![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The shuttle was planned to not only visit Skylab, but also help with the construction of Skylab’s successor space stations. And in just a few short days (on November 14), NASA plans to launch the first official mission, Crew-1, of their Commercial Crew Program.īut given the hiatus between the end of the Space Shuttle Program and the start of the Commercial Crew Program, many have wondered: Why did NASA stop flying the Space Shuttle in the first place? The hype of the Space Shuttleįirst conceived during the heady and well-funded time around the initial Moon landings, the Space Shuttle was intended to provide NASA with a low-cost means to bring humans and payloads to low-Earth orbit. On May 30, 2020, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, marking the first crewed spaceflight launched from American soil since NASA retired the Space Shuttle. More than 30 years later, when Space Shuttle Atlantis rolled to a stop on the runway July 21, 2011, the shuttle program officially came to a close.Īfter the end of shuttle era, American astronauts were forced to pay for rides aboard Russian rockets - a situation many found galling. The first orbital test flight, STS-1, carried out by Space Shuttle Columbia, blasted off Apfrom historic launchpad 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The Space Shuttle Program eventually flew 135 missions, making it the core of American crewed spaceflight efforts for nearly four decades. Nearly a decade later, the Space Shuttle was born. But during that same year, NASA was already beginning the design and develop their next generation of crew-carrying craft. For example, Starship is NASA's chosen system to land astronauts on the moon as soon as 2025 or 2026 on the agency's Artemis 3 mission (though NASA officials have said they are prepared to pivot to other types of missions if Starship is not ready by then).In 1972, Apollo 17 carried the last batch of astronauts to the lunar surface. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has already made big promises about Starship's potential and attracted lucrative contracts. Technically speaking, Starship won't quite do a full orbit of the planet, but its expected flight should bring it to a near-orbital velocity of 17,500 mph (28,160 kph) at an altitude of 150 miles (250 kilometers). Starship and Super Heavy are reusable systems, but this time SpaceX will aim for a simple splashdown in the ocean rather than landing vertically, as the first stages of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets commonly do. Should Starship get safely into space this time, the expected 90-minute flight will see the spacecraft fly east over the Gulf of Mexico, make a partial circuit of Earth and splash down near Hawaii. Fish and Wildlife Service "on an updated Biological Assessment under the Endangered Species Act", the FAA noted in October, given that Starship launches from an ecologically sensitive area. (The latter assessment determined the risks that a Starship launch might pose to public health and property.)īut SpaceX's forthcoming launch also required approval from the U.S. The FAA closed its investigation into the mishap in early September and then finished its Starship safety review on Oct. SpaceX remotely detonated the vehicle about four minutes after launch, scattering debris over a wide area. On April 20, Starship blasted off from Starbase and soared high in the atmosphere before spinning out of control. While Starship has been in testing for several years, the huge Starship-Super Heavy integrated system has just one liftoff under its belt to date. ![]()
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