The Space Shuttle is a retired,partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS),taken from the 1969 plan led by U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew for a system of reusable spacecraft where it was the only item funded for development.
A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder. The inception of gunpowder rockets in warfare can be credited to the ancient Chinese,and in the 13th century,the Mongols played a pivotal role in facilitating their westward adoption.
A hypergolic propellant is a rocket propellant combination used in a rocket engine,whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other.
The Centaur is a family of rocket propelled upper stages that has been in use since 1962. It is currently produced by U.S. launch service provider United Launch Alliance,with one main active version and one version under development. The 3.05 m (10.0 ft) diameter Common Centaur/Centaur III flies as the upper stage of the Atlas V launch vehicle,and the 5.4 m (18 ft) diameter Centaur V has been developed as the upper stage of ULA's new Vulcan rocket. Centaur was the first rocket stage to use liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellants,a high-energy combination that is ideal for upper stages but has significant handling difficulties.
STS-1 was the first orbital spaceflight of NASA's Space Shuttle program. The first orbiter,Columbia,launched on April 12,1981,and returned on April 14,1981,54.5 hours later,having orbited the Earth 37 times. Columbia carried a crew of two—commander John W. Young and pilot Robert L. Crippen. It was the first American crewed space flight since the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) in 1975. STS-1 was also the maiden test flight of a new American spacecraft to carry a crew,though it was preceded by atmospheric testing (ALT) of the orbiter and ground testing of the Space Shuttle system.
Monomethylhydrazine (MMH) is a highly toxic,volatile hydrazine derivative with the chemical formula CH6N2. It is used as a rocket propellant in bipropellant rocket engines because it is hypergolic with various oxidizers such as nitrogen tetroxide and nitric acid. As a propellant,it is described in specification MIL-PRF-27404.
STS-74 was the fourth mission of the US/Russian Shuttle–Mir program,and the second docking of the Space Shuttle with Mir. Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A on 12 November 1995. The mission ended 8 days later with the landing of Atlantis back at Kennedy. It was the second in a series of seven straight missions to the station flown by Atlantis.
The Saturn IB was an American launch vehicle commissioned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the Apollo program. It uprated the Saturn I by replacing the S-IV second stage,with the S-IVB. The S-IB first stage also increased the S-I baseline's thrust from 1,500,000 pounds-force (6,700,000 N) to 1,600,000 pounds-force (7,100,000 N) and propellant load by 3.1%. This increased the Saturn I's low Earth orbit payload capability from 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) to 46,000 pounds (21,000 kg),enough for early flight tests of a half-fueled Apollo command and service module (CSM) or a fully fueled Apollo Lunar Module (LM),before the larger Saturn V needed for lunar flight was ready.
The RS-25,also known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME),is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine that was used on NASA's Space Shuttle and is used on the Space Launch System (SLS).
The Apollo command and service module (CSM) was one of two principal components of the United States Apollo spacecraft,used for the Apollo program,which landed astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. The CSM functioned as a mother ship,which carried a crew of three astronauts and the second Apollo spacecraft,the Apollo Lunar Module,to lunar orbit,and brought the astronauts back to Earth. It consisted of two parts:the conical command module,a cabin that housed the crew and carried equipment needed for atmospheric reentry and splashdown;and the cylindrical service module which provided propulsion,electrical power and storage for various consumables required during a mission. An umbilical connection transferred power and consumables between the two modules. Just before reentry of the command module on the return home,the umbilical connection was severed and the service module was cast off and allowed to burn up in the atmosphere.
Aerojet Rocketdyne is a subsidiary of American defense company L3Harris that manufactures rocket,hypersonic,and electric propulsive systems for space,defense,civil and commercial applications. Aerojet traces its origins to the General Tire and Rubber Company established in 1915,while Rocketdyne was created as a division of North American Aviation in 1955. Aerojet Rocketdyne was formed in 2013 when Aerojet and Pratt &Whitney Rocketdyne were merged,following the latter's acquisition by GenCorp,Inc. from Pratt &Whitney. Aerojet Rocketdyne was acquired by L3Harris in July 2023 for $4.7 billion.
A reaction control system (RCS) is a spacecraft system that uses thrusters to provide attitude control and translation. Alternatively,reaction wheels can be used for attitude control. Use of diverted engine thrust to provide stable attitude control of a short-or-vertical takeoff and landing aircraft below conventional winged flight speeds,such as with the Harrier "jump jet",may also be referred to as a reaction control system.
The pressure-fed engine is a class of rocket engine designs. A separate gas supply,usually helium,pressurizes the propellant tanks to force fuel and oxidizer to the combustion chamber. To maintain adequate flow,the tank pressures must exceed the combustion chamber pressure.
STS-133 was the 133rd mission in NASA's Space Shuttle program;during the mission,Space Shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station. It was Discovery's 39th and final mission. The mission launched on February 24,2011,and landed on March 9,2011. The crew consisted of six American astronauts,all of whom had been on prior spaceflights,headed by Commander Steven Lindsey. The crew joined the long-duration six person crew of Expedition 26,who were already aboard the space station. About a month before lift-off,one of the original crew members,Tim Kopra,was injured in a bicycle accident. He was replaced by Stephen Bowen.
The Space Shuttle orbiter is the spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle,a partially reusable orbital spacecraft system that was part of the discontinued Space Shuttle program. Operated from 1981 to 2011 by NASA,the U.S. space agency,this vehicle could carry astronauts and payloads into low Earth orbit,perform in-space operations,then re-enter the atmosphere and land as a glider,returning its crew and any on-board payload to the Earth.
The AJ10 is a hypergolic rocket engine manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne. It has been used to propel the upper stages of several launch vehicles,including the Delta II and Titan III. Variants were and are used as the service propulsion engine for the Apollo command and service module,in the Space Shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System,and on the European Service Module –part of NASA's Orion spacecraft.
The RS-88 is a liquid-fueled rocket engine designed and built in the United States by Rocketdyne. Originally developed for NASA's Bantam System Technology program in 1997,the RS-88 burned ethanol fuel with liquid oxygen (LOX) as the oxidizer. It offered 220 kN (49,000 lbf) of thrust at sea level.
The descent propulsion system or lunar module descent engine (LMDE),internal designation VTR-10,is a variable-throttle hypergolic rocket engine invented by Gerard W. Elverum Jr. and developed by Space Technology Laboratories (TRW) for use in the Apollo Lunar Module descent stage. It used Aerozine 50 fuel and dinitrogen tetroxide oxidizer. This engine used a pintle injector,which paved the way for other engines to use similar designs.
The European Service Module (ESM) is the service module component of the Orion spacecraft,serving as its primary power and propulsion component until it is discarded at the end of each mission. In January 2013,NASA announced that the European Space Agency (ESA) will contribute the service module for Artemis I,based on the ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). It was delivered by Airbus Defence and Space in Bremen,in northern Germany to NASA at the end of 2018. After approval of the first module,the ESA will provide the ESMs from Artemis II to Artemis VI.
The Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) was a NASA technology demonstrator project that tested a less toxic and higher performance/efficiency chemical propellant for next-generation launch vehicles and CubeSat spacecraft. When compared to the present high-thrust and high-performance industry standard for orbital maneuvering systems,which for decades,have exclusively been reliant upon toxic hydrazine based propellant formulations,the "greener" hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN) monopropellant offers many advantages for future satellites,including longer mission durations,additional maneuverability,increased payload space and simplified launch processing. The GPIM was managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,Alabama,and was part of NASA's Technology Demonstration Mission Program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate.
Diagram of OMS pod components
An OMS pod detached from an orbiter for maintenance
