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On the 10th anniversary of the last space shuttle flight, let’s take a spacewalk into the past.
the NASA’s space shuttle journey began in 1972, when then-US President Richard Nixon announced his intention to develop the world’s first reusable and inexpensive space shuttle for space travel.
the first space shuttle flight, STS-1 (Space transportation system-1) Columbia, took off nine years later from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 12, 1981. Columbia’s beginnings launched a 30-year program that included 135 missions; the transport of millions of pounds of freight to and from space; premieres for astronauts from racial, gender and ethnic minorities; repairs and updates to the International Space Station; and more.
And while the program had its iconic premieres, it was also mired in tragic and fatal accidents at times. Here are eight pivotal moments from the space shuttle era.
1. The first American woman goes into space
When the the space shuttle Challenger (mission STS-7) launched on June 18, 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. This was 20 years after the then Soviet Union sent cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman into space, aboard the Vostok 6 spacecraft in 1963.
2. The first African-American achieves a space flight
When Challenger’s third mission, STS-8, took off on August 30, 1983, the deployment of the Insat-1B weather and communications satellite to India was not the only record achieved. This launch also marked mission specialist Guion “Guy” Bluford Jr. becoming the first African-American to fly in space.
3. Marking of the first unattached spacewalk
After the launch of the space shuttle Challenger for mission STS-41B in the early morning hours of February 3, 1984, mission specialists Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart carried out the first spacewalks outside of a shuttle without being attached to the shuttle.
4. Resumption of the flight of the space shuttle after the explosion of the Challenger
The Space Shuttle Discovery Voyage (STS-26) on September 29, 1988, was the NASA Space Shuttle’s first return flight on two and a half years after the Challenger disaster that killed the seven crew members on January 28, 1986.
5. Launch of the Hubble Space Telescope
To deploy the telescope, the space shuttle Discovery (STS-31) was launched on April 24, 1990 and climbed to an altitude of 370 miles (595.5 kilometers), the highest shuttle orbit on record at that time, according to NASA. Placed in orbit as two IMAX cameras recorded the mission on April 25, the Hubble Space Telescope has since informed our knowledge of the cosmos for more than 30 years by sharing its observations of stars, galaxies and other astronomical objects.
6. Successfully complete the 100th US manned space launch
The launch of Atlantis, the last space shuttle, on June 27, 1995, marked the 100th American manned space launch. This mission (STS-71) also took place when the space shuttle Atlantis first docked with the Russian space station Mir – an international space collaboration that made Atlantis and Mir the largest combined spacecraft. never put into orbit, totaling nearly half a million pounds (226,796 kilograms), according to NASA. This cooperation paved the way for the International Space Station.
7. Return to space after the disaster in Colombia
Nearly two and a half years after the Space Shuttle Columbia exploded over Texas as it returned to Earth, a second fatal crash that killed all seven crew members, Discovery (STS-114) launched on July 26, 2005.
“Take note of what you saw here,” then NASA administrator Michael Griffin told reporters, according to a 2005 CNN report. “The power and majesty of the launch, of course, but also the skill and the professionalism, the nerve, the courage, the courage of this team which brought this program out of the depths of despair. “
8. Redesign of the International Space Station
One of the goals of the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavor (STS-126) on November 14, 2008 was for the crew to renovate a kitchen and bathroom on the ISS and deliver a new refrigerator. Also included in the cargo was Exercise equipment. All the supplies were part of NASA’s hope to expand the space station and enable space personnel to perform long-duration missions.
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