Space shuttle was a United States human spaceflight program with partly reusable vehicles that could land much like ordinary airplanes. The part of the space shuttle that carried the crew was called the orbiter. It resembled an airplane. At take-off, the shuttle also included two reusable rocket engines and one large disposable fuel tank. These pieces separated from the orbiter in the first few minutes of flight, falling back toward Earth. The official name of the program was the Space Transportation System (STS). The first shuttle mission, aboard the shuttle Columbia, was launched on April 12, 1981. The last mission, aboard the Atlantis, was completed on July 21, 2011. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ran the shuttle program.
NASA eventually ordered five fully functional orbiters and one full-size model built. Each craft was assembled in Palmdale, California, by the private company Rockwell International. Each of the fully functional orbiters took its name from a famous ship in naval history. They were Atlantis, Challenger, Columbia, Discovery, and Endeavour. The full-scale model, used for testing, was called Enterprise. It was named for the spacecraft on the television series Star Trek (1966-1969).
Before the space shuttle program, all craft that carried astronauts into space were used only once. The space shuttle was an attempt to build a more cost-effective reusable craft, the first of its kind. The shuttle was designed to take off like a conventional rocket but land on a runway. The design worked, but it took more work to get a shuttle ready for another flight than had been predicted. As a result, the shuttles did not prove less expensive to operate than previous expendable spacecraft. The total lifetime cost of the Shuttle program was estimated to be about $200 billion. The last orbiter constructed, Endeavour, cost $1.7 billion to build.
The space shuttle program flew 135 missions over 30 years, flying much less frequently than initially hoped. However, the orbiter proved itself the most capable human spaceflight vehicle ever. It delivered new satellites to orbit and rescued others that had failed after launch. It placed into orbit the Hubble Space Telescope as well as many other observatories and space probes that expanded human knowledge of the universe. Space shuttles also carried entire science laboratories into space to conduct unique experiments. Many missions involved building the International Space Station (ISS). The shuttle also carried astronauts and supplies to and from the station.
A shuttle orbiter could carry about 27 tons (24 metric tons) of payload (cargo). The craft were designed to fly in orbits between 115 miles (185 kilometers) and 400 miles (640 kilometers) above Earth. The orbiter measured about 122 feet (37 meters) long. The full craft at take-off was 184 feet (56 meters) long. The orbiter carried three powerful engines. These engines burned liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The engines could be reused after extensive inspection and testing. The orbiter’s aluminum wings were covered with protective panels and special ceramic tiles. These features protected the craft from heat during its reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.
The shuttle could dock with other spacecraft. The shuttle Atlantis became the first shuttle to do so when it docked with Russia’s Mir space station in 1995. A device called an airlock also enabled astronauts to conduct spacewalks, working outside the vehicle. The orbiter also had a sophisticated Canadian-built robotic arm that served as a sort of construction crane in orbit. Shuttle crews used the arm, for example, to capture the Hubble Space Telescope for upgrades and repairs. It was also used to move parts when building the ISS. 
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The shuttle program suffered two major accidents. In each case, all seven crew members lost their lives. In the first accident, the shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch on Jan. 28, 1986. On Feb. 1, 2003, the shuttle Columbia broke up on reentry.
Over the course of the shuttle program, the shuttles orbited Earth 21,152 times. They traveled a total distance of 542,398,878 miles (872,906,380 kilometers). They carried 852 astronauts. The missions had a total duration of just over 1,334 days.
Following the end of the program, the remaining orbiters and the Enterprise were awarded to museums and other facilities around the United States for display. Atlantis was awarded to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery was awarded to The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum near Washington D.C. Endeavour went to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Enterprise ended up at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in New York City.
