustum is then pulled away from the SRB by the drogue chute. The main chute suspension lines are pulled out from deployment bags that remain in the frustum. At full extension of the lines, which are 203 ft (62 m) long, the three main chutes are pulled from their deployment bags and inflate to their first reefed condition. The frustum and drogue parachute continue on a separate trajectory to splashdown. After specified time delays (using redundant 10- and 17-second reefing line cutters), the main chute reefing lines are cut and the chutes inflate to their second reefed and full open configurations. The main chute cluster decelerates the SRB to terminal conditions. Each of the 136 ft (41 m) diameter, 20° conical ribbon parachutes have a design load of approximately 195,000 lb (88 t) and each weighs approximately 2,180 lb (990 kg). These parachutes are the largest that have ever been used, in both deployed size and load weight. The RSRM nozzle extension is severed by a pyrotechnic charge about 20 seconds after frustum separation.
Water impact occurs about 279 seconds after SRB separation at a nominal velocity of 76 feet per second (23 m/s). The water impact range is approximately 130 nmi (240 km) off the eastern coast of Florida. Because the parachutes provide for a nozzle-first impact, air is trapped in the empty (burned out) motor casing, causing the booster to float with the forward end approximately 30 feet (9 m) out of the water.
Formerly, the main chutes were released from the SRB at impact using a parachute release nut ordnance system (residual loads in the main chutes would deploy the parachute attach fittings with floats tethered to each fitting). The current design keeps the main chutes attached during water impact (initial impact and slapdown). Salt Water Activated Release (SWAR) devices are now incorporated into the main chute riser lines to simplify recovery efforts and reduce damage to the SRB. The drogue deployment bag/pilot parachutes, drogue parachutes and frustums, each main chute, and the SRBs are buoyant and are recovered.
Specially fitted NASA recovery ships, the MV Freedom Star and the MV Liberty Star, recover the SRBs and descent/recovery hardware. Once the boosters are located, the Diver Operated Plug (DOP) is maneuvered by divers into place to plug the SRB nozzle and drain the water from the motor case. Pumping air into and water out of the SRB causes the SRB to change from a nose-up floating position to a horizontal attitude more suitable for towing. The retrieval vessels then tow the boosters and other objects recovered back to Kennedy Space Center.
== Challenger disaster ==

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The loss of Space Shuttle Challenger originated with a system failure of one of its SRBs. The cause of the accident was found by the Rogers Commission to be "a faulty design unacceptably sensitive to a number of factors" of the SRB joints compounded by unusually cold weather the morning of the flight. The field joint design was flawed, with flexure of the joints during launch compromising the seal of the large rubber O-rings and allowing them to extrude further into the joint and erode as hot exhaust gases passed through during past launches. Additionally, the O-rings were not resilient at low temperatures like those of the January 1986 morning of the accident (36 °F; 2.2 °C). A cold-compromised joint in the right SRB failed at launch and allowed hot gases from within that rocket booster to sear a hole into the adjacent main external fuel tank and also weaken the lower strut holding the SRB to the external tank. The leak in the SRB joint caused the eventually catastrophic failure of the lower strut and partial detachment of the SRB, which led to a collision between the SRB and the external tank. With the external tank being destroyed and the shuttle stack, traveling at a speed of Mach 1.92 at 46,000 feet (14 km), thrusted off-axis by the right SRB as well as the tank's collapse, Challenger disintegrated. Both SRBs survived the accident initially, until they were destroyed by the range safety officer. Prior to the disaster, a teleconference was held between Marshall Spaceflight Center, Kennedy Space Center, and Morton Thiokol to discuss the upcoming launch. Originally, Morton Thiokol held the stance that the launch temperatures were too cold for launch. However, after a period of recess, Morton Thiokol had changed their stance, and was no longer opposed to launch.
During the subsequent downtime, detailed structural analyses were performed on critical structural elements of the SRB. Analyses were primarily focused on areas where anomalies had been noted during postflight inspection of recovered hardware.
One of the areas was the attachment ring where the SRBs are connected to the external tank. Areas of distress were noted in some of the fasteners where the ring attaches to the SRB motor case. This situation was attributed to the high loads encountered during water impact. To correct the situation and ensure higher strength margins during ascent, the attach ring was redesigned to encircle the motor case completely (360°). Previously, the attachment ring formed a 'C' shape and encircled the motor case just 270°. Additionally, special structural tests were performed on the aft skirt. During this test program, an anomaly occurred in a critical weld between the hold-down post and skin of the skirt. A redesign was implemented to add reinforcement brackets and fittings in the aft ring of the skirt.
These two modifications added approximately 450 lb (200 kg) to the weight of each SRB. The result is called a Redesigned Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM).
== Construction and delivery ==
The prime contractor for the manufacture of the SRB motor segments was ATK Launch Systems (formerly Morton Thiokol Inc.) Wasatch Division based in Magna, Utah.
United Space Boosters Inc. (USBI), a division of Pratt & Whitney, under United Technologies, was the original SRB prime contractor for SRB assembly, checkout and refurbishment for all non-solid-rocket-motor components and for SRB integration. They were the longest-running prime contractor for the Space Shuttle that was part of the original launch team. USBI was absorbed by United Space Alliance as the Solid Rocket Booster Element division in 1998 and the USBI division was disbanded at Pratt & Whitney the following year. At its peak, USBI had over 1500 personnel working on the Shuttle Boosters at KSC, FL and Huntsville, Alabama.
Components of the SRBs were transported from Utah to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida via rail over twelve days covering 2,000 miles (3,200 km) and eight states. Each segment and its custom built rail car weighed approximately 300,000 pounds (140,000 kg). Cars carrying SRBs were separated by empty cars to distribute the load over bridges and trestles, particularly the bridge over the Indian River, the last bridge on the train's journey. Following recovery, spent segments were loaded onto those same train cars and returned to Utah for refurbishment and refueling.
=== Incident ===
On May 2, 2007, a freight train carrying segments of the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters derailed in Myrtlewood, Alabama, after a rail trestle collapsed. The train was carrying eight SRB segments intended for STS-120 and STS-122. Four segments dropped approximately 10 feet (3.0 m). Four other segments along with a car carrying aft exit cones (nozzles), not yet on the trestle, remained on solid ground. The segments that fell from the trestle were recovered and returned to Utah for inspection. After analyses of the forces put on the remaining four segments that had not fallen were found to be well within tolerances, those segments continued on to Florida.
== Upgrade projects not put into service ==

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=== Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) Project (1988–1993) ===
In 1988–1989, NASA was planning on replacing the post-Challenger SRBs with a new Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) to be built by Aerojet at a new facility, designed by subcontractor, RUST International, on the location of a cancelled Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear power plant, at Yellow Creek, Mississippi (Yellow Creek Nuclear Plant).
The ASRM would be slightly wider (the booster's diameter would be increased from 146 inches to 150 inches) and have 200,000 pounds of extra propellant, and have produced additional thrust in order to increase shuttle payload by about 12,000 lb, so that it could carry modules and construction components to the ISS. They were expected to be safer than the post-Challenger SRBs. The initial $1.2 Bn contract was to be for 12 motors, with an option for another 88 at maybe another $1 bn. Morton Thiokol would build the nozzles. The first test flight was expected around 1994.
The ASRM program was cancelled in 1993 after robotic assembly systems and computers were on-site and approximately 2 billion dollars spent, in favor of continued use of the SRB after design flaw corrections.
=== Filament-wound cases ===
In order to provide the necessary performance to launch polar-orbiting shuttles from the SLC-6 launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, SRBs using filament-wound cases (FWC) were designed to be more lightweight than the steel cases used on Kennedy Space Center-launched SRBs. Unlike the regular SRBs, which had the flawed field joint design that led to the Challenger Disaster in 1986, the FWC boosters had the "double tang" joint design (necessary to keep the boosters properly in alignment during the "twang" movement when the SSMEs are ignited prior to liftoff), but used the two O-ring seals. With the closure of SLC-6, the FWC boosters were scrapped by ATK and NASA, but their field joints, albeit modified to incorporate the current three O-ring seals and joint heaters, were later (after STS-51L) incorporated into the field joints on the SRBs used until the last flight in 2011.
=== Five-segment booster ===
Prior to the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, NASA investigated the replacement of the current 4-segment SRBs with either a 5-segment SRB design or replacing them altogether with liquid-fueled "flyback" boosters using either Atlas V or Delta IV EELV technologies. The 5-segment SRB, which would have required little change to the current shuttle infrastructure, would have allowed the space shuttle to carry an additional 20,000 lb (9,100 kg) of payload in an International Space Station-inclination orbit, eliminate the dangerous Return-to-Launch Site (RTLS) and Trans-Oceanic Abort (TAL) modes, and, by using a so-called dog-leg maneuver, fly south-to-north polar orbiting flights from Kennedy Space Center.
The five-segment SRB would use a wider nozzle throat to keep within the pressure limit of the existing segment casings.
After the destruction of Columbia, NASA shelved the five-segment SRB for the Shuttle Program, for safety reasons. One five-segment engineering test motor, ETM-03, was fired on October 23, 2003.
As part of the Constellation Program, the first stage of the Ares I rocket was planned to use five-segment SRBs; in September 2009 a five-segment Space Shuttle SRB (DM-1) was static fired on the ground in ATK's desert testing area in Utah. Additional tests (DM-2 and DM-3) were carried out in Aug 2010 and Sept 2011.
After the Constellation Program was cancelled in 2011, the new Space Launch System (SLS) was designated to use five-segment boosters. The first test of a SRB for SLS (QM-1) was completed in early 2015, a second test (QM-2) was performed in mid 2016 at Orbital ATK's Promontory, Utah facility.
== Displays ==
Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters are on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi, the United States Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the March Field Air Museum on March ARB in California, and at Orbital ATK's facility near Promontory, Utah.
A partial filament-wound booster case is on display at Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. Two flight-worthy Solid Rocket Boosters with parts flown in 81 different Space Shuttle missions are in a vertical stack configuration at the California Science Center attached to the last surviving flight-worthy external tank (ET-94) and Space Shuttle Endeavour in Los Angeles, California. The display will be opened to the public in the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in 2026 or 2027.
== Current, future and proposed uses ==
Over time several proposals to reuse the SRB design were presented – however, as of 2016 none of these proposals progressed to regular flights before being cancelled. Until the 2022 first test flight of the Space Launch System (SLS), a sole test-flight of the Ares I-X prototype in 2009 was the furthest any of these proposals progressed.
=== Ares ===

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NASA initially planned to reuse the four-segment SRB design and infrastructure in several Ares rockets, which would have propelled the Orion spacecraft into orbit. In 2005, NASA announced the Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle slated to carry the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle into low-Earth orbit and later to the Moon. The SRB-derived Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV), named Ares I, was planned to feature a single modified 4-segment SRB for its first stage; a single liquid-fueled modified Space Shuttle Main Engine would have powered the second stage.
The Ares I design updated in 2006 featured one 5-segment SRB (originally developed for the Shuttle, but never used) as a first stage; the second stage was powered by an uprated J-2X engine, derived from the J-2, which had been used in the upper stage of Saturn V and Saturn IB. In place of the standard SRB nosecone, the Ares I would have a tapered interstage assembly connecting the booster proper with the second stage, an attitude control system derived from the Regulus missile system, and larger, heavier parachutes to lower the stage into the Atlantic Ocean for recovery.
Also introduced in 2005, was a heavy-lift Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV) named Ares V. Early designs of the Ares V utilized 5 standard-production SSMEs and a pair of 5-segment boosters identical to those proposed for the Shuttle, while later plans redesigned the boosters around the RS-68 rocket engine used on the Delta IV EELV system. Initially, NASA switched over to a system using the 5-segment boosters and a cluster of 5 RS-68s (which resulted in a widening of the Ares V core unit), then NASA reconfigured the vehicle with 6 RS-68B engines, with the boosters themselves becoming 5.5-segment boosters, with an additional half-segment to provide additional thrust at liftoff.
That final redesign would have made the Ares V booster taller and more powerful than the now-retired Saturn V/INT-20, N-1, and Energia rockets, and would have allowed the Ares V to place both the Earth Departure Stage and Altair spacecraft into low-Earth orbit for later on-orbit assembly. Unlike the 5-segment SRB for the Ares I, the 5.5-segment boosters for the Ares V were to be identical in design, construction, and function to the current SRBs except for the extra segments. Like the shuttle boosters, the Ares V boosters would fly an almost-identical flight trajectory from launch to splashdown.
The Constellation program, including Ares I and Ares V, was canceled in October 2010 by the passage of the 2010 NASA authorization bill.
=== DIRECT ===
The DIRECT proposal for a new, Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle, unlike the Ares I and Ares V boosters, used a pair of classic 4-segment SRBs with the SSMEs used on the Shuttle.
=== Athena III ===
In 2008, PlanetSpace proposed the Athena III launch vehicle for ISS resupply flights under the COTS program; it would have featured 2+1⁄2 segments from the original SRB design.
=== Space Launch System (SLS) ===
The first versions (Blocks 1 and 1B) of the Space Launch System (SLS) use a pair of five-segment Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), which were developed from the four-segment SRBs used for the Shuttle. Modifications for the SLS included the addition of a center booster segment, new avionics, and new insulation which eliminates the Shuttle SRB's asbestos and is 860 kg (1,900 lb) lighter. The five-segment SRBs provide approximately 25% more total impulse than the Shuttle SRB, and are not recovered after use.
== See also ==
Solid rocket booster
PEPCON disaster
Studied Space Shuttle variations and derivatives
== References ==
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
== External links ==
NASA Technical Report 19720007149 Origins of the shuttle SRB, engineering study for NASA 1971, volume 1, summary
NASA Technical Report 19720015135 Origins of the shuttle SRB, engineering study for NASA 1971, volume 2, technical report
"Solid Rocket Boosters". NASA. Archived from the original on February 16, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2007.
Solid Rocket Booster Separation video
Liberty Star and Freedom Star bio page Archived February 9, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
Cary Rutland Collection, The University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections Files of Cary Rutland, deputy of the SRB program after the Challenger disaster
Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. TX-116-K, "Space Transportation System, Solid Rocket Boosters, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Harris County, TX", 32 photos, 3 measured drawings, 8 photo caption pages

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The Space Shuttle recovery convoy was a fleet of ground vehicles, many of which were specially designed for their purpose, staged at the landing site of a Space Shuttle orbiter which assisted the crew and its payload after landing. Some vehicles and equipment which were very specific to the shuttle program were retired and either sold at auction or transferred to museums for public display. The majority of convoy vehicles were stored in buildings near the Shuttle Landing Facility.
== Notable vehicles ==
Command Vehicle – commissioned June 27, 2002 the 40 feet (12 m) long Convoy Command Vehicle replaced the previous 15-year-old vehicle. The NASA Convoy Commander (NCC) directs personnel in the recovery convoy from this vehicle.
SCAPE Trailer. Self-Contained Atmospheric Protection Ensemble (SCAPE), vehicle, parked at a midfield location during landing, contains the equipment necessary to support recovery including recovery crew SCAPE suits, liquid air packs, and a crew who assisted recovery personnel in suiting-up in protective clothing.
Vapor Dispersal Unit. The Vapor Dispersal Unit is a mobile wind-making machine able to produce a directed wind stream of up to 45 miles per hour (72 km/h). It is an adaptation of a standard 14-ft. agricultural wind machine designed to protect fragile agricultural crops from frost damage or freezing. It is used by the recovery team to blow away toxic or explosive gases that may occur in or around the orbiter after landing. The fan can move 200,000 cubic feet of air a minute.
Coolant Umbilical Access. This apparatus is a stair and platform unit mounted on a truck bed which permits access to the aft port side of the orbiter where ground support crews attach coolant lines from the Orbiter Coolant Transporter.
Orbiter Coolant Transporters. This unit is a tractor-trailer carrying a refrigeration unit that provides Freon 114 through the orbiter's T-O umbilical into its cooling system.
Purge Umbilical Access Vehicle. This vehicle is similar to the Coolant Umbilical Access Vehicle in that it has an access stairway and platform allowing crews to attach purge air lines to the orbiter on its aft starboard side.
Orbiter Purge Transporter. This vehicle is a tractor-trailer which carries an air conditioning unit powered by two 300 KW, 60 Hz electric generators. The unit blows cool or dehumidified air into the payload bay to remove possible residual explosive or toxic gases.
Crew Hatch Access Vehicle. The Crew Hatch Access Vehicle consisted of a stairway and platform on which is located a white room equipped with special orbiter interface seals. It contains pressurized filtered air to keep toxic or explosive gases, airborne dust or other contaminants from getting into the orbiter during crew egress. The vehicle was transferred to the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum A similar vehicle intended for use for shuttle operations at Vandenberg Air Force Base is in storage at Edwards Air Force Based pending display at the Air Force Test Center Museum.
Crew Transporter Vehicle placed aft of the Crew Hatch Access Vehicle, after orbiter egress, astronauts would step into this vehicle similar to mobile lounges on a scissor lift used at airports where flight surgeons would perform initial checks. The vehicle was intended to take astronauts directly to a 2nd floor entry in the Operations and Checkout Building in the KSC industrial area but in later missions, astronauts would exit the vehicle into the waiting astrovan for transport. The vehicle previously at the Kennedy Space Center was transferred to the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum
Astronaut Transfer Van. As its name implies, this van was used for the 20-minute ride transferring the flight crew on launch rehearsals and to the launch pad at the beginning of the mission and from the landing area at mission end. It is a modified recreational vehicle in which the crew can remove their flight suits and be examined by a physician while en route. Two astrovans were used during the space shuttle program. A smaller van used during the Apollo era was used for the first shuttle mission which included only two astronauts. A larger Airstream motorhome carried the larger shuttle crews of up to seven. Both vehicles are on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, the smaller in the Saturn V center and the larger beneath the Atlantis orbiter it served.
Helium Tube Bank. This specialized vehicle is a trailer on which is mounted a 12-tube bank container which provides helium to purge hydrogen from the orbiter's main engines and lines. The bank contains 85,000 cubic feet (2,400 m3) of helium at 6,000 pounds per square inch (41,000 kPa).
Orbiter Tow Vehicle. This unit is very much like the typical towing units used for large aircraft. However, it was equipped with a special towing bar designed specifically for the orbiter. It was used to move the orbiter from the landing facility to the OPF. It also is used for moving the orbiter from the OPF to the VAB.
Mobile Ground Power Unit. The final special vehicle for orbiter post-landing operations is the Mobile Ground Power Unit which provides power to the orbiter if the fuel cells have to be shut down. It can deliver a nominal load of up to 8 kW of direct power to the orbiter.
Emergency vehicles
NASA security vehicles
== References ==

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The retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet took place from March to July 2011. Discovery was the first of the three active Space Shuttles to be retired, completing its final mission on March 9, 2011; Endeavour did so on June 1. The final shuttle mission was completed with the landing of Atlantis on July 21, 2011, closing the 30-year Space Shuttle program.
The Shuttle was presented to the public in 1972 as a "space truck" which would, among other things, be used to build a United States space station in low Earth orbit in the early 1990s and then be replaced by a new vehicle. When the concept of the U.S. space station evolved into that of the International Space Station (ISS), which suffered from long delays and design changes before it could be completed, the service life of the Space Shuttle fleet was extended several times until 2011 when it was finally retired.
After the Columbia loss in 2003, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report showed that the Space Transportation System (STS) was risky and unsafe. In 2004, President George W. Bush announced (along with the VSE policy) that the Shuttles would be retired in 2010 (after completing ISS assembly).
In 2010, Shuttle retirements began, with Atlantis being taken out of service first after STS-132 in May of that year. The program was once again extended when the two final planned missions were delayed until 2011. Later, one additional mission was added for Atlantis for July 2011, extending the program further. Counter-proposals to the shuttle's retirement were considered by Congress and the prime contractor United Space Alliance as late as Spring 2010.
Hardware developed for the Space Shuttle met various ends at the conclusion of the program, including donation, disuse, disposal, or reuse. An example of reuse is that one of the three Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules (MPLM) was converted into a permanent module for the International Space Station.
== Fate of surviving STS program hardware ==
=== Space Shuttle Orbiters ===
More than twenty organizations submitted proposals for the display of an orbiter in their museums. On April 12, 2011, NASA announced that the 4 remaining Space Shuttle orbiters will be displayed permanently at these locations:
*Prior to its move to Intrepid Museum, Enterprise was originally displayed in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, from 2003 to 2011.
Museums and other facilities not selected to receive an orbiter were disappointed. Elected officials representing Houston, Texas, location of the Johnson Space Center; and Dayton, Ohio, location of the National Museum of the United States Air Force, called for Congressional investigations into the selection process, though no such action was taken. While local and Congressional politicians in Texas questioned if partisan politics played a role in the selection, former JSC Director Wayne Hale wrote, "Houston didn't get an orbiter because Houston didn't deserve it", pointing to weak support from area politicians, media and residents, describing a "sense of entitlement".
Chicago media questioned the decision not to include the Adler Planetarium in the list of facilities receiving orbiters, pointing to Chicago's 3rd-largest population in the United States. The chair of the NASA committee that made the selections pointed to the guidance from Congress that the orbiters go to facilities where the most people could see them, and the ties to the space program of Southern California (home to Edwards Air Force Base, where nearly half of shuttle flights have ended and home to the plants which manufactured the orbiters and the RS-25 engines), the Smithsonian (curator of the nation's air and space artifacts), the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (where all Shuttle launches originated, and a large tourist draw) and the Intrepid Museum (Intrepid also served as a recovery ship for Project Mercury and Project Gemini). The Adler Planetarium was awarded the Fixed Base Shuttle Mission Simulator, however it remained in storage off-display at the planetarium until 2016, when it was transferred to the Stafford Air and Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma.
In August 2011 the NASA Inspector General released an audit of the display selection process; it highlighted issues which led to the final decision. The Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, March Field Air Museum, Riverside, California, Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon, National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Dayton, Ohio, San Diego Air and Space Museum, San Diego, Space Center Houston, Houston, Texas, Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium, Tulsa, Oklahoma and U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama scored poorly on international access. Additionally, Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History and the Bush Library at Texas A&M, in College Station, Texas scored poorly on museum attendance, regional population and was the only facility found to pose a significant risk in transporting an orbiter there. Overall, the California Science Center scored first and Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History scored last. The two most controversial locations which were not awarded an orbiter, Space Center Houston and National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, finished 2nd to last and near the middle of the list respectively. The report noted a scoring error, which if corrected would have placed the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in a tie with the Intrepid Museum and Kennedy Visitor Complex (just below the California Science Center), although due to funding concerns the same decisions would have been made.
The Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington was not selected to receive an orbiter but instead received the three–story Full Fuselage Trainer from the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Museum officials, though disappointed, were able to allow the public to go inside the trainer, something not possible with an actual orbiter.

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In addition to the challenge of transporting the large vehicles to the display site, placing the units on permanent display required considerable effort and cost. An article in the February 2012 issue of Smithsonian magazine discussed the work performed on Discovery. It involved removing the three main engines (they were slated to be reused on NASA's Space Launch System); the windows were given to project engineers for analysis of how materials and systems fared after repeated space exposure; the communications modules were removed due to national–security concerns; and hazardous materials such as traces of propellants were thoroughly flushed from the plumbing. The total cost of preparation and delivery via a modified Boeing 747 was estimated at $26.5 million in 2011 dollars.
=== Payload hardware ===
Spacelab Pallet Elvis – handed over to the Swiss Museum of Transport, Switzerland, in March 2010.
One of the two Spacelabs—on display at Bremen Airport, Germany.
Another Spacelab is on display at the Udvar-Hazy center behind Discovery
MPLM Leonardo: converted to the ISS Permanent Multipurpose Module, currently on-orbit
MPLM Raffaello: removed from the bay of Atlantis, stored at KSC, transferred in 2023 to Axiom Space for reuse.
MPLM Donatello: the unused MPLM, some parts were cannibalized for Leonardo. The remainder is mothballed in the ISS processing facility at KSC.
Various space pallets used since STS-1: the fates of these objects range from space center storage to scrap to museum pieces
=== Tiles ===
NASA ran a program to donate thermal protection system tiles to schools and universities for US$23.40 each (the fee for shipping and handling). About 7000 tiles were available on a first-come, first-served basis, but limited to one per institution. Each orbiter incorporated over 21,000 tiles.
=== RS-25 ===
About 42 reusable RS-25 engines have been part of the STS program, with three used per orbiter per mission. NASA decided to retain sixteen engines with plans to make use of them on the Space Launch System, where they will be expended. The first flight of the Space Launch System took place in 2022. The remaining engines were donated to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Johnson Space Center Space Center Houston, the National Air and Space Museum, and other exhibits around the country.
==== RS-25 nozzles ====
Worn out engine nozzles are typically considered scrap, although nine nozzles were refurbished for display on the donated orbiters, so the actual engines can be retained by NASA.
=== Canadarm (SRMS) and OBSS ===
Three Shuttle arms were used by NASA; the arms of both Discovery and Atlantis will be left in place for their museum display. Endeavour's arm is to be removed from the orbiter for separate display in Canada. The OBSS extension of Endeavour's arm was left on the International Space Station, for use with the station's robotic arm.
=== Information technology ===
In December 2010, as NASA prepared for the STS program ending, an audit by the NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that information technology had been sold or prepared for sale that still contained sensitive information. NASA OIG recommended NASA be more careful in the future.
=== Other shuttle hardware ===
==== KSC Launch Complex 39 ====
The twin pads originally built for the Apollo program were deactivated. LC-39B was deactivated first on January 1, 2007. Three lightning towers were added to the pad and it was temporarily "re-activated" in April 2009 when Endeavour was placed on standby to rescue the STS-125 crew (the STS-125 mission was the last to visit the Hubble Space Telescope, which meant that the ISS was out of range) if needed; Endeavour was then moved over to LC-39A for STS-126. In October 2009 the prototype Ares I-X rocket was launched from 39B. The pad was then permanently deactivated and has since been dismantled and has been modified for the Space Launch System program, and possibly other launch vehicles. Like the Apollo structures before them, the shuttle structures were scrapped. The first launch from 39B since Ares I-X was Artemis 1 on November 16th 2022, being the first lunar bound launch from the pad since Apollo 10. 39A was deactivated in July 2011 after STS-135 was launched.
By 2012, NASA came to the conclusion that it would incur material cost to maintain LC-39A even in an inactive state and decided to seek interest of others to lease the pad for their use. NASA solicited and SpaceX won the competition for use of LC-39A. Blue Origin protested the decision to the General Accounting Office (GAO) generating uncertainty of the intent of NASA in the event that a commercial user or users could not be acquired. On January 16, 2013, one or more news outlets erroneously reported that NASA planned to abandon the pad; NASA was quick to clarify and identify that the actual plan was to, like pad B, convert it for other rockets without dismantling it. If NASA did plan to permanently decommission the pads, they would have to restore them to their original Apollo-era appearance, as both pads are on the National Historic Register.
SpaceX has since converted the pad to launch Falcon Heavy and crewed Crew Dragon Falcon 9 flights. Following the destruction of Space Launch Complex 40 in an on-pad explosion in September 2016, SpaceX had to move all east coast launches to 39A while SLC-40 was being rebuilt. The first launch, Dragon resupply vehicle carried by a Falcon 9, occurred February 12, 2017. This flight was the first uncrewed launch from Complex 39 since Skylab was launched in 1973. Once SLC-40 was reactivated, SpaceX finished modifying the pad for Falcon Heavy. Due to SLC-40s destruction, 39A had to be rushed into service, and activities such as dismantling the RSS were put on hold. For the first few missions from 39A, even after SLC-40 was reactivated, SpaceX dismantled the RSS between launches and added black cladding to the fixed service structure.
==== Vehicle Assembly Building ====

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After STS-135, the VAB was used as a storage shed for the decommissioned shuttles before they were sent to museums. NASA awarded a contract in March 2014 for design and build/delivery of VAB High Bay 3 modifications to support the SLS program. In February 2017, the contractor team completed platform installation to enable SLS stacking. SLS/Artemis 1 mission processed through VAB Bay 3 prior to its launch in November 2022. Other VAB bays, such as High Bay 2, are being made available by NASA for other programs.
==== Mobile Launcher Platform ====
Three mobile launcher platforms used to support the Space Shuttle will be used for commercial launch vehicles.
The Mobile Launcher Platform-1 (MLP-1) was used for 62 Shuttle launches, starting in 1981. It was the most used of the three MLPs.
The Ares I-X suborbital mission utilized the MLP-1 to support the stacking and launch operations. The canceled Ares I-Y would have used the same MLP. Following the STS-135, usable parts from MLP-1 were removed and stored in the Vehicle Assembly Building, with no plans to use the MLP again. Eventually the MLP was weighed down with concrete blocks and used for conditioning the crawlerway for SLS as of September 2021.
Mobile Launcher Platform-2 (MLP-2) was used for 44 Shuttle launches, starting in 1983. All of the orbiters except Columbia made their maiden flights from MLP-2. It was also the launch site for the ill-fated STS-51L mission, when Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated shortly after launch, killing all seven crew members. in January 2021 MLP-2 was scrapped, as with 2 more MLPs for SLS under construction, NASA was running out of places to store the launch platforms.
Mobile Launcher Platform-3 (MLP-3) was used for 29 Shuttle launches, starting in 1990. It was the least used of the three MLPs.
The MLP-3 was acquired by Orbital ATK (who was later bought out by Northrop Grumman) to launch their future OmegA rocket. They planned to use the Vehicle Assembly Building High Bay 2 to assemble the rocket, and crawler-transporter 1 to move the rocket to LC-39B for launch. Unfortunately, due to a lack of Federal Funds, Omega was cancelled in September 2020, leaving MLP-3 without a tenant.
==== Crawler-Transporter ====
The Crawler-Transporters were used as the mobile part of the pad with the Shuttles; the two vehicles were deactivated and are being upgraded for the Space Launch System. The crawlerways used for transporting launch vehicles from the VAB to the twin pads of KSC are also being extensively renovated for the Artemis program.
==== Shuttle Carrier Aircraft ====
Two modified Boeing 747s were used to fly the shuttles back to KSC when they landed at Edwards AFB. N911NA was retired on February 8, 2012, and became a parts hulk for the former Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. Beginning in September 2014, N911NA was loaned out to the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark, in Palmdale, California, where it is on outdoor display next to a B-52. The other aircraft, N905NA was used to send Discovery, Endeavour and Enterprise to their museums and in September 2012 was found to have few parts for SOFIA. It is currently a museum piece at the Johnson Space Center, displayed carrying a full-scale replica of an orbiter.
==== NASA recovery ships ====
Used to retrieve the SRBs, MV Liberty Star and Freedom Star are now separated. Liberty Star was renamed as TV Kings Pointer and was transferred to the Merchant Marine Academy in New York for use as a training vessel. It will remain on call in case NASA needs it for further missions. Freedom Star was transferred to the James River Reserve Fleet on September 28, 2012, and placed under ownership of the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD). In November 2016, MV Freedom Star was re-purposed as a training vessel to the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and
Education, on loan from MARAD.
==== Orbiter Processing Facility ====
The buildings used to process the shuttles after each mission were decommissioned. OPF-1 was leased to Boeing in January 2014 for processing the X-37B spaceplane. Once the agreement for use was signed between NASA and the U.S. Air Force and made public, use of both OPF-1 and OPF-2 for X-37B was confirmed. OPF-3 was leased as well to Boeing for 15 years to use in the manufacture and test of the CST-100 spacecraft.
==== Shuttle Landing Facility ====
The runway at KSC is evolving as a Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) to support multiple users including a group of F-104 aircraft, use by launch providers for delivery of rocket stages by aircraft, availability for spaceflight horizontal launch and landing, and for other uses supporting both Kennedy Space Center and adjacent Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It is used to land the X-37B and will be for Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser spaceplanes. The LLF received its first landing from space since Atlantis when the USAF X-37B landed on it at the end of almost two years in orbit in June 2017.

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== Former planned Space Shuttle successors ==
There were a number of proposals for space access systems in the 1970s also, such as the Rockwell Star-raker. Star-raker was a large single-stage to orbit (SSTO) design that used both rockets and ramjet for propulsion. It was a contemporary to the Boeing Reusable Aerodynamic Space Vehicle, which was an all-rocket propulsion SSTO design.
Some programs from the early 1980s were the Future Space Transportation System program and the later NASA Advanced Manned Launch System program.
In the late 1980s, a planned successor to STS was called "Shuttle II", which encompassed a number of different ideas including smaller tanks over the wings and a detachable crew cabin for emergencies, and was influenced by the Challenger disaster. At one point before retirement, extension of the Space Shuttle program for an additional five years, while a replacement could be developed, was considered by the U.S. government. Some programs proposed to provide access to space after the shuttle were the Lockheed Martin X-33, VentureStar, the Orbital Space Plane Program, and Ares I launcher.
For comparison to an earlier retirement, when the Saturn IB was last flown in 1975 for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the Shuttle development program was already well underway. However, the Shuttle did not fly until 1981, which left a six-year gap in U.S. human spaceflight. Because of this and other reasons, in particular, higher than expected Solar activity that caused Skylab's orbit to decay faster than hoped, the U.S. space station Skylab burned up in the atmosphere.
The Ares I was going to be NASA's crewed spacecraft after STS, with Congress attempting to accelerate its development so it would be ready as early as 2016 for the ISS, in addition they attempted to delay retirement of the shuttle to reduce the time gap. However, Ares I was cancelled along with the rest of Constellation in 2010. The successor to the Space Shuttle after the cancellation would be commercial crew spacecraft, such as the Dragon 2 from SpaceX which first launched crew on May 30, 2020, as the SpaceX Demo-2 mission, and the Starliner from Boeing which first launched crew on June 5, 2024, as the Boeing CFT mission, while NASA's flagship in-house crewed missions will be aboard Orion on the SLS.
=== Constellation Program ===
Following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, in early 2003 President George W. Bush, announced his Vision for Space Exploration which called for the completion of the American portion of the International Space Station by 2010 (due to delays this would not happen until 2011), the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet following its completion, to return to the Moon by 2020 and one day to Mars. A new vehicle would need to be developed, it eventually was named the Orion spacecraft, a six-person variant would have serviced the ISS and a four-person variant would have traveled to the Moon. The Ares I would have launched Orion, and the Ares V heavy-lift vehicle (HLV) would have launched all other hardware. The Altair lunar lander would have landed crew and cargo onto the Moon. The Constellation program experienced many cost overruns and schedule delays, and was openly criticized by the subsequent U.S. president, Barack Obama.
In February 2010, the Obama administration proposed eliminating public funds for the Constellation program and shifting greater responsibility of servicing the ISS to private companies. During a speech at the Kennedy Space Center on April 15, 2010, President Obama proposed the design selection of the new HLV that would replace the Ares-V but would not occur until 2015. The U.S. Congress drafted the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 and President Obama signed it into law on October 11 of that year. The authorization act officially cancelled the Constellation program.
The development of the combination of Ares I and Orion was predicted to cost about US$50 billion. One of the issues with Ares I was the criticism of the second stage, which the post-cancellation Liberty proposal attempted to address by using a second stage from an Ariane 5. The Liberty proposal applied for but was not chosen for commercial crew. The other ongoing complaint was that it made more sense to make a man-rated version of the Atlas or Delta. The first crewed flight for Ares I was scheduled for March 2015, and one of its priorities was crew safety. One reason for the emphasis on safety was that it was envisioned in the aftermath of the Columbia disaster.
== Current and future Space Shuttle successors ==
=== Soyuz ===
U.S. astronauts have continued to access the ISS aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The Soyuz was chosen as the ISS lifeboat during the development of the International Space Station. The first NASA astronaut to launch on a Soyuz rocket was Norman Thagard, as part of the Shuttle-Mir program. Launching on March 14, 1995, on Soyuz TM-21, he visited the Mir however he returned to Earth on the Space Shuttle mission STS-71. The start of regular use of the Soyuz began as part of the International Space Station program, with William Shepherd launching on Soyuz TM-31 in October 2000. NASA has continued to take regular flights in the following two decades. NASA was contracted to use Soyuz seats until at least 2018.
The consideration of Soyuz as a lifeboat began in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Russia proposed using the Soyuz as a lifeboat for what was still Space Station Freedom in late 1991, leading to further analysis of this concept in the early 1990s. One of the milestones was in 1992, when after three months of negotiations the heads of the two Space Agencies agreed to study applications of the Soyuz spacecraft.

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In March 1992, Russian and US space officials discussed the possibility of cooperation in manned space program, including ACRV. On June 18, 1992, after three months of negotiations, NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin and Director General of the Russian Space Agency Yuri Nikolayevich Koptev, "ratified" a contract between NASA and NPO-Energia to study possible application of the Soyuz spacecraft and Russian docking port in the Freedom project
Since the first NASA use of Soyuz in 1995, NASA astronauts have flown on the following Soyuz versions: Soyuz-TM, Soyuz-TMA (and Soyuz TMA-M), Soyuz MS (which had its first flight in 2016).
NASA also purchased several space modules from Russia including Spektr, Docking Module (Mir), Priroda, and Zarya.
=== Orion and the SLS ===
The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 required a new heavy–lift vehicle design to be chosen within 90 days of its passing. The authorization act called this new HLV the Space Launch System (SLS). The Orion spacecraft was left virtually unchanged from its previous design. The Space Launch System will launch both Orion and other necessary hardware. The SLS is to be upgraded over time with more powerful versions. The initial version of SLS will be capable of lifting 70 tonnes into low Earth orbit. It is then planned to be upgraded in various ways to lift 105 tonnes, and then, eventually, 130 tonnes.
Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1), an uncrewed test flight of Orion's crew module, launched on December 5, 2014, on a Delta IV Heavy rocket.
Artemis 1 is the first flight of the SLS and was launched in November 2022 as a test of the completed Orion and SLS system. Artemis 2, the first crewed mission of the program, launched four astronauts in April, 2026, since all Artemis 1 flight objectives have been met. The second mission included a free-return flyby of the Moon at a distance of 8,520 kilometers (4,600 nmi). After Artemis 2, the Power and Propulsion Element of the Lunar Gateway and three components of an expendable lunar lander are planned to be delivered on multiple launches from commercial launch service providers.
Artemis 3 is planned to launch in 2027 aboard a SLS Block 1 rocket and will use the minimalist Gateway and expendable lander to achieve the first crewed lunar landing of the program. The flight is planned to touch down on the lunar south pole region, with two astronauts staying there for about one week.
=== ISS crew and cargo resupply ===
The ISS is planned to be funded until at least 2020. There has been discussion to extend it to 2028 or beyond. Until another U.S. crew vehicle was ready, crews accessed the ISS exclusively aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The Soyuz was chosen as the ISS lifeboat during the development of the International Space Station, and has been one of the space taxis used by the international participants to this program. A Soyuz took Expedition 1, which included one U.S. astronaut in the year 2000. Previously the United States and Russia had collaborated on extended the Mir space station with the Shuttle-Mir program in the 1990s.
Although the Orion spacecraft is oriented towards deep-space missions such as NEO visitation, it can also be used to retrieve crew or supplies from the ISS if that task is needed. However, the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) produced a functioning crewed space vehicle starting operations in 2020, providing an alternative to Orion or Soyuz. The delay was longer than expected because the Ares I was cancelled in 2010, leaving little time before the STS retired for something new to be ready for flight. U.S. Congress was aware a spaceflight gap could occur and accelerated funding in 2008 and 2009 in preparation for the retirement of the Shuttle. At that time the first crewed flight of the planned Ares I launcher would not have occurred until 2015, and its first use at ISS until 2016. Another option that has been analyzed is to adapt Orion to a human-rated heavy launch vehicle like the Delta IV Heavy. (see also Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) Another spacecraft evaluated by NASA, and also for commercial crew, is the OmegA rocket, which will look similar to Ares I and will be based on the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster.
==== Commercial Resupply Services ====
The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) development program began in 2006 with the purpose of creating commercially operated automated cargo spacecraft to service the ISS. The program is a fixed–price milestone-based development program, meaning that each company that received a funded award had to have a list of milestones with a dollar value attached to them that they would not receive until after achieving the milestone. Private companies are also required to have some "skin in the game" which refers to raising additional private investment for their proposal.
On December 23, 2008, NASA awarded Commercial Resupply Services contracts to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation (with corporate mergers and acquisitions now Northrop Grumman). SpaceX is using its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft and Orbital Sciences (now Northrop Grumman) is using its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft. The first Dragon resupply mission occurred in May 2012. The first Cygnus resupply mission completed on 23 Oct 2013 after a flight that included remaining attached to the ISS for 23 days. The CRS program provides for all the projected U.S. cargo-transportation needs to the ISS, with the exception of a few vehicle–specific payloads to be delivered on the European ATV and the Japanese HTV.
==== Commercial Crew Program ====

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The Commercial Crew Program (CCP) was initiated in 2010 with the purpose of creating commercially operated crew vehicles capable of delivering at least four astronauts to the ISS, staying docked for 180 days and then returning them to Earth. Like COTS, CCP is a fixed–price milestone-based developmental program that requires some private investment.
In the first phase of the program, NASA provided a total of $50 million divided among five U.S. companies, intended to foster research and development into human spaceflight concepts and technologies in the private sector. In 2011, during the second phase of the program, NASA provided $270 million divided among four companies. During the third phase of the program, NASA provided $1.1 billion divided among three companies. This phase of the CCP was expected to last from June 3, 2012, to May 31, 2014. The winners of that round were SpaceX Dragon 2 (derived from the Dragon cargo vehicle), Boeing's CST-100 and Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser. The United Launch Alliance worked on human-rating their Atlas V rocket as part of the latter two proposals. Ultimately NASA selected the Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner with the Dream Chaser only receiving a cargo contract. The Crew Dragon began delivering crew in 2020, with the CST-100, who began delivering crew in 2024.
On May 30, 2020, SpaceX launched Crew Dragon on the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station. It carried a crew of two NASA astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, for a 62-day mission, which was incorporated as part of Expedition 63. This was the first crewed launch of a US-built capsule since the Apollo-Soyuz Test project on July 15, 1975. Hurley, who was the pilot for Atlantis on the final Shuttle mission, STS-135, commanded the Demo-2 mission. Operational use of the Crew Dragon began with the launch of SpaceX Crew-1, carrying four astronauts, on November 16, 2020. The crew joined Expedition 64. Of the crew, only Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi had previously flown on the Space Shuttle.
On the other hand, on June 5, 2024, Boeing launched Starliner on the CFT mission to the International Space Station. It carried a crew of two NASA astronauts, Barry E. Wilmore and Sunita Williams, for a 8-day short mission, albeit extended to more than a month in length due to propulsion issues. Wilmore, who was the pilot for Atlantis on the 129th Shuttle mission, STS-129, commanded the CFT mission.
== Gallery ==
== See also ==
Commercial Crew Development
Criticism of the Space Shuttle program
List of Russian human spaceflight missions
== References ==
== External links ==
NASA Space Shuttle Portal

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The Space Shuttle thermal protection system (TPS) is the barrier that protected the Space Shuttle Orbiter during the extreme 1,650 °C (3,000 °F) heat of atmospheric reentry. A secondary goal was to protect from the heat and cold of space while in orbit.
== Materials ==
The TPS covered essentially the entire orbiter surface, and consisted of seven different materials in varying locations based on amount of required heat protection:
Reinforced carbon–carbon (RCC), used in the nose cap, the chin area between the nose cap and nose landing gear doors, the arrowhead aft of the nose landing gear door, and the wing leading edges. Used where reentry temperature exceeded 1,260 °C (2,300 °F).
High-temperature reusable surface insulation (HRSI) tiles, used on the orbiter underside. Made of coated LI-900 silica ceramics. Used where reentry temperature was below 1,260 °C.
Fibrous refractory composite insulation (FRCI) tiles, used to provide improved strength, durability, resistance to coating cracking and weight reduction. Some HRSI tiles were replaced by this type.
Flexible Insulation Blankets (FIB), a quilted, flexible blanket-like surface insulation. Used where reentry temperature was below 649 °C (1,200 °F).
Low-temperature Reusable Surface Insulation (LRSI) tiles, formerly used on the upper fuselage, but were mostly replaced by FIB. Used in temperature ranges roughly similar to FIB.
Toughened unipiece fibrous insulation (TUFI) tiles, a stronger, tougher tile which came into use in 1996. Used in high and low temperature areas.
Felt reusable surface insulation (FRSI). White Nomex felt blankets on the upper payload bay doors, portions of the mid fuselage and aft fuselage sides, portions of the upper wing surface and a portion of the OMS/RCS pods. Used where temperatures stayed below 371 °C (700 °F).
Each type of TPS had specific heat protection, impact resistance, and weight characteristics, which determined the locations where it was used and the amount used.
The shuttle TPS had three key characteristics that distinguished it from the TPS used on previous spacecraft:
Reusable
Previous spacecraft generally used ablative heat shields which burned off during reentry and so could not be reused. This insulation was robust and reliable, and the single-use nature was appropriate for a single-use vehicle. By contrast, the reusable shuttle required a reusable thermal protection system.
Lightweight
Previous ablative heat shields were very heavy. For example, the ablative heat shield on the Apollo Command Module comprised about 15% of the vehicle weight. The winged shuttle had much more surface area than previous spacecraft, so a lightweight TPS was crucial.
Fragile
The only known technology in the early 1970s with the required thermal and weight characteristics was also so fragile, due to the very low density, that one could easily crush a TPS tile by hand.
== Purpose ==
The orbiter's aluminum structure could not withstand temperatures over 175 °C (347 °F) without structural failure.
Aerodynamic heating during reentry would push the temperature well above this level in areas, so an effective insulator was needed.
=== Reentry heating ===
Reentry heating differs from the normal atmospheric heating associated with jet aircraft, and this governed TPS design and characteristics. The skin of high-speed jet aircraft can also become hot, but this is from frictional heating due to atmospheric friction, similar to warming one's hands by rubbing them together. The orbiter reentered the atmosphere as a blunt body by having a very high (40°) angle of attack, with its broad lower surface facing the direction of flight. Over 80% of the heating the orbiter experiences during reentry is caused by compression of the air ahead of the hypersonic vehicle, in accordance with the basic thermodynamic relation between pressure and temperature. A hot shock wave was created in front of the vehicle, which deflected most of the heat and prevented the orbiter's surface from directly contacting the peak heat. Therefore, reentry heating was largely convective heat transfer between the shock wave and the orbiter's skin through superheated plasma. The key to a reusable shield against this type of heating is very low-density material, similar to how a thermos bottle inhibits convective heat transfer.
Some high-temperature metal alloys can withstand reentry heat; they simply get hot and re-radiate the absorbed heat. This technique, called heat sink thermal protection, was planned for the X-20 Dyna-Soar winged space vehicle. However, the amount of high-temperature metal required to protect a large vehicle like the Space Shuttle Orbiter would have been very heavy and entailed a severe penalty to the vehicle's performance. Similarly, ablative TPS would be heavy, possibly disturb vehicle aerodynamics as it burned off during reentry, and require significant maintenance to reapply after each mission.
Unfortunately, TPS tile, which was originally specified never to take debris strikes during launch, in practice also needed to be closely inspected and repaired after each landing, due to damage potentially incurred during ascent, even before new on-orbit inspection policies were established following the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia. However, the average replacement rate was still low, with Discovery for example still having about 18,000 of its 24,000 tiles be the original at the end of its career.
== Detailed description ==

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The TPS was a system of different protection types, not just silica tiles. They are in two basic categories: tile TPS and non-tile TPS. The main selection criteria used the lightest weight protection capable of handling the heat in a given area. However, in some cases a heavier type was used if additional impact resistance was needed. The FIB blankets were primarily adopted for reduced maintenance, not for thermal or weight reasons.
Much of the shuttle was covered with LI-900 silica tiles, made from essentially very pure quartz sand. The insulation prevented heat transfer to the underlying orbiter aluminium skin and structure. These tiles were such poor heat conductors that one could hold one by the edges while it was still red hot.
There were about 24,300 unique tiles individually fitted on the vehicle, for which the orbiter has been called "the flying brickyard". Researchers at University of Minnesota and Pennsylvania State University are performing the atomistic simulations to obtain accurate description of interactions between atomic and molecular oxygen with silica surfaces to develop better high-temperature oxidation-protection systems for leading edges on hypersonic vehicles.
The tiles were not mechanically fastened to the vehicle, but glued. Since the brittle tiles could not flex with the underlying vehicle skin, they were glued to Nomex felt Strain Isolation Pads (SIPs) with room temperature vulcanizing (RTV) silicone adhesive, which were in turn glued to the orbiter skin. These isolated the tiles from the orbiter's structural deflections and expansions. Gluing on the 24,300 tiles required nearly two man-years of work for every flight, partly due to the fact that the glue dried quickly and new batches needed to be produced after every couple of tiles. An ad-hoc remedy that involved technicians spitting in the glue to slow down the drying process was common practice until 1988, when a tile-hazard study revealed that spit weakened the adhesive's bonding strength.
=== Tile types ===
==== High-temperature reusable surface insulation (HRSI) ====
The black HRSI tiles provided protection against temperatures up to 1,260 °C (2,300 °F). There were 20,548 HRSI tiles which covered the landing gear doors, external tank umbilical connection doors, and the rest of the orbiter's under surfaces. They were also used in areas on the upper forward fuselage, parts of the orbital maneuvering system pods, vertical stabilizer leading edge, elevon trailing edges, and upper body flap surface. They varied in thickness from 1 to 5 inches (2.5 to 12.7 cm), depending upon the heat load encountered during reentry. Except for closeout areas, these tiles were normally 6 by 6 inches (15 by 15 cm) square. The HRSI tile was composed of high purity silica fibers. Ninety percent of the volume of the tile was empty space, giving it a very low density (9 lb/cu ft or 140 kg/m3) making it light enough for spaceflight. The uncoated tiles were bright white in appearance and looked more like a solid ceramic than the foam-like material that they were.
The black coating on the tiles was Reaction Cured Glass (RCG) of which tetraboron silicide and borosilicate glass were some of several ingredients. RCG was applied to all but one side of the tile to protect the porous silica and to increase the heat sink properties. The coating was absent from a small margin of the sides adjacent to the uncoated (bottom) side. To waterproof the tile, dimethylethoxysilane was injected into the tiles by syringe. Densifying the tile with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) also helped to protect the silica and added additional waterproofing.
An uncoated HRSI tile held in the hand feels like a very light foam, less dense than styrofoam, and the delicate, friable material must be handled with extreme care to prevent damage. The coating feels like a thin, hard shell and encapsulates the white insulating ceramic to resolve its friability, except on the uncoated side. Even a coated tile feels very light, lighter than a same-sized block of styrofoam. As expected for silica, they are odorless and inert.
HRSI was primarily designed to withstand transition from areas of extremely low temperature (the void of space, about −270 °C or −454 °F) to the high temperatures of re-entry (caused by interaction, mostly compression at the hypersonic shock, between the gases of the upper atmosphere & the hull of the Space Shuttle, typically around 1,600 °C or 2,910 °F).
==== Fibrous Refractory Composite Insulation Tiles (FRCI) ====
The black FRCI tiles provided improved durability, resistance to coating cracking and weight reduction. Some HRSI tiles were replaced by this type.
==== Toughened unipiece fibrous insulation (TUFI) ====
A stronger, tougher tile which came into use in 1996. TUFI tiles came in high temperature black versions for use in the orbiter's underside, and lower temperature white versions for use on the upper body. While more impact resistant than other tiles, white versions conducted more heat which limited their use to the orbiter's upper body flap and main engine area. Black versions had sufficient heat insulation for the orbiter underside but had greater weight. These factors restricted their use to specific areas.

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==== Low-temperature reusable surface insulation (LRSI) ====
White in color, these covered the upper wing near the leading edge. They were also used in selected areas of the forward, mid, and aft fuselage, vertical tail, and the OMS/RCS pods. These tiles protected areas where reentry temperatures are below 1,200 °F (649 °C). The LRSI tiles were manufactured in the same manner as the HRSI tiles, except that the tiles were 8 by 8 inches (20 by 20 cm) square and had a white RCG coating made of silica compounds with shiny aluminium oxide. The white color was by design and helped to manage heat on orbit when the orbiter was exposed to direct sunlight.
These tiles were reusable for up to 100 missions with refurbishment (100 missions was also the design lifetime of each orbiter). They were carefully inspected in the Orbiter Processing Facility after each mission, and damaged or worn tiles were immediately replaced before the next mission. Fabric sheets known as gap fillers were also inserted between tiles where necessary. These allowed for a snug fit between tiles, preventing excess plasma from penetrating between them, yet allowing for thermal expansion and flexing of the underlying vehicle skin.
Prior to the introduction of FIB blankets, LRSI tiles occupied all of the areas now covered by the blankets, including the upper fuselage and the whole surface of the OMS pods. This TPS configuration was only used on Columbia and Challenger.
=== Non-tile TPS ===
==== Flexible Insulation Blankets/Advanced Flexible Reusable Insulation (FIB/AFRSI) ====
Developed after the initial delivery of Columbia and first used on the OMS pods of Challenger. This white low-density fibrous silica batting material had a quilt-like appearance, and replaced the vast majority of the LRSI tiles. They required much less maintenance than LRSI tiles yet had about the same thermal properties. After their limited use on Challenger, they were used much more extensively beginning with Discovery and replaced many of the LRSI tiles on Columbia after the loss of Challenger.
==== Reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) ====
The light gray material which withstood reentry temperatures up to 1,510 °C (2,750 °F) protected the wing leading edges and nose cap. Each of the orbiters' wings had 22 RCC panels about 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 inch (6.4 to 12.7 mm) thick. T-seals between each panel allowed for thermal expansion and lateral movement between these panels and the wing.
RCC was a laminated composite material made from carbon fibres impregnated with a phenolic resin. After curing at high temperature in an autoclave, the laminate was pyrolized to convert the resin to pure carbon. This was then impregnated with furfural alcohol in a vacuum chamber, then cured and pyrolized again to convert the furfural alcohol to carbon. This process was repeated three times until the desired carbon-carbon properties were achieved.
To provide oxidation resistance for reuse capability, the outer layers of the RCC were coated with silicon carbide. The silicon-carbide coating protected the carbon-carbon from oxidation. The RCC was highly resistant to fatigue loading that was experienced during ascent and entry. It was stronger than the tiles and was also used around the socket of the forward attach point of the orbiter to the External Tank to accommodate the shock loads of the explosive bolt detonation. RCC was the only TPS material that also served as structural support for part of the orbiter's aerodynamic shape: the wing leading edges and the nose cap. All other TPS components (tiles and blankets) were mounted onto structural materials that supported them, mainly the aluminium frame and skin of the orbiter.
==== Nomex Felt Reusable Surface Insulation (FRSI) ====
This white, flexible fabric offered protection at up to 371 °C (700 °F). FRSI covered the orbiter's upper wing surfaces, upper payload bay doors, portions of the OMS/RCS pods, and aft fuselage.
==== Gap fillers ====
Gap fillers were placed at doors and moving surfaces to minimize heating by preventing the formation of vortices. Doors and moving surfaces created open gaps in the heat protection system that had to be protected from heat. Some of these gaps were safe, but there were some areas on the heat shield where surface pressure gradients caused a crossflow of boundary layer air in those gaps.
The filler materials were made of either white AB312 fibers or black AB312 cloth covers (which contain alumina fibers). These materials were used around the leading edge of the nose cap, windshields, side hatch, wing, trailing edge of elevons, vertical stabilizer, the rudder/speed brake, body flap, and heat shield of the shuttle's main engines.
On STS-114, some of this material was dislodged and determined to pose a potential safety risk. It was possible that the gap filler could cause turbulent airflow further down the fuselage, which would result in much higher heating, potentially damaging the orbiter. The cloth was removed during a spacewalk during the mission.
=== Weight considerations ===
While reinforced carbon–carbon had the best heat protection characteristics, it was also much heavier than the silica tiles and FIBs, so it was limited to relatively small areas. In general the goal was to use the lightest weight insulation consistent with the required thermal protection. Density of each TPS type:
Total area and weight of each TPS type (used on Orbiter 102, pre-1996):
== Early TPS problems ==
=== Slow tile application ===

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Tiles often fell off and caused much of the delay in the launch of STS-1, the first shuttle mission, which was originally scheduled for 1979 but did not occur until April 1981. NASA was unused to lengthy delays in its programs, and was under great pressure from the government and military to launch soon. In March 1979 it moved the incomplete Columbia, with 7,800 of the 31,000 tiles missing, from the Rockwell International plant in Palmdale, California to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Beyond creating the appearance of progress in the program, NASA hoped that the tiling could be finished while the rest of the orbiter was prepared. This was a mistake; some of the Rockwell tilers disliked Florida and soon returned to California, and the Orbiter Processing Facility was not designed for manufacturing and was too small for its 400 workers.
Each tile used cement that required 16 hours to cure. After the tile was affixed to the cement, a jack held it in place for another 16 hours. In March 1979 it took each worker 40 hours to install one tile; by using young, efficient college students during the summer the pace sped up to 1.8 tiles per worker per week. Thousands of tiles failed stress tests and had to be replaced. By fall NASA realized that the speed of tiling would determine the launch date. The tiles were so problematic that officials would have switched to any other thermal protection method, but none other existed.
Because it had to be ferried without all tiles the gaps were filled with material to maintain the Shuttle's aerodynamics while in transit.
=== Concern over "zipper effect" ===
The tile TPS was an area of concern during shuttle development, mainly concerning adhesion reliability. Some engineers thought a failure mode could exist whereby one tile could detach, and resulting aerodynamic pressure would create a "zipper effect" stripping off other tiles. Whether during ascent or reentry, the result would be disastrous.
=== Concern over debris strikes ===
Another problem was ice or other debris impacting the tiles during ascent. This had never been fully and thoroughly solved, as the debris had never been eliminated, and the tiles remained susceptible to damage from it. NASA's final strategy for mitigating this problem was to aggressively inspect for, assess, and address any damage that may occur, while on orbit and before reentry, in addition to on the ground between flights.
=== Early tile repair plans ===
These concerns were sufficiently great that NASA did significant work developing an emergency-use tile repair kit which the STS-1 crew could use before deorbiting. By December 1979, prototypes and early procedures were completed, most of which involved equipping the astronauts with a special in-space repair kit and a jet pack called the Manned Maneuvering Unit, or MMU, developed by Martin Marietta.
Another element was a maneuverable work platform which would secure an MMU-propelled spacewalking astronaut to the fragile tiles beneath the orbiter. The concept used electrically controlled adhesive cups which would lock the work platform into position on the featureless tile surface. About one year before the 1981 STS-1 launch, NASA decided the repair capability was not worth the additional risk and training, so discontinued development. There were unresolved problems with the repair tools and techniques; also further tests indicated the tiles were unlikely to come off. The first shuttle mission did suffer several tile losses, but they were in non-critical areas, and no "zipper effect" occurred.
== Columbia accident and aftermath ==
On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia was destroyed on reentry due to a failure of the TPS. The investigation team found and reported that the probable cause of the accident was that during launch, a piece of foam debris punctured an RCC panel on the left wing's leading edge and allowed hot gases from the reentry to enter the wing and disintegrate the wing from within, leading to eventual loss of control and breakup of the shuttle.
The Space Shuttle's thermal protection system received a number of controls and modifications after the disaster. They were applied to the three remaining shuttles, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour in preparation for subsequent mission launches into space.
On 2005's STS-114 mission, in which Discovery made the first flight to follow the Columbia accident, NASA took a number of steps to verify that the TPS was undamaged. The 50-foot-long (15 m) Orbiter Boom Sensor System, a new extension to the Remote Manipulator System, was used to perform laser imaging of the TPS to inspect for damage. Prior to docking with the International Space Station, Discovery performed a Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver, simply a 360° backflip rotation, allowing all areas of the vehicle to be photographed from ISS. Two gap fillers were protruding from the orbiter's underside more than the nominally allowed distance, and the agency cautiously decided it would be best to attempt to remove the fillers or cut them flush rather than risk the increased heating they would cause. Even though each one protruded less than 3 cm (1.2 in), it was believed that leaving them could cause heating increases of 25% upon reentry.
Because the orbiter did not have any handholds on its underside (as they would cause much more trouble with reentry heating than the protruding gap fillers of concern), astronaut Stephen K. Robinson worked from the ISS's robotic arm, Canadarm2. Because the TPS tiles were quite fragile, there had been concern that anyone working under the vehicle could cause more damage to the vehicle than was already there, but NASA officials felt that leaving the gap fillers alone was a greater risk. In the event, Robinson was able to pull the gap fillers free by hand, and caused no damage to the TPS on Discovery.

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== Tile donations ==
As of 2010, with the impending Space Shuttle retirement, NASA was donating TPS tiles to schools, universities, and museums for the cost of shipping—US$23.40 each. About 7000 tiles were available on a first-come, first-served basis, but limited to one each per institution.
== See also ==
Space Shuttle program
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
Columbia Accident Investigation Board
== References ==
"When the Space Shuttle finally flies", article written by Rick Gore. National Geographic (pp. 316–347. Vol. 159, No. 3. March 1981). http://www.datamanos2.com/columbia/natgeomar81.html
Space Shuttle Operator's Manual, by Kerry Mark Joels and Greg Kennedy (Ballantine Books, 1982).
The Voyages of Columbia: The First True Spaceship, by Richard S. Lewis (Columbia University Press, 1984).
A Space Shuttle Chronology, by John F. Guilmartin and John Mauer (NASA Johnson Space Center, 1988).
Space Shuttle: The Quest Continues, by George Forres (Ian Allan, 1989).
Information Summaries: Countdown! NASA Launch Vehicles and Facilities, (NASA PMS 018-B (KSC), October 1991).
Space Shuttle: The History of Developing the National Space Transportation System, by Dennis Jenkins (Walsworth Publishing Company, 1996).
U.S. Human Spaceflight: A Record of Achievement, 1961–1998. NASA – Monographs in Aerospace History No. 9, July 1998.
Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System by Gary Milgrom. February, 2013. Free iTunes ebook download. https://books.apple.com/us/book/space-shuttle-thermal-protection/id591095660
== Notes ==
== External links ==
https://web.archive.org/web/20060909094330/http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/nasafact/tps.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20110707103505/http://ww3.albint.com/about/research/Pages/protectionSystems.aspx
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/sts_sys.html Archived 2009-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
https://web.archive.org/web/20160307090308/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/nexgen/Nexgen_Downloads/Shuttle_Gordon_TPS-PUBLIC_Appendix.pdf

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The Research Double Module (RDM) was a payload module built by Spacehab Inc (now Astrotech Corporation) for the US Space Shuttle Orbiters. The module flew only on the ill-fated Space Shuttle Columbia STS-107 mission, in which it was destroyed.
== STS-107 ==
The inaugural flight of Spacehab's research double module, which launched January 2003 on STS-107, ended when the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry. In February 2003 Spacehab received $17.7 million from its commercial insurance policy. In January 2004, Spacehab filed a formal claim against NASA for the amount of $87.7 million for the loss caused by the Columbia accident and in October 2004 NASA paid the company $8.2 million. In February 2007, Spacehab dropped all litigation against NASA.
== See also ==
Other Spacehab hardware:
Integrated Cargo Carrier
External Stowage Platform
Spacelab, European reusable laboratory flown in the Shuttle orbiter's cargo bay
== References ==

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Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier, and other related hardware housed in the Shuttle's cargo bay. The components were arranged in various configurations to meet the needs of each spaceflight.
Spacelab components flew on a total of about 32 Shuttle missions, depending on how such hardware and missions are tabulated. Spacelab allowed scientists to perform experiments in microgravity in geocentric orbit. There was a variety of Spacelab-associated hardware, so a distinction can be made between the major Spacelab program missions with European scientists running missions in the Spacelab habitable module, missions running other Spacelab hardware experiments, and other Space Transportation System (STS) missions that used some component of Spacelab hardware. There is some variation in counts of Spacelab missions, in part because there were different types of Spacelab missions with a large range in the amount of Spacelab hardware flown and the nature of each mission. There were at least 22 major Spacelab missions between 1983 and 1998, and Spacelab hardware was used on a number of other missions, with some of the Spacelab pallets being flown as late as 2008.
== Background and history ==
In August 1973, NASA and European Space Research Organisation (ESRO), now European Space Agency or ESA, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build a science laboratory for use on Space Shuttle flights. Construction of Spacelab was started in 1974 by Entwicklungsring Nord (ERNO), a subsidiary of VFW-Fokker GmbH, after merger with Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) named MBB/ERNO, and merged into EADS SPACE Transportation in 2003. The first lab module, LM1, was donated to NASA in exchange for flight opportunities for European astronauts. A second module, LM2, was bought by NASA for its own use from ERNO.
Construction on the Spacelab modules began in 1974 by what was then the company ERNO-VFW-Fokker.
Spacelab is important to all of us for at least four good reasons. It expanded the Shuttle's ability to conduct science on-orbit manyfold. It provided a marvelous opportunity and example of a large international joint venture involving government, industry, and science with our European allies. The European effort provided the free world with a really versatile laboratory system several years before it would have been possible if the United States had had to fund it on its own. And finally, it provided Europe with the systems development and management experience they needed to move into the exclusive manned space flight arena.
In the early 1970s NASA shifted its focus from the Lunar missions to the Space Shuttle, and also space research. The Administrator of NASA at the time moved the focus from a new space station to a space laboratory for the planned Space Shuttle. This would allow technologies for future space stations to be researched and harness the capabilities of the Space Shuttle for research.
Spacelab was produced by European Space Research Organisation (ESRO), a consortium of ten European countries including:
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
France
West Germany/Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Spain
Switzerland
United Kingdom
== Components ==
In addition to the laboratory module, the complete set also included five external pallets for experiments in vacuum built by British Aerospace (BAe) and a pressurized "Igloo" containing the subsystems needed for the pallet-only flight configuration operation. Eight flight configurations were qualified, though more could be assembled if needed.
The system had some unique features including an intended two-week turn-around time (for the original Space Shuttle launch turn-around time) and the roll-on-roll-off for loading in aircraft (Earth-transportation).
Spacelab consisted of a variety of interchangeable components, with the major one being a crewed laboratory that could be flown in the Space Shuttle orbiter's bay and returned to Earth. However, the habitable module did not have to be flown to conduct a Spacelab-type mission and there was a variety of pallets and other hardware supporting space research. The habitable module expanded the volume for astronauts to work in a shirt-sleeve environment and had space for equipment racks and related support equipment. When the habitable module was not used, some of the support equipment for the pallets could instead be housed in the smaller Igloo, a pressurized cylinder connected to the Space Shuttle orbiter crew area.
Spacelab missions typically supported multiple experiments, and the Spacelab 1 mission had experiments in the fields of space plasma physics, solar physics, atmospheric physics, astronomy, and Earth observation. The selection of appropriate modules was part of mission planning for Spacelab Shuttle missions, and for example, a mission might need less habitable space and more pallets, or vice versa.
=== Habitable module ===
The habitable Spacelab laboratory module comprised a cylindrical environment in the rear of the Space Shuttle orbiter payload bay, connected to the orbiter crew compartment by a tunnel. The laboratory had an outer diameter of 4.12 m (13.5 ft), and each segment a length of 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in). The laboratory module consisted at minimum of a core segment, which could be used alone in a short module configuration. The long module configuration included an additional experiment segment. It was also possible to operate Spacelab experiments from the orbiter's aft flight deck.
The pressurized tunnel had its connection point at the orbiter's mid-deck. There were two different length tunnels depending on the location of the habitable module in the payload bay. When the laboratory module was not used, but additional space was needed for support equipment, another structure called the Igloo could be used.
Two laboratory modules were built, identified as LM1 and LM2. LM1 is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum behind the Space Shuttle Discovery. LM2 was on display in the Bremenhalle exhibition in the Bremen Airport of Bremen, Germany from 2000 to 2010. It resides in building 4c at the nearby Airbus Defence and Space plant since 2010 and can only be viewed during guided tours.
=== Pallet ===

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The Spacelab Pallet is a U-shaped platform for mounting instrumentation, large instruments, experiments requiring exposure to space, and instruments requiring a large field of view, such as telescopes. The pallet has several hard points for mounting heavy equipment. The pallet can be used in single configuration or stacked end to end in double or triple configurations. Up to five pallets can be configured in the Space Shuttle cargo bay by using a double pallet plus triple pallet configurations.
The Spacelab Pallet used to transport both Canadarm2 and Dextre to the International Space Station is currently at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, on loan from NASA through the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
A Spacelab Pallet was transferred to the Swiss Museum of Transport for permanent display on 5 March 2010. The Pallet, nicknamed Elvis, was used during the eight-day STS-46 mission, 31 July – 8 August 1992, when ESA astronaut Claude Nicollier was on board Space Shuttle Atlantis to deploy ESA's European Retrievable Carrier (Eureca) scientific mission and the joint NASA/ASI (Italian Space Agency) Tethered Satellite System (TSS-1). The Pallet carried TSS-1 in the Shuttle's cargo bay.
Another Spacelab Pallet is on display at the U.S. National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. There was a total of ten space-flown Spacelab pallets.
=== Igloo ===
On spaceflights where a habitable module was not flown, but pallets were flown, a pressurized cylinder known as the Igloo carried the subsystems needed to operate the Spacelab equipment. The Igloo was 3 m (9.8 ft) tall, had a diameter of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in), and weighed 1,100 kg (2,400 lb). Two Igloo units were manufactured, both by Belgian company SABCA, and both were used on spaceflights. An Igloo component was flown on Spacelab 2, ASTRO-1, ATLAS-1, ATLAS-2, ATLAS-3, and ASTRO-2.
A Spacelab Igloo is on display at the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in the US.
=== Instrument Pointing System ===
The IPS was a gimbaled pointing device, capable of aiming telescopes, cameras, or other instruments. IPS was used on three different Space Shuttle missions between 1985 and 1995. IPS was manufactured by Dornier, and two units were made. The IPS was primarily constructed out of aluminum, steel, and multi-layer insulation.
IPS would be mounted inside the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Orbiter, and could provide gimbaled 3-axis pointing. It was designed for a pointing accuracy of less than 1 arcsecond (a unit of degree), and three pointing modes including Earth, Sun, and Stellar focused modes. The IPS was mounted on a pallet exposed to outer space in the payload bay.
IPS missions:
Spacelab 2, a.k.a. STS-51-F launched 1985
Astro-1, a.k.a. STS-35 launched in 1990
Astro-2, a.k.a. STS-67 launched in 1995
The Spacelab 2 mission flew the Infrared Telescope (IRT), which was a 15.2 cm (6.0 in) aperture helium-cooled infrared telescope, observing light between wavelengths of 1.7 to 118 μm. IRT collected infrared data on 60% of the galactic plane.
=== List of parts ===
Examples of Spacelab components or hardware:
EVA Airlock
Tunnel
Tunnel adapter
Igloo
Spacelab module
Forward end cone
Aft end cone
Core segment/module
Experiment racks
Experiment segment/module
Electrical Ground Support Equipment
Mechanical Ground Support Equipment
Electrical Power Distribution Subsystem
Command and Data Management Subsystem
Environmental Control Subsystem
Instrument Pointing System
Pallet Structure
Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure (MPESS)
The Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) assembly was not Spacelab hardware, strictly speaking. However, it was used most often on Spacelab flights. Also, NASA later used it with the SpaceHab modules.
== Missions ==
Spacelab components flew on 22 Space Shuttle missions from November 1983 to April 1998. The Spacelab components were decommissioned in 1998, except the Pallets. Science work was moved to the International Space Station (ISS) and Spacehab module, a pressurized carrier similar to the Spacelab Module. A Spacelab Pallet was recommissioned in 2000 for flight on STS-99. The "Spacelab Pallet – Deployable 1 (SLP-D1) with Canadian Dextre (Purpose Dexterous Manipulator)" was launched on STS-123. The Spacelab components were used on 41 Shuttle missions in total.
The habitable modules were flown on 16 Space Shuttle missions in the 1980s and 1990s. Spacelab Pallet missions were flown 6 times and Spacelab Pallets were flown on other missions 19 times.
Mission name acronyms:
ATLAS: Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science
ASTRO: Not an acronym; abbreviation for "astronomy"
IML: International Microgravity Laboratory
LITE: Lidar In-space Technology Experiment
LMS: Life and Microgravity Sciences
MSL: Materials Science Laboratory
SLS: Spacelab Life Sciences
SRL: Space Radar Laboratory
TSS: Tethered Satellite System
USML: U.S. Microgravity Laboratory
USMP: U.S. Microgravity Payload
Besides contributing to ESA missions, Germany and Japan each funded their own Space Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Although superficially similar to other flights, they were actually the first and only non-U.S. and non-European human space missions with complete German and Japanese control.
The first West German mission Deutschland 1 (Spacelab-D1, DLR-1, NASA designation STS-61-A) took place in 1985. A second similar mission, Deutschland 2 (Spacelab-D2, DLR-2, NASA designation STS-55), was first planned for 1988, but due to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, was delayed until 1993. It became the first German human space mission after German reunification.
The only Japan mission, Spacelab-J (NASA designation STS-47), took place in 1992.
=== Other missions ===
STS-92, October 2000, PMA-3, ( Discovery)
STS-108, December 2001, Lightweight Mission Peculiar Support Structure Carrier (LMC) ( Endeavour)
STS-123, March 2008, Pallet ( Endeavour), Dextre
=== Cancelled missions ===
Spacelab-4, Spacelab-5, and other planned Spacelab missions were cancelled due to the late development of the Shuttle and the Challenger disaster.
=== Gallery ===
== Legacy ==

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The legacy of Spacelab lives on in the form of the MPLMs and the systems derived from it. These systems include the ATV and Cygnus spacecraft used to transfer payloads to the International Space Station, and the Columbus, Harmony and Tranquility modules of the International Space Station.
The Spacelab 2 mission surveyed 60% of the galactic plane in infrared in 1985.
Spacelab was an extremely large program, and this was enhanced by different experiments and multiple payloads and configurations over two decades. For example, in a subset of just one part of the Spacelab 1 (STS-9) mission, no less than eight different imaging systems were flown into space. Including those experiments, there was a total of 73 separate experiments across different disciplines on the Spacelab 1 flight alone. Spacelab missions conducted experiments in materials, life, solar, astrophysics, atmospheric, and Earth science.
Spacelab represents a major investment on the order of one billion dollars from our European friends. But its completion marks something equally important: The commitment of a dogged, dedicated, and talented team drawn from ESA Governments, universities, and industries who stuck with it for a decade and saw the project through. We are proud of your perseverance and congratulate you on your success.
== Diagram, Spacelab module and pallet ==
== See also ==
Columbus Man-Tended Free Flyer
Hermes (spacecraft)
International Space Station
Columbus (ISS module)
Space Shuttle retirement
Space Station Freedom
Spacehab module (various, not to be confused with Spacelab)
Spacelab, a 1978 song by Kraftwerk
== References ==
== External links ==
Spacelab history on NASA.gov Archived 18 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine
Spacelab: An International Short-Stay Orbiting Laboratory, NASA-EP-165 on NASA.gov
Science in Orbit: The Shuttle & Spacelab Experience, 1981–1986, NASA-NP-119 on NASA.gov
Spacelab Payloads on Shuttle Flights on NASA.gov Archived 7 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine
James Downey Collection, UAH Archives and Special Collections files of James A. Downey III, project manager for Spacelab payloads
Lord, Douglas R. Spacelab An international success story, NASA-SP-487 NASA, 1 January 1987
SLP/2104-2: Spacelab Payload Accommodation Handbook

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Sputnik 1 (, Russian: Спутник-1, Satellite 1), often referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for three weeks before its three silver-zinc batteries became depleted. Aerodynamic drag caused it to fall back into the atmosphere on 4 January 1958.
It was a polished metal sphere 58 cm (23 in) in diameter with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. Its radio signal was easily detectable by amateur radio operators, and the 65° orbital inclination made its flight path cover virtually the entire inhabited Earth.
The satellite's success was unanticipated by the United States. This precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race. The launch was the beginning of a new era of political, military, technological, and scientific developments. The word sputnik is Russian for satellite when interpreted in an astronomical context; its other meanings are spouse or travelling companion.
Tracking and studying Sputnik 1 from Earth provided scientists with valuable information. The density of the upper atmosphere could be deduced from its drag on the orbit, and the propagation of its radio signals gave data about the ionosphere.
Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR (now known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome). The satellite travelled at a peak speed of about 8 km/s (18,000 mph), taking 96.20 minutes to complete each orbit. It transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz, which were monitored by radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 22 days until the transmitter batteries depleted on 26 October 1957. On 4 January 1958, after three months in orbit, Sputnik 1 burned up while reentering Earth's atmosphere, having completed 1,440 orbits of the Earth, and travelling a distance of approximately 70,000,000 km (43,000,000 mi).
== Etymology ==
Спутник-1, romanized as Sputnik-Odin (pronounced [ˈsputnʲɪk.ɐˈdʲin]), means 'Satellite-One'. The Russian word for satellite, sputnik, was coined in the 18th century by combining the prefix s- ('fellow') and putnik ('traveler'), thereby meaning 'fellow-traveler', a meaning corresponding to the Latin root satelles ('guard, attendant or companion'), which is the origin of English satellite. (In the West, dating from the 1930s, the term fellow traveler was already used as a pejorative to describe people who were philosophically sympathetic to communism.)
== Before the launch ==
=== Satellite construction project ===
On 17 December 1954, chief Soviet rocket scientist Sergei Korolev proposed a developmental plan for an artificial satellite to the Minister of the Defense Industry, Dimitri Ustinov. Korolev forwarded a report by Mikhail Tikhonravov, with an overview of similar projects abroad. Tikhonravov had emphasised that the launch of an orbital satellite was an inevitable stage in the development of rocket technology.
On 29 July 1955, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced through his press secretary that, during the International Geophysical Year (IGY), the United States would launch an artificial satellite. Four days later, Leonid Sedov, a leading Soviet physicist, announced that they too would launch an artificial satellite. On 8 August, the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union approved the proposal to create an artificial satellite. On 30 August, Vasily Ryabikov—the head of the State Commission on the R-7 rocket test launches—held a meeting where Korolev presented calculation data for a spaceflight trajectory to the Moon. They decided to develop a three-stage version of the R-7 rocket for satellite launches.
On 30 January 1956, the Council of Ministers approved practical work on an artificial Earth-orbiting satellite. This satellite, named Object D, was planned to be completed in 1957–58; it would have a mass of 1,000 to 1,400 kg (2,200 to 3,100 lb) and would carry 200 to 300 kg (440 to 660 lb) of scientific instruments. The first test launch of "Object D" was scheduled for 1957. Work on the satellite was to be divided among institutions as follows:

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The USSR Academy of Sciences was responsible for the general scientific leadership and the supply of research instruments.
The Ministry of the Defense Industry and its primary design bureau, OKB-1, were assigned the task of building the satellite.
The Ministry of the Radio technical Industry would develop the control system, radio/technical instruments, and the telemetry system.
The Ministry of the Ship Building Industry would develop gyroscope devices.
The Ministry of the Machine Building would develop ground launching, refuelling, and transportation means.
The Ministry of Defense was responsible for conducting launches.
Preliminary design work was completed in July 1956 and the scientific tasks to be carried out by the satellite were defined. These included measuring the density of the atmosphere and its ion composition, the solar wind, magnetic fields, and cosmic rays. These data would be valuable in the creation of future artificial satellites; a system of ground stations was to be developed to collect data transmitted by the satellite, observe the satellite's orbit, and transmit commands to the satellite. Because of the limited time frame, observations were planned for only 7 to 10 days and orbit calculations were not expected to be extremely accurate.
By the end of 1956, it became clear that the complexity of the ambitious design meant that 'Object D' could not be launched in time because of difficulties creating scientific instruments and the low specific impulse produced by the completed R-7 engines (304 seconds instead of the planned 309 to 310 seconds). Consequently, the government rescheduled the launch for April 1958. Object D would later fly as Sputnik 3.
Fearing the U.S. would launch a satellite before the USSR, OKB-1 suggested the creation and launch of a satellite in April–May 1957, before the IGY began in July 1957. The new satellite would be simple, light (100 kg or 220 lb), and easy to construct, forgoing the complex, heavy scientific equipment in favour of a simple radio transmitter. On 15 February 1957 the Council of Ministers of the USSR approved this simple satellite, designated 'Object PS', PS meaning "prosteishiy sputnik", or "elementary satellite". This version allowed the satellite to be tracked visually by Earth-based observers, and it could transmit tracking signals to ground-based receiving stations. The launch of two satellites, PS-1 and PS-2, with two R-7 rockets (8K71), was approved, provided that the R-7 completed at least two successful test flights.
=== Launch vehicle preparation and launch site selection ===

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The R-7 rocket was initially designed as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by OKB-1. The decision to build it was made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Council of Ministers of the USSR on 20 May 1954. The rocket was the most powerful in the world; it was designed with excess thrust since they were unsure how heavy the hydrogen bomb payload would be. The R-7 was also known by its GRAU (later GURVO, the Russian abbreviation for "Chief Directorate of the Rocket Forces") designation 8K71. At the time, the R-7 was known to NATO sources as the T-3 or M-104, and Type A.
Several modifications were made to the R-7 rocket to adapt it to 'Object D', including upgrades to the main engines, the removal of a 300 kg (660 lb) radio package on the booster, and a new payload fairing that made the booster almost four metres (14 feet) shorter than its ICBM version. Object D would later be launched as Sputnik 3 after the much lighter 'Object PS' (Sputnik 1) was launched first. The trajectory of the launch vehicle and the satellite were initially calculated using arithmometers and six-digit trigonometric tables. More complex calculations were carried out on a newly-installed computer at the Academy of Sciences.
A special reconnaissance commission selected Tyuratam for the construction of a rocket proving ground, the 5th Tyuratam range, usually referred to as "NIIP-5", or "GIK-5" in the post-Soviet time. The selection was approved on 12 February 1955 by the Council of Ministers of the USSR, but the site would not be completed until 1958. Actual work on the construction of the site began on 20 July by military building units.
The first launch of an R-7 rocket (8K71 No.5L) occurred on 15 May 1957. A fire began in the Blok D strap-on almost immediately at liftoff, but the booster continued flying until 98 seconds after launch when the strap-on broke away and the vehicle crashed 400 km (250 mi) downrange. Three attempts to launch the second rocket (8K71 No.6) were made on 10–11 June, but an assembly defect prevented launch. The unsuccessful launch of the third R-7 rocket (8K71 No.7) took place on 12 July. An electrical short caused the vernier engines to put the missile into an uncontrolled roll which resulted in all of the strap-ons separating 33 seconds into the launch. The R-7 crashed about 7 km (4.3 mi) from the pad.
The launch of the fourth rocket (8K71 No.8), on 21 August at 15:25 Moscow Time, was successful. The rocket's core boosted the dummy warhead to the target altitude and velocity, reentered the atmosphere, and broke apart at a height of 10 km (6.2 mi) after travelling 6,000 km (3,700 mi). On 27 August, the TASS issued a statement on the successful launch of a long-distance multistage ICBM. The launch of the fifth R-7 rocket (8K71 No.9), on 7 September, was also successful, but the dummy was also destroyed on atmospheric re-entry, and hence needed a redesign to completely fulfill its military purpose. The rocket, however, was deemed suitable for satellite launches, and Korolev was able to convince the State Commission to allow the use of the next R-7 to launch PS-1, allowing the delay in the rocket's military exploitation to launch the PS-1 and PS-2 satellites.
On 22 September a modified R-7 rocket, named Sputnik and indexed as 8K71PS, arrived at the proving ground and preparations for the launch of PS-1 began. Compared to the military R-7 test vehicles, the mass of 8K71PS was reduced from 280 to 272 tonnes (617,000 to 600,000 lb), its length with PS-1 was 29.167 metres (95 ft 8.3 in) and the thrust at liftoff was 3.90 MN (880,000 lbf).
=== Observation complex ===
PS-1 was not designed to be controlled; it could only be observed. Initial data at the launch site would be collected at six separate observatories and telegraphed to NII-4. Located back in Moscow (at Bolshevo), NII-4 was a scientific research arm of the Ministry of Defence that was dedicated to missile development. The six observatories were clustered around the launch site, with the closest situated 1 km (0.62 mi) from the launch pad.
A second, nationwide observation complex was established to track the satellite after its separation from the rocket. Called the Command-Measurement Complex, it consisted of the coordination center in NII-4 and seven distant stations situated along the line of the satellite's ground track. These tracking stations were located at Tyuratam, Sary-Shagan, Yeniseysk, Klyuchi, Yelizovo, Makat in Guryev Oblast, and Ishkup in Krasnoyarsk Krai. Stations were equipped with radar, optical instruments, and communications systems. Data from stations were transmitted by telegraphs into NII-4 where ballistics specialists calculated orbital parameters.
The observatories used a trajectory measurement system called "Tral", developed by OKB MEI (Moscow Energy Institute), by which they received and monitored data from transponders mounted on the R-7 rocket's core stage. The data were useful even after the satellite's separation from the second stage of the rocket; Sputnik's location was calculated from data on the location of the second stage, which followed Sputnik at a known distance. Tracking of the booster during launch had to be accomplished through purely passive means, such as visual coverage and radar detection. R-7 test launches demonstrated that the tracking cameras were only good up to an altitude of 200 km (120 mi), but radar could track it for almost 500 km (310 mi).
Outside the Soviet Union, the satellite was tracked by amateur radio operators in many countries. The booster rocket was located and tracked by the British using the Lovell Telescope at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, the only telescope in the world able to do so by radar. Canada's Newbrook Observatory was the first facility in North America to photograph Sputnik 1.
== Design ==
Sputnik 1 was designed to meet a set of guidelines and objectives such as:

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Simplicity and reliability that could be adapted to future projects
A spherical body to help determine atmospheric density from its lifetime in orbit
Radio equipment to facilitate tracking and to obtain data on radio waves propagation through the atmosphere
Verification of the satellite's pressurisation scheme
The chief constructor of Sputnik 1 at OKB-1 was Mikhail S. Khomyakov. The satellite was a 585-millimetre (23.0 in) diameter sphere, assembled from two hemispheres that were hermetically sealed with O-rings and connected by 36 bolts. It had a mass of 83.6 kilograms (184 lb). The hemispheres were 2 mm thick, and were covered with a highly polished 1 mm-thick heat shield made of an aluminium–magnesium–titanium alloy, AMG6T. The satellite carried two pairs of antennas designed by the Antenna Laboratory of OKB-1, led by Mikhail V. Krayushkin. Each antenna was made up of two whip-like parts, 2.4 and 2.9 metres (7.9 and 9.5 ft) in length, and had an almost spherical radiation pattern.
The power supply, with a mass of 51 kg (112 lb), was in the shape of an octagonal nut with the radio transmitter in its hole. It consisted of three silver-zinc batteries, developed at the All-Union Research Institute of Power Sources (VNIIT) under the leadership of Nikolai S. Lidorenko. Two of these batteries powered the radio transmitter and one powered the temperature regulation system. The batteries had an expected lifetime of two weeks, and operated for 22 days. The power supply was turned on automatically at the moment of the satellite's separation from the second stage of the rocket.
The satellite had a one-watt, 3.5 kg (7.7 lb) radio transmitting unit inside, developed by Vyacheslav I. Lappo from NII-885, the Moscow Electronics Research Institute, that worked on two frequencies, 20.005 and 40.002 MHz. Signals on the first frequency were transmitted in 0.3 s pulses (near a frequency of 3 Hz) (under normal temperature and pressure conditions on board), with pauses of the same duration filled by pulses on the second frequency. Analysis of the radio signals was used to gather information about the electron density of the ionosphere. Temperature and pressure were encoded in the duration of radio beeps. A temperature regulation system contained a fan, a dual thermal switch, and a control thermal switch. If the temperature inside the satellite exceeded 36 °C (97 °F), the fan was turned on; when it fell below 20 °C (68 °F), the fan was turned off by the dual thermal switch. If the temperature exceeded 50 °C (122 °F) or fell below 0 °C (32 °F), another control thermal switch was activated, changing the duration of the radio signal pulses. Sputnik 1 was filled with dry nitrogen, pressurised to 1.3 atm (130 kPa). The satellite had a barometric switch, activated if the pressure inside the satellite fell below 130 kPa, which would have indicated failure of the pressure vessel or puncture by a meteor, and would have changed the duration of radio signal impulse.
While attached to the rocket, Sputnik 1 was protected by a cone-shaped payload fairing, with a height of 80 cm (31.5 in). The fairing separated from both Sputnik and the spent R-7 second stage at the same time as the satellite was ejected. Tests of the satellite were conducted at OKB-1 under the leadership of Oleg G. Ivanovsky.
== Launch and mission ==

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The control system of the Sputnik rocket was adjusted to an intended orbit of 223 by 1,450 km (139 by 901 mi), with an orbital period of 101.5 minutes. The trajectory had been calculated earlier by Georgi Grechko, using the USSR Academy of Sciences' mainframe computer.
The Sputnik rocket was launched on 4 October 1957 at 19:28:34 UTC (5 October at the launch site) from Site No.1 at NI
P-5. Telemetry indicated that the strap-ons separated 116 seconds into the flight and the core stage engine shut down 295.4 seconds into the flight. At shutdown, the 7.5-tonne core stage (with PS-1 attached) had attained an altitude of 223 km (139 mi) above sea level, a velocity of 7,780 m/s (25,500 ft/s), and a velocity vector inclination to the local horizon of 0 degrees 24 minutes. This resulted in an initial elliptical orbit of 223 km (139 mi) by 950 km (590 mi), with an apogee approximately 500 km (310 mi) lower than intended, and an inclination of 65.10° and a period of 96.20 minutes.
Several engines did not fire on time, almost aborting the mission. A fuel regulator in the booster also failed around 16 seconds into launch, which resulted in excessive RP-1 consumption for most of the powered flight and the engine thrust being 4% above nominal. Core stage cutoff was intended for T+296 seconds, but the premature propellant depletion caused thrust termination to occur one second earlier when a sensor detected overspeed of the empty RP-1 turbopump. There were 375 kg (827 lb) of LOX remaining at cutoff.
At 19.9 seconds after engine cut-off, PS-1 separated from the second stage and the satellite's transmitter was activated. These signals were detected at the IP-1 station by Junior Engineer-Lieutenant V.G. Borisov, where reception of Sputnik 1's "beep-beep-beep" tones confirmed the satellite's successful deployment. Reception lasted for two minutes, until PS-1 passed below the horizon. The Tral telemetry system on the R-7 core stage continued to transmit and was detected on its second orbit.
The designers, engineers, and technicians who developed the rocket and satellite watched the launch from the range. After the launch they drove to the mobile radio station to listen for signals from the satellite. They waited about 90 minutes to ensure that the satellite had made one orbit and was transmitting before Korolev called Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.
On the first orbit the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) transmitted: "As result of great, intense work of scientific institutes and design bureaus the first artificial Earth satellite has been built". The R-7 core stage, with a mass of 7.5 tonnes and a length of 26 metres, also reached Earth orbit. It was a first magnitude object following behind the satellite and visible at night. Deployable reflective panels were placed on the booster in order to increase its visibility for tracking. A small highly polished sphere, the satellite was barely visible at sixth magnitude, and thus harder to follow optically. The batteries ran out on 26 October 1957, after the satellite completed 326 orbits.
The core stage of the R-7 remained in orbit for two months until 2 December 1957, while Sputnik 1 orbited for three months, until 4 January 1958, having completed 1,440 orbits of the Earth. It is presumed Sputnik 1 may have broken up above the Western United States. A man in Encino, CA, woke up one morning and noticed something glowing in his backyard. Upon inspection, it proved to be plastic tubing of the type used in Sputnik. No one has been able to prove whether this in fact was part of the satellite.
== Reception ==
Organised through the citizen science project Operation Moonwatch, teams of visual observers at 150 stations in the United States and other countries were alerted during the night to watch for the satellite at dawn and during the evening twilight as it passed overhead. The USSR requested amateur and professional radio operators to tape record the signal being transmitted from the satellite. One of the first observations of it in the western world was made at the school observatory in Rodewisch (Saxony).

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News reports at the time pointed out that "anyone possessing a short wave receiver can hear the new Russian earth satellite as it hurtles over this area of the globe." Directions, provided by the American Radio Relay League, were to "Tune in 20 megacycles sharply, by the time signals, given on that frequency. Then tune to slightly higher frequencies. The 'beep, beep' sound of the satellite can be heard each time it rounds the globe." The first recording of Sputnik 1's signal was made by RCA engineers near Riverhead, Long Island. They then drove the tape recording into Manhattan for broadcast to the public over NBC radio. However, as Sputnik rose higher over the East Coast, its signal was picked up by W2AEE, the ham radio station of Columbia University. Students working in the university's FM station, WKCR, made a tape of this, and were the first to rebroadcast the Sputnik signal to the American public (or whoever could receive the FM station).
The Soviet Union agreed to transmit on frequencies that worked with the United States' existing infrastructure, but later announced the lower frequencies. Asserting that the launch "did not come as a surprise", the White House refused to comment on any military aspects. On 5 October, the Naval Research Laboratory captured recordings of Sputnik 1 during four crossings over the United States. The USAF Cambridge Research Center collaborated with Bendix-Friez, Westinghouse Broadcasting, and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory to obtain a video of Sputnik's rocket body crossing the pre-dawn sky of Baltimore, broadcast on 12 October by WBZ-TV in Boston.
The success of Sputnik 1 seemed to have changed minds around the world regarding a shift in power to the Soviets.
The USSR's launch of Sputnik 1 spurred the United States to create the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, later DARPA) in February 1958 to regain a technological lead.
In Britain, the media and population initially reacted with a mixture of fear for the future, but also amazement about human progress. Many newspapers and magazines heralded the arrival of the Space Age. However, when the USSR launched Sputnik 2, containing the dog Laika, the media narrative returned to one of anti-Communism and many people sent protests to the Soviet embassy and the RSPCA.
=== Propaganda ===
Sputnik 1 was not immediately used for Soviet propaganda. The Soviets had kept quiet about their earlier accomplishments in rocketry, fearing that it would lead to secrets being revealed and failures being exploited by the West. When the Soviets began using Sputnik in their propaganda, they emphasized pride in the achievement of Soviet technology, arguing that it demonstrated the Soviets' superiority over the West. People were encouraged to listen to Sputnik's signals on the radio and to look out for Sputnik in the night sky. While Sputnik itself had been highly polished, its small size made it barely visible to the naked eye. What most watchers actually saw was the much more visible 26-metre (85 foot) core stage of the R-7. Shortly after the launch of PS-1, Khrushchev pressed Korolev to launch another satellite to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution, on 7 November 1957.
The launch of Sputnik 1 surprised the American public, and shattered the perception created by American propaganda of the United States as the technological superpower, and the Soviet Union as a backward country. Privately, however, the CIA and President Eisenhower were aware of progress being made by the Soviets on Sputnik from secret spy plane imagery. Together with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Army Ballistic Missile Agency built Explorer 1, and launched it on 31 January 1958. Before work was completed, however, the Soviet Union launched a second satellite, Sputnik 2, on 3 November 1957. Meanwhile, the televised failure of Vanguard TV-3 on 6 December 1957 deepened American dismay over the country's position in the Space Race. The Americans took a more aggressive stance in the emerging space race, resulting in an emphasis on science and technological research, and reforms in many areas from the military to education systems. The federal government began investing in science, engineering, and mathematics at all levels of education. An advanced research group was assembled for military purposes. These research groups developed weapons such as ICBMs and missile defence systems, as well as spy satellites for the U.S.
== Legacy ==

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Initially, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower was not surprised by Sputnik 1. He had been forewarned of the R-7's capabilities by information derived from U-2 spy plane overflight photos, as well as signals and telemetry intercepts. General James M. Gavin wrote in 1958 that he had predicted to the Army Scientific Advisory Panel on 12 September 1957 that the Soviets would launch a satellite within 30 days, and that on 4 October he and Wernher von Braun had agreed that a launch was imminent. The Eisenhower administration's first response was low-key and almost dismissive. Eisenhower was even pleased that the USSR, not the U.S., would be the first to test the waters of the still-uncertain legal status of orbital satellite overflights. Eisenhower had suffered the Soviet protests and shoot-downs of Project Genetrix (Moby Dick) balloons and was concerned about the probability of a U-2 being shot down. To set a precedent for "freedom of space" before the launch of America's secret WS-117L spy satellites, the U.S. had launched Project Vanguard as its own "civilian" satellite entry for the International Geophysical Year. Eisenhower greatly underestimated the reaction of the American public, who were shocked by the launch of Sputnik and by the televised failure of the Vanguard Test Vehicle 3 launch attempt. The sense of anxiety was inflamed by Democratic politicians, who portrayed the United States as woefully behind. One of the many books that suddenly appeared for the lay-audience noted seven points of "impact" upon the nation: Western leadership, Western strategy and tactics, missile production, applied research, basic research, education, and democratic culture. As public and the government became interested in space and related science and technology, the phenomenon was sometimes dubbed the "Sputnik craze".
The U.S. soon had a number of successful satellites, including Explorer 1, Project SCORE, and Courier 1B. However, public reaction to the Sputnik crisis spurred America to action in the Space Race, leading to the creation of both the Advanced Research Projects Agency (renamed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, in 1972), and NASA (through the National Aeronautics and Space Act), as well as increased U.S. government spending on scientific research and education through the National Defense Education Act.
Sputnik also contributed directly to a new emphasis on science and technology in American schools. With a sense of urgency, Congress enacted the 1958 National Defense Education Act, which provided low-interest loans for college tuition to students majoring in mathematics and science. After the launch of Sputnik, a poll conducted and published by the University of Michigan showed that 26% of Americans surveyed thought that Russian sciences and engineering were superior to that of the United States. (A year later, however, that figure had dropped to 10% as the U.S. began launching its own satellites into space.)
One consequence of the Sputnik shock was the perception of a "missile gap". This became a dominant issue in the 1960 presidential campaign.
The Communist Party newspaper Pravda only printed a few paragraphs about Sputnik 1 on 4 October.
Sputnik also inspired a generation of engineers and scientists. Harrison Storms, the North American designer who was responsible for the X-15 rocket plane, and went on to head the effort to design the Apollo command and service module and Saturn V launch vehicle's second stage, was moved by the launch of Sputnik to think of space as being the next step for America. Astronauts Alan Shepard (who was the first American in space) and Deke Slayton later wrote of how the sight of Sputnik 1 passing overhead inspired them to their new careers.
The launch of Sputnik 1 led to the resurgence of the suffix -nik in the English language. The American writer Herb Caen was inspired to coin the term "beatnik" in an article about the Beat Generation in the San Francisco Chronicle on 2 April 1958.
The flag of the Russian city of Kaluga (which, as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's place of work and residency, is very dedicated to space and space travel) features a small Sputnik in the canton.
On 3 October 2007 Google celebrated Sputnik's 50th anniversary with a Google Doodle.
=== Satellite navigation ===
The launch of Sputnik also planted the seeds for the development of modern satellite navigation. Two American physicists, William Guier and George Weiffenbach, at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) decided to monitor Sputnik's radio transmissions and within hours realized that, because of the Doppler effect, they could pinpoint where the satellite was along its orbit. The Director of the APL gave them access to their UNIVAC computer to do the then heavy calculations required.
Early the next year, Frank McClure, the deputy director of the APL, asked Guier and Weiffenbach to investigate the inverse problem: pinpointing the user's location, given the satellite's. At the time, the Navy was developing the submarine-launched Polaris missile, which required them to know the submarine's location. This led them and APL to develop the TRANSIT system, a forerunner of modern Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites.
== Surviving examples ==
=== Backups ===
At least two vintage duplicates of Sputnik 1 exist, built apparently as backup units. The first resides near Moscow in the corporate museum of Energia, the modern descendant of Korolev's design bureau, where it is on display by appointment only. The second is a flight-ready backup at the Cosmosphere space museum in Hutchinson, Kansas, United States, which also has an engineering model of the Sputnik 2.

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=== Models ===
The Museum of Flight in Seattle, United States has a Sputnik 1, but it has no internal components, though it does have casings and moulded fittings inside (as well as evidence of battery wear), which may be an engineering model. Authenticated by the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow, the unit was auctioned in 2001 and purchased by an anonymous private buyer, who donated it to the museum.
The Sputnik 1 EMC/EMI is a class of full-scale laboratory models of the satellite. The models, manufactured by OKB-1 and NII-885 (headed by Mikhail Ryazansky), were introduced on 15 February 1957. They were made to test ground electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and electromagnetic interference (EMI).
=== Replicas ===
In 1959, the Soviet Union donated a replica of Sputnik to the United Nations. There are other full-size Sputnik replicas (with varying degrees of accuracy) on display in locations around the world, including the National Air and Space Museum in the United States, the Science Museum in the United Kingdom, the Powerhouse Museum in Australia, and outside the Russian embassy in Spain.
Three one-third scale student-built replicas of Sputnik 1 were deployed from the Mir space station between 1997 and 1999. The first, named Sputnik 40 to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, was deployed in November 1997. Sputnik 41 was launched a year later, and Sputnik 99 was deployed in February 1999. A fourth replica was launched, but never deployed, and was destroyed when Mir was deorbited.
=== Private owners ===
Two more Sputniks are claimed to be in the personal collections of American entrepreneurs Richard Garriott and Jay S. Walker.
== See also ==
Yuri Gagarin — Soviet cosmonaut and first human to journey into outer space
Donald B. Gillies — one of the first to calculate the Sputnik 1 orbit
Kerim Kerimov — one of the architects behind Sputnik 1
Valentina Tereshkova — first woman in space
ILLIAC I — first computer to calculate the orbit of Sputnik 1
Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
Timeline of Russian innovation
== References ==
== Bibliography ==
== Further reading ==
Chertok, B. E. (1999). Rakety i li︠u︡di: lunnai︠a︡ gonka [Rockets & People: The Moon Race] (in Russian). Moscow: Mashinostroenie. ISBN 978-5-217-02942-6.
Dickson, Paul (2007). Sputnik: The Shock of the Century. Walker & Co. ISBN 978-0-8027-1365-0.
Gerchik, Konstantin Vasilyevich (1994). Proryv v kosmos [A Breakthrough in Space] (in Russian). Moscow: Veles. ISBN 978-5-87955-001-6.
Mieczkowski, Yanek (2013). Eisenhower's Sputnik Moment: The Race for Space and World Prestige. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-6793-6.
== External links ==
Satellite One: The story of the first man-made device in space by Russian News Agency TASS
Documents related to Sputnik 1 and the Space Race at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
50th Anniversary of the Space Age & Sputnik – an interactive media by NASA
Remembering Sputnik: Sir Arthur C. Clarke – an interview for IEEE Spectrum
Sputnik Program Page by NASA's Solar System Exploration
NASA on Sputnik 1
A joint Russian project of Ground microprocessing information systems SRC "PLANETA" and Space Monitoring Information Support laboratory (IKI RAN) dedicated to the 40th anniversary of Sputnik 1
A film clip "New Moon. Reds Launch First Space Satellite, 1957/10/07 (1957)" is available for viewing at the Internet Archive

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Sputnik 2 (Russian pronunciation: [ˈsputnʲɪk], Russian: Спутник-2, Satellite 2), or Prosteyshiy Sputnik 2 (PS-2, Russian: Простейший Спутник 2, Simplest Satellite 2), launched on 3 November 1957, was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, and the first to carry an animal into orbit, a Soviet space dog named Laika.
Launched by the Soviet Union via a modified R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile, Sputnik 2 was a 4-metre-high (13 ft) cone-shaped capsule with a base diameter of 2 metres (6.6 ft) that weighed around 500 kilograms (1,100 lb), though it was not designed to separate from the rocket core that brought it to orbit, bringing the total mass in orbit to 7.79 tonnes (17,200 lb). It contained several compartments for radio transmitters, a telemetry system, a programming unit, a regeneration and temperature-control system for the cabin, and scientific instruments. A separate sealed cabin contained the dog Laika.
Though Laika died shortly after reaching orbit, Sputnik 2 marked another huge success for the Soviet Union in The Space Race, lofting a huge payload for the time, sending an animal into orbit, and, for the first time, returning scientific data from above the Earth's atmosphere for an extended period. The satellite reentered Earth's atmosphere on 14 April 1958.
== Background ==
In 1955, engineer Mikhail Tikhonravov created a proposal for "Object D", a satellite massing 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) to 1,400 kg (3,100 lb), about a fourth of which would be devoted to scientific instruments. Upon learning that this spacecraft would outmass the announced American satellite by nearly 1,000 times, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev advocated for the proposal, which was approved by the government in Resolution #149-88 of 30 January 1956. Work began on the project in February with a launch date of latter 1957, in time for the International Geophysical Year. The design was finalized on 24 July.
By the end of 1956, it had become clear that neither the complicated Object D nor the 8A91 satellite launch vehicle version of the R-7 ICBM under development to launch it would be finished in time for a 1957 launch. Thus, in December 1956, OKB-1 head Sergei Korolev proposed the development of two simpler satellites: PS, Prosteishy Sputnik, or Primitive Satellite. The two PS satellites would be simple spheres massing 83.4 kg (184 lb) and equipped solely with a radio antenna. The project was approved by the government on 25 January 1957. The choice to launch these two instead of waiting for the more advanced Object D (which would eventually become Sputnik 3) to be finished was largely motivated by the desire to launch a satellite to orbit before the US. The first of these satellites, Sputnik 1 (PS-1), was successfully launched 4 October 1957, and became the world's first artificial satellite.
Immediately following the launch, Nikita Khrushchev asked Sergei Korolev to prepare a Sputnik 2 in time for the 40th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution in early November, just three weeks later. Details of the conversation vary, but it appears likely that Korolev suggested the idea of flying a dog, while Khrushchev emphasised the importance of the date.
With only three weeks to prepare, OKB-1 had to scramble to assemble a new satellite. While PS-2 had been built, it was just a ball, identical to PS-1. Fortunately, the R-5A sounding rocket had recently been used to launch a series of suborbital missions carrying dogs as payloads. Korolev simply requisitioned a payload container used for these missions and had it installed in the upper stage of its R-7 launching rocket directly beneath the PS-2 sphere. Upon reaching orbit, the final stage or Blok A would detach from the satellite. No provision was made for the dog's recovery.
== Spacecraft ==
Sputnik 2 was a 4-metre-high (13 ft) cone-shaped capsule with a base diameter of 2 metres (6.6 ft) that weighed around 500 kilograms (1,100 lb), though it was not designed to separate from the rocket core that brought it to orbit, bringing the total mass in orbit to 7.79 tonnes (17,200 lb).
=== Passenger ===
Laika ("Barker"), formerly Kudryavka (Little Curly), was the part-Samoyed terrier chosen to fly in Sputnik 2. Due to a shortness in the time frame, the candidate dog could not be trained for the mission. Again, OKB-1 borrowed from the sounding rocket program, choosing from ten candidates provided by the Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine that were already trained for suborbital missions. Laika was chosen primarily because of her even temperament. Her backup was Albina, who had flown on two R-1E missions in June 1956. Laika weighed about 6 kg (13 lb).
Both Laika and Albina had telemetry wires surgically attached to them before the flight to monitor respiration frequency, pulse, and blood pressure.
The pressurized cabin on Sputnik 2 was padded and allowed enough room for Laika to lie down or stand. An air regeneration system provided oxygen; food and water were dispensed in a gelatinized form. Laika was chained in place and fitted with a harness, a bag to collect waste, and electrodes to monitor vital signs. A television camera was mounted in the passenger compartment to observe Laika. The camera could transmit 100-line video frames at 10 frames/second.
=== Experiments ===

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Sputnik 2 was the first platform capable of making scientific measurements in orbit. This was potentially as significant as the biological payload. The Earth's atmosphere blocks the Sun's X-ray and ultraviolet output from ground observation. Moreover, solar output is unpredictable and fluctuates rapidly, making sub-orbital sounding rockets inadequate for the observation task. Thus a satellite is required for long-term, continuous study of the complete solar spectrum.
Accordingly, Sputnik 2 carried two spectrophotometers, one for measuring solar ultraviolet rays and one for measuring X-rays. These instruments were provided by Professor Sergei Mandelstam of the Lebedev Institute of Physics and installed in the nose cone above the spherical PS. In addition, Sergei Vernov, who had completed a cosmic ray detector (using Geiger counters) for Object D, demanded that the instrument his Moscow University team (including Naum Grigoriev, Alexander Chudakov, and Yuri Logachev) had built also be carried on the flight. Korolev agreed, but as there was no more room on the satellite proper, the instrument was mounted on the Blok A and given its own battery and telemetry frequency.
Engineering and biological data were transmitted using the Tral_D telemetry system, which would transmit data to Earth for 15 minutes of each orbit.
== Launch preparations ==
Sputnik 2's launch vehicle, the R-7 ICBM (also known by the system's GRAU index 8K71) was modified for the PS-2 satellite launch and designated 8K71PS. 8K71PS serial number M1-2PS arrived at the NIIP-5 Test Range, the precursor to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, on 18 October 1957 for final integration of the rocket stages and satellite payload. Laika was put in the payload container mid-day 31 October, and that night, the payload was attached to the rocket. The container was heated via an external tube against the cold temperatures at the launch site.
== Mission ==
Sputnik 2 was launched at 02:30:42 UTC on 3 November 1957 from LC-1 of the NIIP-5 Test Range via Sputnik 8K71PS rocket (the same pad and rocket that launched Sputnik 1) The satellite's orbit was 212 km × 1,660 km (132 mi × 1,031 mi) with a period of 103.7 minutes. After reaching orbit Sputnik 2's nose cone was jettisoned successfully, but the satellite did not separate from the Blok A. This, along with the loss of some thermal insulation, caused temperatures in the spacecraft to soar.
At peak acceleration, Laika's respiration increased to between three and four times the pre-launch rate. The sensors showed her heart rate was 103 beats/min before launch and increased to 240 beats/min during the early acceleration. After three hours of weightlessness, Laika's pulse rate had settled back to 102 beats/min, three times longer than it had taken during earlier ground tests, an indication of the stress she was under. The early telemetry indicated that Laika was agitated but eating her food. After approximately five to seven hours into the flight, no further signs of life were received from the spacecraft.
The Soviet scientists had planned to euthanise Laika with a serving of poisoned food. For many years, the Soviet Union gave several conflicting statements that she had died either from asphyxia, when the batteries failed, or that she had been euthanised. Many rumours circulated about the exact manner of her death. In 1999, several Russian sources reported that Laika had died when the cabin overheated on the fourth day. In October 2002, Dimitri Malashenkov, one of the scientists behind the Sputnik 2 mission, revealed that Laika had died by the fourth circuit of flight from overheating. According to a paper he presented to the World Space Congress in Houston, Texas, "It turned out that it was practically impossible to create a reliable temperature control system in such limited time constraints."
Because of the size of Sputnik 2 and its attached Blok A, the spacecraft was easy to track optically. In its last orbits, the combined body tumbled end over end, flashing brightly before it was incinerated over the north Atlantic after circling the Earth 2,370 times over the course of 162 days. The spacecraft reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 14 April 1958, at approximately 0200 hrs, on a line that stretched from New York to the Amazon. Its track was plotted by British ships and three "Moon Watch Observations", from New York. It was said to be glowing and did not develop a tail until it was at latitudes south of 20° North. Estimates put the average length of the tail at about 50 nautical miles (93 km; 58 mi).
== Results ==
=== Geopolitical impact ===
Massing 508.3 kg (1,121 lb), Sputnik 2 marked a dramatic leap in orbital mass over Sputnik 1 as well as the American Vanguard, which had yet to fly. The day after Sputnik 2 went into orbit the Gaither committee met with President Eisenhower to brief him on the current situation, demanding an urgent and more dramatic response than to the smaller Sputnik 1. It was clear now that the Soviets had missiles far superior to any in the American arsenal, a fact whose demonstration by Sputnik 2 was eagerly propounded by Soviet Premier Khrushchev at every opportunity. In the U.S.S.R., just six days after the launch of Sputnik 2, on the 40th anniversary of the October revolution, Khrushchev boasted in a speech “Now our first Sputnik is not lonely in its space travels.” Nevertheless, unlike most of the U.S., President Eisenhower kept calm through the time afterward just as he did after Sputnik 1 was launched. According to one of the president's aides, “The president's burning concern was to keep the country from going hog-wild and from embarking on foolish, costly schemes.”

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The mission sparked a debate across the globe on the mistreatment of animals and animal testing in general to advance science. In the United Kingdom, the National Canine Defence League called on all dog owners to observe a minute's silence on each day Laika remained in space, while the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) received protests even before Radio Moscow had finished announcing the launch. Animal rights groups at the time called on members of the public to protest at Soviet embassies. Others demonstrated outside the United Nations in New York. Laboratory researchers in the U.S. offered some support for the Soviets, at least before the news of Laika's death.
=== Experimental data ===
The cosmic ray detector transmitted for one week, going silent on 9 November when its battery was exhausted. The experiment reported unexpected results the day after launch, noting an increase in high-energy charged particles from a normal 18 pulses/sec to 72 pulses/sec at the highest latitudes of its orbit. Per two articles in the Soviet newspaper Pravda, the particle flux increased with altitude as well. It is likely that Sputnik 2 was detecting the lower levels of the Van Allen Belt when it reached the apogee of its orbit. However, because Sputnik 2 telemetry could only be received when it was flying over the Soviet Union, the data set was insufficient to draw conclusions, particularly as, most of the time, Sputnik 2 traveled below the Belt. Additional observational data had been received by Australian observers when the satellite was overhead, and Soviet scientists asked them for it. The secrecy-minded Soviets were not willing to give the Australians the code that would give them the ability to descramble and use the data themselves. As a result, the Australians declined to turn over their data. Thus, the Soviet Union missed out on its chance to get credit for the scientific discovery, which ultimately went to James Van Allen of the State University of Iowa, whose experiments on Explorer 1 and Explorer 3 first mapped the radiation belts that now bear his name.
As for the ultraviolet and X-ray photometers, they were calibrated such that they were oversaturated by orbital radiation, returning no usable data.
== Surviving examples ==
A USSR-built engineering model of the R-7 Sputnik 8K71PS (Sputnik II) is located at the Cosmosphere space museum in Hutchinson, Kansas, United States. The museum also has a flight-ready backup of the Sputnik 1, as well as replicas of the first two American satellites, Explorer 1 and Vanguard 1.
A replica of Sputnik 2 is located at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow.
== See also ==
Animals in space
Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
== Footnotes ==
== External links ==
Sputnik: 50 Years Ago
Anatoly Zak on Sputnik-2
Sputnik 2 Diary
NSSDC Master Catalog: Spacecraft Sputnik 2
Sputnik 2 at Astronautix

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TAROT (French: Télescope à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires, "Quick-action telescope for transient objects") is a project of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) aimed at rapidly reacting to particular data from other astronomical surveying facilities to monitor for and registering fast changing astronomical objects and phenomena. The target of the project is gamma-ray bursts (GRB).
The TAROT-South facility is a 25 cm very fast moving optical robotic telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. Able to accelerate at 120°/s2 to a top speed of 80°/s, it can begin observing within 1–1.5 seconds of being notified by a gamma-ray telescope that a gamma-ray burst is in progress and can provide fast and accurate positions of transient events within seconds.
In addition to its own observations, an important purpose of the telescope is to find an accurate source location. With its wide field of view, it can take an approximate location (±1°) from a gamma-ray detector and produce a location accurate to 1″ within a minute, for the benefit of follow-on observations by larger telescopes with longer reaction times.
It is a duplicate of the original TAROT telescope located at the Calern observatory in France.
== References ==
== See also ==
Rapid Eye Mount telescope, a larger, somewhat slower companion telescope also located at La Silla.

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The Tracking & Imaging Radar (TIRA) system serves as the central experimental facility for the development and investigation of radar techniques for the detection and reconnaissance of objects in space, and (to a certain degree) of air targets.
TIRA is located at the FGAN site, in Wachtberg near Bonn, Germany. It is run by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft-FHR – the Fraunhofer-Institut für Hochfrequenzphysik und Radartechnik (High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques), part of the German Fraunhofer Society.
TIRA has a 34-metre parabolic dish antenna which is a monopulse radar operating at 1.333 GHz or 22.5 cm (L band) and 16.7 GHz or 1.8 cm (Ku band) wavelengths. The L-band is usually used for tracking debris with a 0.45° beam width, at 1 MW peak power. The system is capable of determining orbits from direction angles, range and Doppler shift for single targets. The detection size threshold is about 2 cm at 1000 km range. The radar conducts regular ‘beam park’ experiments, where the radar beam is pointed in a fixed direction on the celestial sphere for 24 hours, scanning 360° in a narrow strip a complete Earth rotation. The tracking sensitive can be enhanced when the TIRA system is used as a transmitter, part of a bistatic radar system. In conjunction with the Effelsberg Radio Telescope, functioning as a receiver, the combined system has a detection size threshold of 1 cm. The Ku-band is used for imaging in Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) mode, with 13 kW peak power, the radar is capable of producing images with range resolutions better than 7 cm. The dish can be turned full 360° in azimuth with speed of 24° per second and 90° in elevation. The radar is protected by a radome with 47 meters diameter – one of the largest in the world.
Due to its capabilities, the system is used as a radar tracking system for space debris and other in-orbit object in the ESA's Space Situational Awareness Programme (SSA).
== External links ==
Space observation radar TIRA
== References ==

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A terminal countdown demonstration test (TCDT) is a simulation of the final hours of a launch countdown and serves as a practice exercise in which both the launch team and flight crew rehearse launch day timelines and procedures. In the specific case of a TCDT for the Space Shuttle, the test culminated in a simulated ignition and RSLS Abort (automated shutdown of the orbiter's main engines). Following the simulated abort, the flight crew was briefed on emergency egress procedures and use of the fixed service structure slidewire system. On some earlier shuttle missions, and Apollo missions, the test would conclude with the flight crew evacuating the launch pad by use of these emergency systems, but this is no longer part of the test.
Unmanned carrier rocket launches also undergo TCDTs, when countdown procedures are followed. These vary for specific rockets, for example solid-fuelled rockets would not simulate an engine shutdown, as it is impossible to shut down a solid-fuelled rocket after it has been lit.
TCDTs typically are carried out a few days before launch.
== See also ==
Space Shuttle program
Ares (rocket)
== References ==
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Transporter Industry International (abbreviated TII, also known as TII Group and KAMAG) is a worldwide operating conglomerate of companies providing heavy-duty transport vehicles and related services. Its history goes back to Otto Rettenmaier's acquisition of Scheuerle Fahrzeugfabrik in 1988. In 1995, Nicolas Industrie joined the group, followed by Kamag Transporttechnik in 2004 and TII India, which is represented by the brand Tiiger, in 2015. Transporter Industry International is the global market leader and known for transports on behalf of NASA, for example.
== History ==
In 1988, Otto Rettenmaier acquired one of the oldest and internationally leading manufacturers of heavy-duty vehicles. The German company (Scheuerle Fahrzeugfabrik) was experiencing economic difficulties. Rettenmaier had already been active as an entrepreneur: He expanded his parents' mill business to become the world market leader in the production of wood fibers (cellulose).
After the successful restructuring of Scheuerle Fahrzeugfabrik, Rettenmaier bought the French competitor Nicolas Industrie in 1995, which also produced heavy-duty vehicles. To create the legal and organizational conditions for further growth, a holding company called Transporter Industry International was established. This was also intended to illustrate the global market position. The subsidiaries themselves retained their regional character and continued to operate independently, but cooperated in sales, for example.
In 2004, Rettenmaier was given the opportunity for further expansion. Due to the insolvency of Kögel Fahrzeugwerke, the subsidiary (Kamag Transporttechnik) specialized in smaller industrial vehicles and modular transporters had to be sold. With the takeover and integration into the holding company, Rettenmaier completed the product range of Transporter Industry International.
Scheuerle, Nicolas, and Kamag developed joint products for high demanding projects. All three companies set world records in terms of the loads to be transported and in other areas. In 2015, Transporter Industry International acquired the civilian sector of the Indian trailer manufacturer Tratec, thus securing its first local presence outside Europe, with access to emerging markets in Asia; subsequently, the company was renamed.
== Holding ==
Transporter Industry International (TII) operates as a private limited company (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung) with its headquarters in Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is owned by the Otto-Rettenmaier family and is a globally active manufacturer of heavy duty and special vehicles. TII includes industry specialists, TII SCHEUERLE and TII KAMAG, and has production sites in Germany and India along with a worldwide organisiation of sales and service partners. In addition to the parent company (TII Group), there is a sales division for distribution and customer services (TII Sales) of all divisions, operating as a private limited partnership (Kommanditgesellschaft).
== Divisions ==
=== Scheuerle ===
Scheuerle Fahrzeugfabrik was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in Pfedelbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company invented the modern low-bed trailer concept in 1949. Numerous other innovations followed, for example in the field of hydraulic and electric four-way steering. In 1960, Scheuerle achieved international attention with the relocation of historic Abu Simbel temples in Egypt. Today, the portfolio includes self-propelled modular transporters, modular and compact vehicles for road transportation, as well as power boosters, for example. Besides, there are various services for maintenance and training.
=== Nicolas ===
Nicolas Industrie is headquartered in Champs-sur-Yonne, Auxerre, France. The company was founded in 1855 and therefore has the longest history of all Transporter Industry International subsidiaries. Its first patent covers wheel motors and dates back to 1884. Nicolas developed the modern heavy-duty transporters with pendulum axles. Today, the company's product and service range are almost identical to Scheuerle.
=== Kamag ===
Kamag Transporttechnik was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Its primary goal was to shift heavy transports to the road. Today, Kamag develops and produces specialized transporters and other modular vehicles for a wide range of applications.
NASA has been a customer of Kamag Transporttechnik since the year 1979. The company provides vehicles to move rockets, boosters, and satellite payloads. The Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) transporter, for example, moved the Space Shuttle segments between refurbishment and storage facilities on the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and the Vehicle Assembly Building. Payload Canister Transporters (PCT) moved payload canisters between space shuttle payload processing facilities, the vertical processing facility, and the launch pad.
=== Tiiger ===
In 2015 Tii group acquired Tratec's civil operations a trailer manufacturer based in Bawal, India specialist in trailer manufacturing and first Indian hydraulic modular trailer manufacturer catering government and civil sector. Since acquisition, civil business is controlled by Tii India and government business is still owned by Tractec. Tii group formed a new brand Tiiger under which the company offers extendable wind blade trailers and hydraulic modular trailer for transportation of oversize loads. The manufacturing unit of Tiiger is based in Balwal, Haryana in 30,000 sqft. Which would cater India, Africa and South-East Asia.
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Jung, Stefan; Müller, Michael (2010). Die Schwerlastspezialisten: Scheuerle, Nicolas, Kamag (in German). Brilon: Podszun. ISBN 978-3-86133-557-3.
== External links ==
Official website of Transporter Industry International

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TriDAR, or Triangulation and LIDAR Automated Rendezvous and Docking, is a relative navigation vision system developed by Neptec Design Group and funded by the Canadian Space Agency and NASA. It provides guidance information that can be used to guide an unmanned vehicle during rendezvous and docking operations in space. TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers positioned on the target spacecraft. Instead, TriDAR relies on a laser based 3D sensor and a thermal imager. TriDAR's proprietary software uses the geometric information contained in successive 3D images to match against the known shape of the target object and calculate its position and orientation.
TriDAR made its inaugural demonstration space flight on board Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-128 mission, launched on 28 August 2009. On STS-128, TriDAR provided astronauts with real-time guidance information during rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station (ISS). It automatically acquired and tracked the ISS using only knowledge about its shape. This marked the first time a 3D sensor based "targetless" tracking vision system was used in space.
== Background ==
To date, most operational tracking solutions for pose estimation and tracking on-orbit have relied on cooperative markers placed on the target object(s). The Space Vision System (SVS) used black on white or white on black dot targets. These targets were imaged with Space Shuttle or International Space Station (ISS) video cameras to compute the relative pose of ISS modules to be assembled.
The Trajectory Control System (TCS) was used on board the space shuttle to provide guidance information during rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station (ISS). This laser-based system tracks retro reflectors located on the ISS to provide bearing, range and closing rate information. While reliable, target based systems have operational limitations as targets must be installed on target payloads. This is not always practical or even possible. For example, servicing existing satellites that do not have reflectors installed would require a targetless tracking capability.
== STS-128 ==
TriDAR was tested in space for the first time on board Space Shuttle Discovery during the STS-128 mission to the ISS. The objective of the test was to demonstrate the capability of the TriDAR system to track an object in space without using targets markers such as retro-reflectors. For this mission, TriDAR was located in the payload bay on the Orbiter Docking System (ODS) next to the Shuttle's Trajectory Control System (TCS).
The system was activated during rendezvous when the Shuttle was approximately 75 km (47 mi) away from the ISS. Once in range of the 3D sensor, TriDAR automatically determined bearing and range to the ISS. During rendezvous, TriDAR entered shape based tracking which provided full 6 degree of freedom guidance and closing rate. Key system information was provided in real-time to the crew via enhanced docking displays on a laptop computer located on the shuttle's crew compartment.
The system was designed to perform the entire mission autonomously. It self-monitored its tracking solution and automatically re-acquired the ISS if tracking had been lost. TriDAR was also tested during undocking and fly-around operations.
== STS-131 ==
TriDAR was again carried on board Space Shuttle Discovery during the STS-131 mission to the International Space Station. The TriDAR operated during shuttle rendezvous with the ISS, and acquired useful data up till the shuttle R-bar Pitch Maneuver. At that point, a cabling issue resulted in a loss of communications. Using a backup cable for undock and flyaround, the TriDAR operated "flawlessly", according to flight director Richard Jones.
== STS-135 ==
TriDAR was on board Space Shuttle Atlantis during the STS-135 mission to the International Space Station.
== Capabilities ==
TriDAR builds on recent developments in 3D sensing technologies and computer vision achieving lighting immunity in space vision systems. This technology provides the ability to automatically rendezvous and dock with vehicles that were not designed for such operations.
The system includes a 3D active sensor, a thermal imager and Neptec's model based tracking software. Using only knowledge about the target spacecraft's geometry and 3D data acquired from the sensor, the system computes the 6 Degree Of Freedom (6DOF) relative pose directly. The computer vision algorithms developed by Neptec allow this process to happen in real-time on a flight computer while achieving the necessary robustness and reliability expected for mission critical operations. Fast data acquisition has been achieved by implementing a smart scanning strategy referred to as More Information Less Data (MILD) where only the necessary data to perform the pose estimation is acquired by the sensor. This strategy minimizes the requirements on acquisition time, data bandwidth, memory and processing power.
== Hardware ==
The TriDAR sensor is a hybrid 3D camera that combines auto-synchronous laser triangulation technology with laser radar (LIDAR) in a single optical package. This configuration takes advantage of the complementary nature of these two imaging technologies to provide 3D data at both short and long range without compromising on performance. The laser triangulation subsystem is largely based on the Laser Camera System (LCS) used to inspect the Space Shuttle's thermal protection system after each launch. By multiplexing the two active subsystem's optical paths, the TriDAR can provide the functionalities of two 3D scanners into a compact package. The subsystems also share the same control and processing electronics thus providing further savings compared to using two separate 3D sensors. A thermal imager is also included to extend the range of the system beyond the LIDAR operating range.
== Applications ==
Because of its wide operating range, the TriDAR sensor can be used for several applications within the same mission. TriDAR can be used for rendezvous and docking, planetary landing, rover navigation, site and vehicle inspection. TriDAR's capabilities for planetary exploration have been demonstrated recently during field trials in Hawaii held by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). For these tests, TriDAR was mounted on Carnegie Mellon University's Scarab lunar rover and enabled it to automatically navigate to its destination. Once the rover arrived at its destination, TriDAR was used to acquire high resolution 3D images of the surrounding area, searching for ideal drill sites to obtain lunar samples.
TriDAR applications are not limited to space. TriDAR technology is the basis of Neptec's OPAL product. OPAL provides vision to helicopter crews when their vision has been obscured by brownouts or whiteouts. TriDAR technology can also be applied to numerous terrestrial applications such as automated vehicles, hazard detection, radiotherapy patient positioning, assembly of large structure as well as human body tracking for motion capture or video game controls.
== See also ==
Kurs (docking navigation system), used on Soyuz and Progress spacecraft
== References ==
== External links ==
Neptec website

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United Space Alliance (USA) was a spaceflight operations company. USA was established in August 1995 as joint venture of Rockwell International and Lockheed Martin, primarily to support operations of the Space Shuttle. The sale of Rockwell's aerospace and defense assets to Boeing in December 1996 made Boeing the co-owner along with Lockheed for the rest of the company's corporate existence. The company was headquartered in Houston, Texas and in 2008 employed approximately 8,800 people in Texas, Florida, Alabama, and the Washington, D.C. area. The company was dissolved on 20 December 2019
== History ==
United Space Alliance was formed as a limited liability company as a joint venture between Rockwell International and Lockheed Martin in response to NASA's desire to consolidate many Space Shuttle program contracts to one prime contractor. USA and NASA signed the Space Flight Operations Contract (SFOC) in September 1996 to become the single prime contractor that NASA was seeking. USA supported the contract for 10 years through September 2006. This led to USA and NASA agreeing on October 2, 2006 to the Space Program Operations Contract (SPOC).
Until 2011, USA's major business was the operation and processing of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet and International Space Station at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and John F. Kennedy Space Center. This work was defined by the Space Program Operations Contract (SPOC) between NASA and USA. The contract ran from October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2010, which was to be the end of Space Shuttle operations. The contract included five one-year options that could extend the contract through Fiscal Year 2015. Efforts under the Space Program Operations Contract included work and support for mission design and planning; software development and integration; astronaut and flight controller training; system integration; flight operations; vehicle processing, launch and recovery; vehicle sustaining engineering; flight crew equipment processing; and Space Shuttle and International Space Station-related support to the Constellation Program. It was a cost reimbursement contract, with provisions for award and performance fees.
=== Search for role in the post-Shuttle era ===
With the planned end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, USA sought new business opportunities through new government contracts for other NASA programs. One of those contracts was the 2008 Integrated Mission Operations Contract (IMOC) to provide flight operations support for the Constellation Program and International Space Station Program in Houston through September 30, 2011. Also, USA signed a 2008 subcontract with Alliant Techsystems for support of the Ares I launch vehicle.
The company also changed its corporate logo at this time to de-emphasize the soon-to-be-defunct Space Shuttle program and to rebrand it to be a space operations company, choosing to replace the shuttle in the "A" to be a sun rising over the earth.
In November 2010, United Space Alliance was selected by NASA for consideration for potential contract awards for heavy lift launch vehicle system concepts, and propulsion technologies.
=== Demise ===
The efforts of USA's management to identify new post-Shuttle business opportunities were ultimately not successful, and its owners Boeing and Lockheed Martin decided to wind down the joint venture. As of September 30, 2014, USA no longer held active contracts, and said that it would not pursue future contracts. However, USA announced that it would continue to operate in an administrative business capacity to manage government contract close-out requirements. Close-out of government contracts historically takes five to seven years.
On December 20, 2019, the company was dissolved.
== See also ==
Top 100 Contractors of the U.S. federal government
Deep Space Transport LLC
United Launch Alliance
== References ==
== External links ==
United Space Alliance LLC

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Wheels Stop: The Tragedies and Triumphs of the Space Shuttle Program, 1986-2011 is a 2013 nonfiction book by Rick Houston. Wheels Stop tells the stirring story of how, after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the Space Shuttle not only recovered but went on to perform its greatest missions.
The book is part of the Outward Odyssey spaceflight history series by the University of Nebraska Press.
Wheels Stop was reviewed in the Air & Space Smithsonian magazine, and by the American Library Association's Booklist.
== References ==
== External links ==
Wheels Stop Official Publisher Site
Book review by Jeff Foust of The Space Review
Book review on Publishers Weekly

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Yuri's Night is an international celebration held every April 12 to commemorate milestones in space exploration. It is named for the first human to launch into space, Yuri Gagarin, who flew the Vostok 1 spaceship on April 12, 1961. In 2011, the fiftieth anniversary of Gagarin's flight, Yuri's Night was celebrated at over 567 events in 75 countries on seven continents. Yuri's Night is often called the "World Space Party". The launch of STS-1, the first Space Shuttle mission, is also honored, as it was launched 20 years to the day after Vostok 1, on April 12, 1981 (although the date of STS-1 is just a coincidence, the launch having been delayed for two days due to a technical problem).
== Objective ==
The goal of Yuri's Night is to increase public interest in space exploration and to inspire a new generation of explorers. Driven by space-inspired artistic expression and culminating in a worldwide network of annual celebrations and educational events, Yuri's Night creates a global community of young people committed to shaping the future of space exploration while developing responsible leaders and innovators with a global perspective. These global events are a showcase for elements of culture that embrace space including music, dance, fashion, and art.
== History of Yuri's Night ==
Yuri's Night was created in 2000 by Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides, George T. Whitesides and Trish Garner. The first Yuri's Night was held on April 12, 2001, exactly 40 years after the launch of Vostok 1. Since 1962, April 12 has been celebrated in Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) as Cosmonautics Day (Russian: День Космонавтики)
and since 2011 internationally as the International Day of Human Space Flight.
The 2004 Yuri's Night event in Los Angeles was attended by space-related figures including author Ray Bradbury, space tourist Dennis Tito, X-Prize founder Peter Diamandis, *NSYNC's Lance Bass, and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura from the original Star Trek series). The event included a large party with two dance floors and world-class DJs.
The 2007 event in the San Francisco Bay Area was held at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in Mountain View, CA. The event featured artistic installations, technology demonstrations, and DJ music continuing through dawn of the following day.
April 2011 marked the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's historic first flight. Over 100,000 people attended 567 Yuri's Night parties in 75 countries, and the crew of Expedition 27 recorded a Yuri's Night celebratory greeting from the International Space Station.
In April 2021, Yuri's Night was held virtually amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The event consisted of a hosted global live stream alongside some private, ticketed virtual events. Some notable guests included Brian May, Bill Nye, Tim Dodd, and Richard Branson.
In 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Space Foundation announced that it would change the name of its 2022 Yuri's Night celebrations from "Yuri's Night" to "A Celebration of Space: Discover What's Next" as part of a large-scale boycott of Russia in solidarity with Ukraine because Yuri Gagarin was born in Russia. Gagarin's spaceflight was flown in the name of the entire Soviet Union, dissolved in 1991, which included among other Soviet Republics, both Russia and Ukraine.
== Yuri's Night today ==
Yuri's Night events "combine space-themed partying with education and outreach". Parties and events are held at NASA centers, museums, planetariums, schools, bars, nightclubs, houses, and other locations. Often, guests are encouraged to dress up in various space-themed attire to add to the ambiance of the show. Space-themed art, sculptures and guests are often showcased at the events. Event sizes range from small to large and often attract large crowds with headlining musical acts such as Les Claypool, N*E*R*D, Common, NASA, and The Crystal Method.
Yuri's Night has been celebrated in locations including Reno, Ottawa, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Huntsville, Alabama, New Orleans, Inverness, Stockholm, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Lisbon, Helsinki, Afghanistan, Nairobi, Latvia, Romania, Peru, Antarctica, and the International Space Station, in addition to many other locations and virtual online celebrations.
Yuri's Night is organized on a global level by an all-volunteer "Executive Team", which provides logistical and promotional support to Yuri's Night events worldwide. Individual organizers are responsible for registering and running their local events.
== Photo gallery ==
== See also ==
International Day of Human Space Flight
World Space Week
== References ==
== External links ==
Yuri's Night
MSNBC: Feeling down about spaceflight? Lift your spirits with Yuri's Night
No Borders – Bridging Cultures Through Yuri's Night video of the presentation during the IAC 2013 (YouTube)

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