Space Shuttle -  Facts & Statistics

TOTAL SHUTTLE FLIGHTS

Mission Shortcuts

FLIGHTS BY ORBITER*

*The orbiter Enterprise (OV-101) was a test vehicle not intended for spaceflight. It is on display at Dulles Airport outside Washington, D.C.

SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCHES

Night Launches - Per flight rules, a night launch is one that occurs no earlier than 15 minutes after sunset.

STS-8, 2:32:00 a.m. EDT, Aug. 30, 1983	STS-72, 4:41:00 a.m. EST, Jan. 11, 1996
STS 61-B, 7:29:00 p.m. EST, Nov. 26, 1985	STS-76, 3:13:04 a.m. EST, March 22, 1996.
STS-33, 7:23:30 p.m. EST, Nov. 22, 1989	STS-79, 4:54:49 a.m. EDT, Sept. 16, 1996
STS-36, 2:50:22 a.m. EST, Feb. 28, 1990	STS-81, 4:27:23 a.m. EST, Jan. 12, 1997.
STS-38, 6:48:15 p.m. EST, Nov. 15, 1990	STS-82, 3:55:17 a.m. EST, Feb. 11, 1997.
STS-35, 1:49:01 a.m. EST, Dec. 2, 1990	STS-84, 4:07:48 a.m. EDT, May 15, 1997
STS-44, 6:44:00 p.m. EST, Nov. 24, 1991	STS-86, 10:34:19 p.m. EDT, Sept. 25, 1997
STS-56, 1:29:00 a.m. EDT, April 8, 1983	STS-89, 9:48:15 p.m. EST, Jan. 22, 1998
STS-61, 4:27:00 a.m. EST, Dec. 2, 1993	STS-91, 6:06:24 p.m. EDT, June 2, 1998
STS-63, 12:22:04 a.m. EST, Feb. 3, 1995	STS-96, 06:49:42.080 a.m. EDT, May 27, 1999
STS-67, 1:38:13 a.m. EST, March 2, 1995	STS-93, 12:31:00 a.m. EDT, July 23, 1999

 

SHUTTLE FLIGHTS BY MISSION DURATION

Extended Missions - a mission that lands after the originally scheduled date

Extended Duration Missions

 Extended duration missions began in 1992 when the orbiter Columbia, outfitted with Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) hardware, embarked on the  longest Shuttle flight to date at that time, Mission STS-50. Endeavour later became the second orbiter in the fleet to be outfitted with EDO  hardware for longer flights. Typical Shuttle flights last about 10 days; extended duration flights initially lasted up to about 13 days and now can be approximately 16 days in length.  Flights are listed by length, beginning with longest:

Shortened Missions  -  a mission that is complete on an earlier date than originally scheduled. 

 

SHUTTLE END-OF-MISSION LANDINGS

Night landings  - a night landing occurs no later than 15 minutes before sunrise.

NOTE:  41-C at 5:38 a.m. PDT on April 13, 1984, was in daylight conditions and is not considered a nighttime landing.

End-of-Mission Landings at Kennedy Space Center

 Initially, all end-of-mission Shuttle landings were conducted at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The first KSC landing occurred in 1984. After the 1986 Challenger accident and return-to-flight in September 1988, landings were again initially conducted at Edwards. The first scheduled landing at KSC in the post-Challenger period occurred in August 1991. Today, KSC is considered the prime landing site. Not included on this table or the table listing Edwards landings is STS-3 on March 30, 1982, the only flight to date to have landed at the Northrup Strip in White Sands, N.M., and 51-L, Jan. 28, 1986, the Challenger accident. See KSC Release No. 1-92,  Landing the Space Shuttle Orbiter at KSC, for more information on KSC landings.

 

End-of-Mission Landings at Edwards Air Force Base

 

STS-1, April 14, 1981	STS 61-A, Nov. 6, 1985	STS-37, April 11, 1991
STS-2, Nov. 14, 1981	STS 61-B, Dec. 3, 1985	STS-40, June 14, 1991
STS-4, July 4, 1982	STS 61-C, Jan. 18, 1986	STS-48, Sept. 18, 1991
STS-5, Nov. 16, 1982	STS-26, Oct. 3, 1988	STS-44, Dec. 1, 1991
STS-6, April 9, 1983	STS-27, Dec. 6, 1988	STS-42, Jan. 30, 1992
STS-7, June 24, 1983	STS-29, March 18, 1989	STS-49, May 16, 1992
STS-8, Sept. 5, 1983	STS-30, May 8, 1989	STS-53, Dec. 9, 1992
STS-9, Dec. 8, 1983	STS-28, Aug. 13, 1989	STS-55, May 6, 1993
STS 41-C, Apr. 13, 1984	STS-34, Oct. 23, 1989	STS-58, Nov. 1, 1993
STS 41-D, Sept. 5, 1984	STS-33, Nov. 27, 1989	STS-59, April, 20, 1994
STS 51-B, May 6, 1985	STS-32, Jan. 20, 1990	STS-64, Sept. 20, 1994
STS 51-G, June 24, 1985	STS-36, March 4, 1990	STS-68, Oct. 11, 1994
STS 51-F, Aug. 6, 1985	STS-31, April 29, 1990	STS-66, Nov. 14, 1994
STS 51-I, Sept. 3, 1985	STS-41, Oct. 10, 1990	STS-67, March 18, 1995
STS 51-J, Oct. 7, 1985	STS-35, Dec. 10, 1990	STS-76, March 3l, 1996

Diverted Landings - a landing where the orbiter does not land at the originally scheduled landing strip.

SHUTTLE PAYLOADS AND RELATED INFORMATION

Spacelab Flights  - Flights that carry either the Spacelab module, Spacelab pallet or Spacelab Multipurpose Experiment Support Structure (MPESS) in the orbiter payload bay:

 

STS-9	Columbia, Nov. 28-Dec. 8, 1983. First Spacelab module flight, Spacelab-1.
STS 51-B	Challenger, April 29-May 6, 1985. Considered to be first operational flight of Spacelab module. Spacelab-3 covered five basic fields of investigation. Spacelab-3 flown out of sequence ahead of Spacelab-2, listed below.
STS 51-F	Challenger, July 29-Aug. 6, 1985. Spacelab-2 primary payload.  Instead of laboratory module, featured three-pallet train holding instruments exposed to space environment. Second and final Spacelab verification flight.
STS 61-A	Challenger, Oct. 30-Nov. 6, 1985. Dedicated German Spacelab (Spacelab D-1) mission featuring Spacelab module.
STS-35	Columbia, Dec. 2-10, 1990. First flight of astronomical observatory, ASTRO-1, a collection of instruments mounted atop Spacelab Instrument Pointing System and pallets in orbiter payload bay.
STS-40	Columbia, June 5-14, 1991. Fifth dedicated Spacelab mission carried Spacelab Life Sciences-1 (SLS-1), first Spacelab flight dedicated to single discipline, the life sciences.
STS-42	Discovery, Jan. 22- 30, 1992. First flight of International Microgravity Laboratory-1 (IML-1), featuring Spacelab module.
STS-45	Atlantis, March 24-April 2, 1992. First flight of Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science-1 (ATLAS-1), mounted on nondeployable Spacelab pallets.
STS-50	Columbia, June 25-July 9, 1992. First flight of U.S.  Microgravity Laboratory-1 (USML-1) in Spacelab module.
STS-47	Endeavour, Sept. 12-20, 1992. Spacelab flight jointly sponsored by United States and Japan, designated as Spacelab-J (SL-J), featuring Spacelab module.
STS-52	Columbia, Oct. 22-Nov. 1, 1992. First flight of U.S. Microgravity Payload-1 (USMP-1), a complement of three experiments mounted on two connected Spacelab Multipurpose Experiment Support Structures (MPESSs) in cargo bay of Columbia.
STS-56	Discovery, April 8-17, 1993. Second flight of Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science, ATLAS-2, mounted on Spacelab pallet.
STS-55	Columbia, April 26-May 6, 1993. Second dedicated German Spacelab flight, Spacelab D-2, featuring Spacelab laboratory module.
STS-58	Columbia, Oct. 18-Nov. 1, 1993. Second dedicated Spacelab Life Sciences mission (SLS-2) using Spacelab module.
STS-62	Columbia, March 4-18, 1994. Second flight of U.S. Microgravity Payload-2 (USMP-2) mounted on two connected Spacelab Multipurpose Experiment Support Structures (MPESSs) in orbiter payload bay.
STS-65	Columbia, July 8-23, 1994. Second flight of International Microgravity Payload (IML-2) with Spacelab module.
STS-66	Atlantis, Nov. 3-14, 1994. Third flight of Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS-3) on Spacelab pallet in payload bay.
STS-67	Endeavour, March 2-18, 1995. Second flight of astronomical observatory (ASTRO-2), mounted on Spacelab Instrument Pointing System and pallets in orbiter payload bay.
STS-73	Columbia, Oct. 20-Nov. 5, 1995. Second flight of U.S. Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2) in Spacelab module.
STS-75	Columbia, Feb. 22-March 9, 1996. Third flight of U.S. Microgravity Payload (USMP-3) on Spacelab pallet.
STS-78	Columbia, June 20-July 7, 1996. Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS) on longest Shuttle flight to date.
STS-83	Columbia, April 4-8, 1997.  Microgravity Science Laboratory-1. Planned 16-day mission cut short after fuel cell malfunction.
STS-94	Columbia, July 1-17, 1997.  Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 reflight.

 

Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) System Missions -  Shuttle flights carrying deployable TDRS spacecraft and attached Inertial Upper Stage booster as primary payload:

Interplanetary Explorer Missions  -  Shuttle missions that an interplanetary explorer spacecraft was deployed.

Great Observatory Missions - Shuttle missions during which one of NASA's great observatories for studying the solar system was deployed.

Hubble Space Telescope Missions

U.S./Russian Missions  - Cooperative missions between NASA and the Russian Space Agency, being conducted as part of Phase I of the international space station program.

SHUTTLE FUN FACTS

It takes only about eight minutes for the Space Shuttle to accelerate to a speed of more than 17,000 miles (27,358 kilometers) per hour.

The Space Shuttle main engine weighs 1/7th as much as a train engine but delivers as much horsepower as 39 locomotives.

The turbopump on the Space Shuttle main engine is so powerful it could drain an average family-sized swimming pool in 25 seconds.

The Space Shuttle's three main engines and two solid rocket boosters generate some 7.3 million pounds (3.3 million kilograms) of thrust at liftoff. Compare that with America's first two manned launch vehicles, the Redstone which produced 78,000 pounds (35,381 kilograms) of thrust, and the Atlas, which produced 360,000 pounds (163, 926 kilograms).

The liquid hydrogen in the Space Shuttle main engine is -423 degrees Fahrenheit (-253 degrees Centigrade), the second coldest liquid on Earth, and when burned with liquid oxygen, the temperature in the engine's combustion chamber reaches +6,000 degrees F. (+3,316 degrees C.)

The energy released by the three Space Shuttle main engines is equivalent to the output of 23 Hoover Dams.

Each of the Shuttle's solid rocket motors burns 5 tons (5,080 kilograms) of propellant per second, a total of 1.1 million pounds (500,000 kilograms) in 120 seconds. The speed of the gases exiting the nozzle is more than 6,000 miles (9,656 kilometers) per hour, about five times the speed of sound or three times the speed of a high-powered rifle bullet. The plume of flame ranges up to 500 feet (152 meters) long.

The combustion gases in a solid rocket motor are at a temperature of 6,100 degrees Fahrenheit (3,371 degrees Centigrade), two-thirds the temperature of the surface of the sun. While that temperature is hot enough to boil steel, special insulation inside the motor protects the steel case so well that the outside of the case reaches only about 130 degrees F. (54 degrees C.).

A stacked booster is the same height as the Statue of Liberty (not including pedestal) -- 151 feet (46 meters) -- but weighs almost three times as much.

The four engines of a Boeing 747 jet produce 188,000 pounds (85,277 kilograms) of thrust, while just one SRM produces more than 17 times as much thrust -- 3.3 million pounds (1.5 million kilograms). A pair of SRM's are more powerful than 35 jumbo jets at takeoff.

If their heat energy could be converted to electric power, two SRMs firing for two minutes would produce 2.2 million kilowatt hours of power, enough to supply the entire power demand of 87,000 homes for a full day.

The Shuttle's Remote Manipulator System (RMS), or robot arm, provided by the Canadian Space Agency, weighs about 905 pounds (411 kilograms) on Earth but can move cargo in space weighing 66,000 pounds (29,938 kilograms), objects about the size of a Greyhound bus.

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