Space Shuttle

Space Shuttle The main American space transportation system, which uses reusable components. The major part of the system is a delta-winged orbiter, which is about the same size as a medium-range airliner. This carries the astronaut crew and the cargo, which is installed in a huge payload bay measuring about 18.3 x 4.6 m (60 x 15ft).

The orbiter rides into space on an external tank, which carries fuel for its engines. To the sides of the external tank are strapped solid rocket boosters. The boosters fire with the main engines at launch, to Earth to be used again. The external tank is jettisoned just before the orbiter goes into orbit. The orbiter returns from orbit as a glider and lands on an ordinary runway. The first shuttle flight from the Kennedy Space Centre, took place on April 12 1981.
In November the orbiter, Columbia, became the first spacecraft ever to return to space.