We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win. -John F. Kennedy
I was raised with a fascination of the NASA Space Shuttle program. Amazing vehicles, NASA inspired emotion and patriotism by naming their shuttles Challenger, Enterprise, Columbia, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor.
Built with the purpose of being “reusable,” the shuttle fleet began its service in 1981 with test flights and operational flights following in 1982. With 1,323 total mission days, the fleet performed missions that included launching satellites, interplanetary probes, and the Hubble Telescope; orbital experiments; participated in the Shuttle-Mir program; and played a major role in the construction of the International Space Station.
The first orbiter, Enterprise, was built in 1976 and was used in approach and landing tests only and had no orbital capabilities. Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis were fully operational orbiters with Columbia and Challenger lost in mission accidents with Endeavor built to replace Challenger. The surviving orbiters were retired from service with Atlantis’s final flight on July 21, 2011. Since then, the remaining shuttle have found homes on display. Discovery is on exhibit at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia (photos included in this blog); Atlantis is on exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida; and Enterprise is on display in New York City at the Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum. Endeavor will soon be on display at the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in Los Angeles.
In my travels, I have been lucky enough to visit Kennedy Space Center and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center to see Atlantis and Discovery up close and if you have a chance to visit a Space Shuttle, it is a fascinating, up-close look at history and a great family-friendly experience.
Let’s Just Go! 