The
space shuttle Atlantis lifts off in May 2010, headed for the
International Space Station more than 200 miles above Earth.
At the Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral, Fla., the space
shuttle Atlantis awaits its last liftoff. In June, it will be rolled to
the launchpad, within sight of the white sands of the Atlantic coast. In
the past 30 years, 134 previous space shuttle missions have launched
from the same swath of land.
When the weather cooperates, the countdown will begin. The launch
rockets will ignite, and the vehicle will lift off and soar into the
sky, eventually becoming invisible to spectators on Earth. Like many
previous missions, Atlantis will carry astronauts and equipment to and
from the International Space Station more than 200 miles above Earth.
(If you could drive a car straight up, you could drive there in less
than four hours at highway speeds.)
The mission isn’t just the last blast for Atlantis; it will also mark
the end of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. Atlantis’ trip will be the
final voyage to space by a U.S. space shuttle. The program ends this
year, closing an important chapter in the history of human space flight.
NASA
customized this Boeing 747 to make it a ferry for space shuttles. Here,
the space shuttle Atlantis gets a lift from California (where it
landed) to its home at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 1998. Credit
NASA.
The space shuttles were the world’s first reusable space vehicles.
For the past 30 years, they have carried people and equipment beyond
Earth’s atmosphere into space and returned home. Shuttles hosted onboard
experiments that helped scientists learn more about the effects of
gravity. The Hubble Space Telescope, a powerful telescope that orbits
Earth, rode into space in the bay of a shuttle. So did crucial parts of
the International Space Station, one of the most complicated
construction projects in history.
“The space shuttle program taught humans how to live and work
productively in space,” says astronaut Franklin Chang-Díaz, who flew on a
record-setting seven shuttle flights. (He shares the record with
astronaut Jerry L. Ross.)
These seven astronauts died when the Challenger shuttle exploded just over a minute after liftoff in January 1986. Credit: NASA
An enterprise with spectacular triumphs often comes with heavy risks,
and the shuttle program was no exception. Though no mission was
perfect, two catastrophic crashes plagued the program. The first
happened on a cold January morning in 1986, when the shuttle Challenger
exploded after liftoff. The accident killed all seven people on board.
In 2003, the space shuttle Columbia burst into flames as it returned to
Earth. None of the seven astronauts survived.
After each of these disasters, scientists and engineers worked hard
to get the other shuttles flying again safely. “That’s what the crews we
lost would’ve wanted us to do,” says Bob Crippen, who piloted the first
space shuttle into orbit. Astronauts who flew on the shuttles knew
about the dangers that came with the job, but they believed that space
exploration was worth the risk.
Crippen says the space shuttles allow people to satisfy some of our
natural curiosity about the world. “It’s human nature to explore, to go
over the next hill and see what’s there,” he says.
Before the first countdown
Science fiction stories often describe spaceships that can travel to
space and return. The idea didn’t become reality until the late 1960s,
when a group of scientists gathered together to plan the future of U.S.
space travel. They discussed sending astronauts on missions to Mars,
building a possible space station to orbit the moon, and constructing
space shuttles. In 1972, then-President Richard Nixon approved the space
shuttle program. In 1977, scientists began flight tests of the first
experimental orbiter. (An orbiter is the part of the space shuttle that
resembles an airplane. It carries the crew and the cargo.)
In March 1981, the space shuttle Columbia awaits liftoff at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit NASA.
That test orbiter was originally named Constitution, but fans of the television show Star Trek wrote
letters to NASA and asked for a name change. They got their wish, and
the orbiter was renamed Enterprise, in honor of the featured spaceship
on the show. Enterprise, unlike its television counterpart, wasn’’t
built for space travel — its job was to make sure the space shuttle
would work.
On April 12, 1981, Columbia became the first shuttle to enter Earth’s
orbit. It stayed there for more than two days, which was long enough to
circle the globe 37 times. Over the next few years, Columbia was joined
by four other orbiters: Challenger, Endeavour, Atlantis and Discovery.
Each ship was about as long as three school buses and about as wide
as two. The orbiter flew into space with the help of two attached rocket
boosters and an enormous fuel tank, which provided fuel to the
shuttle’s engines. (In pictures of the shuttle, the giant fuel tank is
easily identified by its dark orange color.) Together, they provided
enough oomph to get the shuttle into orbit.
The Discovery shuttle flew the most missions, 38, and Challenger flew
the fewest, 10. For the first few years, the shuttles operated like
space trucks that carried heavy satellites into orbit, including those
for private companies and for the Department of Defense.
The
International Space Station, illustrated here, is about the width and
length of a football field. Shuttles often delivered astronauts,
supplies and tools to the station. Credit: NASA.
George “Pinky” Nelson, who flew on three shuttle missions, said the
biggest change to the program came after January 28, 1986, when the
shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after takeoff. The crash killed
everyone on board, including Christa McAuliffe, who was chosen to be the
first teacher in space. An investigation showed that Challenger crashed
because a seal broke in one of the rocket boosters.
“We were rushing to fly more missions and weren’t paying attention to
some of the deficiencies we had in our hardware,” Crippen remembers.
“We learned some hard lessons.”
Tragedy struck again in 2003, when the shuttle Columbia burst into
flames on its way back to Earth, killing all seven people on board. The
accident happened over Texas, easily visible to anyone watching the sky.
Columbia crashed because the heat-protection system on its left wing
had been damaged. Without that protection, intense heat from the
fast-moving vehicle destroyed the wing and eventually the shuttle.
In January 2004, President George W. Bush announced the shuttle
program would be shut down in 2010. (This was later extended to 2011.)
NASA prepared to retire the shuttles.
Shuttle science
The space shuttle itself was a scientific marvel. It required
scientists and engineers to tackle tough problems, and their solutions
led to advances in technology. The material used to insulate shuttles
from extreme heat, for example, now protects NASCAR drivers. The
shuttle’s fuel pump inspired doctors to create a new device that helps
people in heart failure. A lighting system used to help grow plants on
the shuttle is now used to help treat brain tumors in children. Science
on the shuttle is now used in infrared cameras, jewelry design and
safety devices.
This
drawing gives us some idea of what Atlantis will look like when it’s on
display in Florida. Credit: Artist concept courtesy Kennedy Space
Center Visitor Complex
Science projects on the shuttle “showed people what was possible, and
then people could improve equipment on the ground,” says astronaut
Janice Voss, who went on five shuttle missions, during which she circled
the Earth 779 times.
Astronaut Crippen says the shuttle program gave science a boost.
“People going to war drives technology, but it’s better to do it with a
peaceful endeavor like flying people into space,” he says. “It brings
the world together. The more we work together with other nations, the
better off the world will be.”
The shuttle played an important role in two of the biggest space
projects to date: the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space
Station (ISS). In 1990, the shuttle Discovery delivered the telescope
to orbit. Since then, Hubble has taken pictures of deep-space wonders
like distant galaxies, exploding stars and planetary nebulae. Its images
have revolutionized scientists’ knowledge of our solar system and the
universe.
In 1998, the shuttle Endeavour transported one of the two first
modules of the ISS to orbit. Since then, Endeavour and the other
shuttles have been used to deliver supplies and people to the ISS.
Astronauts have flown to the ISS on space shuttles, stayed for weeks or
even months, and then returned on later flights.
“The International Space Station proved we can do major construction projects in space,” Crippen says.
From small projects to large, international collaborations, the
shuttle’s contributions to science will last long after Atlantis has
landed for the last time.
Last landing
The space shuttle orbiters may not fly again, but they’re not going
away. They will be on display for the public. The record-setting
Discovery will retire to the National Air and Space Museum’s Stephen F.
Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. The test vehicle Enterprise is headed to
the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City. Atlantis will
head to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Endeavour, parts of which
were built in California, will return to the west coast, to the
California Science Center in Los Angeles.
As the shuttle era ends, a new one may be getting off the ground.
NASA is now investing in private companies to build the next generation
of space transport vehicles. The goal is to build cheap, safe and
efficient vehicles that will travel to and from Earth’s orbit — or even
beyond. In April 2010, President Obama gave an address in which he spoke
of sending people to an asteroid, or even Mars. The potential is great,
but the reality is that no one is sure what will happen next.
“The plan [to get people in space] is a little ill-defined at this
point,” Crippen says, “but I feel certain that people are going to
continue to fly in space.”
Whatever happens in the future, says Nelson, will depend on
collaboration among nations. Big space projects require big science —
and one nation may not have all the necessary resources. But Nelson
thinks it can be done, and he’s optimistic. The former astronaut, who
now teaches at Western Washington University in Bellingham, says young
people today could be the ones piloting ships to asteroids or Mars in
the near future.
“When you’re looking at the future, things look like they’re going so
slowly,” he says, “but when you look into the past, they look like they
happened so fast. I suspect exciting things are going to happen in my
lifetime.”
Many shuttle astronauts remain involved in the quest to get people
back in space. Chang-Díaz now leads a company that’s designing and
building rocket engines that will allow future astronauts to travel
farther and faster than ever before. “There are even more exciting times
still ahead,” he says. “We welcome all of you to join us on this
adventure.”
POWER WORDS (adapted from the New Oxford American Dictionary)
orbit Move around a star, planet or moon, under the
influence of gravity. For example, the International Space Station
orbits Earth, and Earth orbits the sun.
celestial Positioned in or relating to the sky, or outer space as observed in astronomy.
orbiter A spacecraft designed to go into orbit.
module Each of a set of standardized parts or
independent units that can be used to construct a more complex
structure, such as an item of furniture or a building.
