About the size of a DC-9 commercial airliner, the shuttle is a high-tech, rocket -boosted space craft. The shuttle is launched vertically like any other rocket, using its own engines firing along with two attached solid rocket boosters that are...

When the space shuttle system became operational in the 1980s, access to space began to take on a whole new outlook. Space was about to become a place to carry out work as well as to explore. A key element in America's newest human-rated space...

Space stations were initially envisioned by scientists and science fiction writers as great wheels in the sky inhabited by dozens of crew members studying Earth from afar, conducting scientific research, and eventually building interplanetary spacecraft...

Perhaps no U.S. space program has borne witness to such great triumph and tragedy as that of the space shuttle program. Known officially as the Space Transportation System (STS), the space shuttle program was first put into operation in 1981. Between...

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System (STS), is the United States government's current manned launch vehicle. The winged Shuttle Orbiter is launched vertically, usually carrying five to seven astronauts (although eight have...

After the shuttle tragedy, the future of NASA's science program is questioned | By Sam Jaffe When the space shuttle Columbia erupted into flames on re-entry, killing its crew of six astronauts, criticism of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration grew to a...

WASHINGTON - A former Marine officer who has held engineering and management jobs in three NASA centers is taking over as manager of the space shuttle program as the space agency tries to recover from the Columbia accident. William W. Parsons, 47, director...

The shuttle Endeavour arrived at its launch pad early Wednesday for a flight that will finally carry teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan into space. The mission, scheduled to begin Aug. 7, will take Morgan and six crewmates to the international space station.It's been a nearly five-year wait...

NASA managers on Friday approved moving Atlantis to the launch pad in hopes that a June launch will return the space shuttle program to a regular flight schedule after a six-month hiatus.Technicians planned to haul Atlantis to the launch pad as soon as Tuesday if...

Discusses the importance of United States Space Program to the United States as well as the rest of the world.

Describes the materials necessary to to build the body and any subsystems of space shuttle spacecraft, including power, structural, thermal, attitude control, propulsion, and payload. Examines recent problems of entry and re-entry faced by space probes.