This is Enterprise, the first Space Shuttle, making its first appearance attached to boosters on May 1, 1979 at Kennedy Space Center. The craft was originally named Constitution, but Star Trek fans pleaded with the White House to rename it for the fictional ship that boldly went where no man had gone before. Enterprise was the first shuttle to be built and tested in Earth's atmosphere, and carried the name OV-1, for Orrbital Vehicle 1. But it was not the first to go into space, as you'll see in the next picture.
Image Credit: NASA
Nearly two years later, on April 12, 1981, Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-1. The mission commander was astronaut John Young, a veteran of spaceflight who had walked on the moon in 1972. Pilot Bob Crippen, a Navy test pilot, would command three more missions. The shuttle returned to Earth two days later at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and thus began three decades of distinguished service and tragic sacrifice. In 2006, Firing Room 1 at Kennedy Space Center was renamed the Young-Crippen Firing Room. But that's not the only way NASA honored that first launch, as you'll see in the next photo.
Image Credit: NASA
"BEANS ARE GO," the sign says. After every successful shuttle launch, personnel on the ground ate beans and cornbread to celebrate. The tradition began during preparations for the launch of STS-1 in 1981, as team members shared potluck meals; after liftoff, they enjoyed beans from the crock pot of NASA Test Director Norm Carlson, and a ritual was born. Eventually, each launch day found NASA staff readying the rocket, shuttle, crew and also 60 gallons of beans. The call "Beans are go!" meant that the shuttle was safely up and away. Next up, see another celebrated launch.
Image Credit: NASA
This is a picture of liftoff -- and rebirth. When Space Shuttle Discovery began Mission STS-26 on September 29, 1988, the world watched with nervous anticipation. The manned space program had been grounded since 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members. It would not be the last tragedy in the shuttle program -- the crew of Space Shuttle Columbia met a similar fate upon return to Earth 15 years later. On the 4-day, 1.7 million-mile Mission STS-26, the crew performed a typical mix of tasks. They placed a satellite in orbit and conducted a variety of chemical, electronic and medical experiments. For a unique view of a shuttle launch, check out the next photo.
Image Credit: NASA
In this image captured from a training flight, Space Shuttle Endeavour breaks through the clouds on its way to the International Space Station May 16, 2011. In this 36th mission, STS-134, the crew delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a particle physics detector created by a team spanning 16 countries and 60 institutes. The commander was Mark Kelly, who commanded two shuttle missions and piloted two others, and is the husband of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona. Just five months after being attacked by a gunman in Arizona, and still recovering from her severe injuries, Giffords attended this launch. She and her husband swapped wedding rings and he wore hers into space. Next, see how the mission ended.
Image Credit: NASA
Space Shuttle Endeavour comes home for the last time. It is shown here rolling to a stop after landing on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center June 1, 2011 at 2:34 a.m. EDT. The landing concluded both Mission STS-134 and the service of Endeavour, which was named to honor a ship captained by 18th century British explorer James Cook. His vessel charted New Zealand and Australia, navigated the Great Barrier Reef and catalogued thousands of new plants and animals, among other accomplishments. The shuttle Endeavour orbited Earth 4,671 times and logged 122,883,151 miles in 25 flights. To see how a mission begins, check out the next picture.
Image Credit: NASA/Kenny Allen
After a shuttle landed, it typically took about three months to clean and outfit it for its next flight. This work took place in one of Kennedy Space Center's three 29,000-square-foot (2,694 sq. m) Orbiter Processing Facilities. In this August 2008 picture, Space Shuttle Atlantis is being rolled out of Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 on its way to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where it would have its two solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank attached. Then it was on to Launch Pad 39A for liftoff Oct. 8 on Mission STS-125. Rollovers like this one had their own food tradition -- NASA staff liked to have doughnuts and bagels while watching the shuttle roll by. Sometimes a shuttle had to move away from the launch pad before liftoff, as we'll see in the next photo.
Image Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
Launch pad switches, called rollarounds, were rare for the Space Shuttle program, though it happened twice for Endeavour. The first time, shown here, was in 1993. The shuttle was moved from Launch Pad 39A to Launch Pad 39B after the discovery of contamination in Pad A's Payload Changeout Room, where cargo was to be loaded. The transfer took about seven hours. Contamination wasn't the only thing that could delay or otherwise alter a launch schedule -- sometimes Mother Nature wanted to have some say in the matter, as you'll see in the next image.
Image Credit: NASA
In this May 30, 2002 photo, Endeavour waits on Pad 39A for severe thunderstorms to pass before liftoff. Launch was rescheduled for May 31, then postponed again until June 5 to replace and test a faulty gaseous nitrogen regulator valve on the left Orbital Maneuvering System pod. This mission, STS-111, hauled more than 8,000 pounds of supplies and equipment to the space station, including a glovebox that allowed station inhabitants to perform experiments requiring isolation, and a new science rack for microgravity experiments. The shuttle also took pictures of Colorado wildfires that were visible 240 miles above Earth. In the next photo, see a much happier shuttle portrait.
Image Credit: NASA
A double rainbow for a pair of airships: In this Sept. 2008 photo, Space Shuttle Atlantis waits on Launch Pad 39A in the foreground for Mission STS-125, which began May 31, 2009 and included repairs on the Hubble Space Telescope. In the background, Endeavour was on Launch Pad 39B, which lifted off on Mission STS-126 November 14, 2008 and carried the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), which included more living space and exercise gear for the International Space Station.
Image Credit: NASA/Troy Cryder
In the fall of 1998, the Discovery shuttle program had a distinguished passenger, when the mission included former astronaut and U.S. junior senator from Ohio, John Glenn. Here we visit the launch pad's White Room, just before entry to the orbiter, where STS-95 payload specialist Glenn has his flight suit checked before climbing into the Discovery. It would be Glenn's second flight into space: The space shuttle mission came 36 years after the 1962 Mercury mission launch that made Glenn the first American to orbit the Earth. Glenn was 77 years young when he took part in the Discovery shuttle mission.
Image Credit: NASA
Glenn and the Discovery crew completed their mission on November 7, 1998. Here we see a shot from the previous day, while the shuttle was orbiting over the Atlantic Ocean. It was taken from the aft windows, and the moon was perfectly framed between the shuttle's orbital maneuvering system pod and the planet on which the astronauts would touch down the next day.
Image Credit: NASA
You don't even have to go to outer space in a shuttle to experience dizzying heights. This closeup was taken from 195 feet (59 meters) up, at launch pad 39A. It shows the orbiter access arm extended toward the side of the Discovery shuttle. At the end is the entrance to the environmentally controlled White Room, where we just saw John Glenn being outfitted for his mission.
Image Credit: Scott Andrews
In this 2005 picture, the Discovery shuttle was about 600 feet (183 meters) from the International Space Station when space station crew members photographed the shuttle as it approached. The Discovery commander, astronaut Eileen M. Collins, performed a backflip to allow for photography of the heat shield. The shuttle and space station were flying over Switzerland at the time.
Image Credit: NASA
Here we see a decidedly more Earthbound picture of the space shuttle Discovery, as it rests on launch pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. It had just completed a 4.2-mile (6.8-kilometer) journey from the vehicle assembly building. The rollout was in advance of its 2006 launch on mission STS-121 to the International Space Station.
Image Credit: NASA/Ken Thornsley
A close-up view of space shuttle Discovery's tail section, captured by a crew member on the International Space Station during the STS-121 mission. In this picture you can see the shuttle's main engines, vertical stabilizer, orbital maneuvering system pods and a portion of the aft cargo bay and wings. In the next picture, we'll see Discovery coming in for a landing after its final mission.
Image Credit: NASA
Space shuttle Discovery touches down on Runway 15 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on March 9, 2011. The landing signaled completion of the 13-day STS-133 mission to the International Space Station and completion of Discovery's final mission. It was the 133rd space shuttle program mission and the 35th shuttle voyage to the International Space Station. Before long, the entire space shuttle program would be shut down for good.
Image Credit: NASA/Chuck Tintera
In this image, we see the October 3, 1985 liftoff of the space shuttle Atlantis, on its maiden voyage. Its mission, STS-51J, was to deliver a communications satellite to orbit for the Department of Defense. Studies also were conducted by the crew on space motion sickness, cardiovascular de-conditioning, muscle loss, changes in coordination, balance strategies and changes in the body's biochemistry. The Atlantis landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California on October 7, after a successful four-day mission.
Image Credit: NASA/KSC
In this Atlantis STS-61B mission photo from 1985, astronaut Jerry Ross, perched on the manipulator foot restraint, performed experiments designed to test certain structural assembly concepts NASA was considering, in hopes they would be suitable for use as the framework for larger structures in space.
Image Credit: NASA
The shuttle Atlantis's cockpit is seen in the round in this picture from 1999. The cockpit boasted a new -- for its time -- full-color, flat-panel, multi-function electronic display subsystem, or MEDS. It was also known as the "glass cockpit." The MEDS upgrade improved crew/orbiter interaction, using easier-to-read, graphic portrayals of key flight indicators such as attitude display and mach speed.
Image Credit: NASA/KSC
Even space shuttles come from an assembly line of sorts. In the vehicle assembly building at Kennedy Space Center, a crane lowers the space shuttle Discovery toward the external tank and solid rocket boosters already stacked on the mobile launcher platform.
Image Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
In this image, the space shuttle Atlantis is seen docked with the International Space Station on September 12, 2006, during the STS-115 mission.
Image Credit: NASA
Here we get a glimpse at the people behind the amazing space machine. Shown is the rear of the space shuttle flight control room in the mission control center at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Several controllers are at work supporting a spacewalk by NASA astronauts.
Image Credit: NASA
The sun rises above the horizon behind the space shuttle Atlantis, which stands ready on the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The sun is rising on mission STS-135, which will be the last Atlantis mission and, indeed, the last mission of a U.S. space shuttle.
Image Credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
This is the walkway at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A that astronauts used to reach the White Room, which granted them access to the shuttle's crew compartment. The last crew members to take that walk were the astronauts of STS-135, who boarded Atlantis July 8, 2011. To see their liftoff, check out the next picture.
Image Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
The beginning of the end: the final launch of both Atlantis and the U.S. Space Shuttle program. Mission STS-135 was the 135th flight in the shuttle program and the 37th visit by a shuttle to the International Space Station. In the next photo, see what the launch control staff saw.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
NASA managers in Firing Room Four of the Launch Control Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. watch the ascent of Space Shuttle Atlantis. NASA welcomed 45,000 guests to view the liftoff, and an estimated one million people were in the region to see the historic event. Next, see it from above.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
A photographer aboard a Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) captured this image of the final journey of Atlantis into outer space. During the two-week Mission STS-135, the crew would be awakened by music and special messages from Beyonce, Paul McCartney, Elton John and Michael Stipe of R.E.M. Next up, see an image of the ship's return.
Image Credit: NASA/Dick Clark
The final descent of Atlantis, as seen from the International Space Station. Though temperatures could reach almost 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650 degrees Celsius) as a shuttle plowed through Earth's atmosphere, Atlantis landed safely on its last mission.
Image Credit: NASA
After landing, workers at Kennedy Space Center in Florida accompany Atlantis, as it is towed back to its processing hangar after landing. The ship and crew successfully completed a 13-day mission to the International Space Station, and with that they concluded the final flight of a U.S. space shuttle. Russian spacecraft then took over transportation duties to and from the International Space Station, and NASA focused on a robust program of unmanned space exploration -- with the possibility of trips to the moon and Mars held in the hopes and dreams of future astronauts worldwide.
Now that you've seen our space shuttle launches pictures, do you wonder just how expensive space exploration really is? Take our space exploration costs quiz and find out!
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
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