NASA said. This custom-designed machine could bring the shuttle through a simulation of all phases of flight, from liftoff to landing. Three hydraulic cylinders, each with 1 million lbs. of force, were used as substitute space shuttle main engines....
Moore said the shuttle program, which had hoped to launch a record 15 missions in 1986, had been suspended until NASA determined what caused the tragedy. He declined to speculate about how long an investigation might take, saying only that flight safety was the agency’s first priority. NASA ...
January 28th 1986 - the space shuttle Challenger explodes just one minute after launch. As the world looked on horrified, few realised that this was an inevitable accident that had been predicted by the designers for years. Indeed, the day before the key engineers believed that there was “...
pressure relief systems on the external tank helps it break up in the lower atmosphere. After the foam burns away during reentry, the heat causes a pressure buildup in the remaining liquid oxygen and hydrogen until the tank explodes. This ensures that any pieces that fall back to Earth are...
1982: The US Space Shuttle, a reusable space plane, makes its maiden voyage. 1986: The Shuttle program comes to an abrupt end on January 28, 1986 when Challenger, one of the Shuttle fleet, explodes one minute after launch of mission STS-51-L, killing all seven people onboard. 1986: Th...
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who flew on the space shuttle Columbia in 1986 while a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, also visited the event. The two appeared in flight suits and cowboy hats as part of the celebration of cowboy culture, which annually draws a million particip...
The 20th century saw a huge leap in astronomical discoveries and the advent of space exploration, both driven by advances in technology. From the moon landings to learning how stars shine to realizing the universe is big—really big—the past 100 years h
Seventy three seconds after blast-off, the shuttle Challenger exploded and killed all seven astronauts on board. The explosion ws the greatest loss ever for the American space program, and was later blamed on faulty o-rings in the booster rocket. In 2003 the shuttle Columbia disintegrated on ...
1986 Mir Halley comet by Giotto Jan. 12: The Space Shuttle Columbia launches on the STS-61C mission with a crew of seven. Jan. 24: Voyager-2 becomes the first and only spacecraft in the 20th century to fly by and study Uranus. Jan. 28: The Shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds ...
SPACE.com is counting down to the launch of NASA's last space shuttle mission, STS-135 aboard Atlantis. Coming Wednesday: The Only 2 Female Space Shuttle Commanders. Over the course of 30 years, NASA's space shuttles have played a critical role in constructing the International Space Station...