An unpowered glider, it was carried by a modified Boeing 747 airliner called the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and released for a series of atmospheric test flights and landings. The first orbiter, Enterprise, made its maiden flight in 1977. All were built in Palmdale, California, by the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Rockwell International company.
Six orbiters were built for flight: Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. 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. Operated from 1977 to 2011 by NASA, the U.S. 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.
Discovery approaches the International Space Station (ISS) on STS-121
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