Space Shuttle

Space Shuttle – Chapter 5 – The Columbia Disaster.

The orbiter Enterprise was the very first Shuttle built for the program, but the ship wasn’t even fitted with engines; it was exclusively used for gliding tests and it never left Earth’s atmosphere. It was the second ship, Columbia, that had the honor of being the first orbiter to reach space. In so many waysContinue reading “Space Shuttle – Chapter 5 – The Columbia Disaster.”

Space Shuttle – Chapter 4 – The Atlantis Close Call

On the 2nd of December, 1988, the Orbiter Atlantis successfully took off from Kennedy Space Center at 09:30 EST, carrying a crew of five. The STS-27 mission was top-secret, one of those rare occasions when the Space Shuttle program was used for military purposes. Tucked inside the cargo bay was a surveillance satellite, commissioned byContinue reading “Space Shuttle – Chapter 4 – The Atlantis Close Call”

Space Shuttle – Chapter 3 – The Challenger Disaster

It was unusually cold on the morning of January 28, 1986, and orbiter Challenger had spent the overnight on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The first thing the engineers noticed that morning was ice crystals around the ship and the equipment. That was not a good sign. The ship was (supposedly)Continue reading “Space Shuttle – Chapter 3 – The Challenger Disaster”

Space Shuttle – Chapter 2- The Challenger Close Call

On the 12th of July, 1985, on the launch pad of the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, the orbiter Challenger was getting ready for STS-51-F, the 19th mission of the program. Besides the constant flight delays and cancelations, NASA had secured government funding and it seemed like Americans were back in love with space exploration. ChallengerContinue reading “Space Shuttle – Chapter 2- The Challenger Close Call”

The Space Shuttle, or as it was officially named, Space Transportation System (STS), was one of the most emblematic chapters in NASA’S history and also the most catastrophic. In this series of 5 articles, we will go through the concept, execution, flaws, and tragedies that haunted the program. July 21, 1969, at 02:56 UTC, theContinue reading “Space Shuttle”