With the retirement of NASA's
space shuttle fleet this year, the American astronaut corps has steadily been decreasing in size as U.S. spaceflyers retired or quit their posts.
NASA, too, is feeling the pinch, as it juggles Mars planning, support of the troubled
space shuttle fleet, lagging construction of the International Space Station, and an ambitious program of planetary exploration.
Because Raptor is a staged combustion engine — like the main engines of NASA's now - retired
space shuttle fleet — it is expected to be far more efficient than the open - cycle Merlin engines used by the Falcon 9.
The current
space shuttle fleet faces mandatory retirement in 2010, and Constellation missions are set to begin in 2015.
The driving force behind this latest space race is the impending retirement of NASA's
space shuttle fleet, sometime in 2010.
NASA's
space shuttle fleet and its launch facilities are protected by 40 000 pieces of firefighting equipment containing halon - 1301.
Starting with Discovery, the decommissioned
space shuttle fleet will go on display at museums around the country.
NASA retired
its space shuttle fleet in July 2011.
NASA's
space shuttle fleet will never fly again, but the agency believes it still has plenty to learn from the iconic vehicles.
Space Shuttle Atlantis was the fourth operational shuttle built and is one of the three currently operational spacecraft in
the Space Shuttle fleet.
Learn about the era of deep space exploration with the Mariner, Viking, and Voyager planetary probes, and the creation and successful launch of Americas
space shuttle fleet.
He has acted as chief executive of eBizJets, the predecessor company of Sentient Jet which is the largest US business jet charter operator; and co-founded Spacehab, Inc., the first privately - financed commercial space laboratory, which flew numerous missions aboard the US
Space Shuttle fleet.
Not exact matches
The Saturn V rocket became a museum piece, and NASA bet its money instead on a
fleet of
space shuttles circling in low Earth orbit.
Although the
shuttle landed unharmed, the agency again grounded its
fleet, making clear the need for a better way to get astronauts into
space.
Most of NASA's 2012 reductions stem from the retirement of the
space -
shuttle fleet, which will see its final two budgeted flights, plus an additional flight that has been authorized by Congress but not yet funded in 2011.
The
shuttle fleet will make 16 rather than 28 trips to the
space station before retiring in 2010, and from then until the CEV debuts, the country will have no capability to launch astronauts into orbit at all.
DEFECTS in the US
space shuttle's solid rocket motors, which grounded the entire
shuttle fleet last month, were caused by a change in NASA procedures intended to make the
shuttle safer.
When Atlantis launched in 1985, many hoped the
shuttle fleet would usher in a new era of safe
space flight.
Shuttle launches after 9/11 Security at NASA has always been tight, particularly at Kennedy
Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., from where the agency's space shuttles launched into space for 30 years until the fleet's retirement last m
Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., from where the agency's
space shuttles launched into space for 30 years until the fleet's retirement last m
space shuttles launched into
space for 30 years until the fleet's retirement last m
space for 30 years until the
fleet's retirement last month.
And with the flight of Apollo 17 in 1972, the U.S. put aside its plans for a permanent base on the Moon, deciding to rely instead on unmanned spacraft and the
fleet of
space shuttles for the future.
Nimoy recalled the naming of the
space shuttle orbiter, which was built as a prototype for NASA's reusable spaceship
fleet.
NASA, facing the retirement of the
shuttle fleet in 2011, is actively encouraging the development of private
space taxis.
It would be the 16th mission by an orbiter which went on to become the most - flown member of NASA's
shuttle fleet, but STS - 56 came after several fraught days at the Kennedy
Space Center (KSC) in Florida.
Due to the loss of
Space Shuttle Columbia, the
Shuttle fleet is grounded in order to investigate what caused the
Space Shuttle Columbia to disintegrate as it re-entered the earth's atmosphere.
Columbia was the oldest
space shuttle in the
fleet of four.
With enough computing power to launch a
fleet of
space shuttles, the whole system (which also includes Ferrari's rear E-Diff limited - slip differential) is called 4RM, which stands for 4 Ruote Motrici in Italian — or 4 Wheel Drive.