List of space shuttle missions

The following list of space shuttle missions leading the launch of the U.S. space shuttle program chronologically. All space shuttle launches were carried out manned and were conducted by NASA. All launches were made from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC ) of the launch facilities LC - 39A and LC - 39B. As of 2007, only LC - 39A was used.

Naming and numbering

All missions began with the abbreviation STS, which stood for " Space Transportation System". Originally the phone number called simply the number of starts, for example, STS - ninth Beginning with the fiscal year 1984, an alternative flight numbering was introduced consisting of two digits and a letter.

The first digit of the fiscal year was one of the shuttle program. The beginning in October 1983 Fiscal year 1984 was the fourth of the program, accordingly, were all scheduled flights for this time period, the " 4 " prefix. The second digit flight number marked the starting place: one for the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and 2 for the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Vandenberg was never used. Initially, it was distinguished flight numbers for both starting positions only by the addition preceded by the letters "V" for Vandenberg, ie about STS V4.

The final letter was the intended boot sequence again. So 51- G was scheduled as the seventh flight of the fifth fiscal year of the program from the Kennedy Space Center, for example.

STS -10 had already been canceled, as the new system was introduced, and the launch of STS -9 had shifted from fiscal year 1983 to the following at the time. And indeed, there NASA documents in which STS -9 is reported as 41 -A. Only with STS -11, the new system, however, had to enforce. This flight took place as 41 -B.

The first digit flight number is thus not simply the last digit of the fiscal year, which is often falsely claimed. This agreement applies only to the years from 1984 until 1989. The fiscal 1990 would have while maintaining this system with the Flight 101- A for the KSC and started flying 102-A for Vandenberg.

After the Challenger disaster (STS -51 -L) are returned for the continuous numbering, the number is 17 months before the start of " frozen" and will no longer be changed.

However, special circumstances required the allocation of flight numbers out of sequence. As was discussed in 2001, to launch the satellite DSP -22 in 2003 with Columbia, received this flight planning purposes the identification STS -999 as a placeholder in the manifest. Years earlier was prepared STS -250. On failure of the Russian service module for the ISS STS -250, would have brought the Interim Control Module, or ICM as a replacement to the station.

After the Columbia disaster (2003) STS- 300 was a possible rescue mission for Discovery (STS -114, 2005) that should be executed by the Atlantis if the discovery had been damaged and no longer to the earth could have returned. Also during the STS-121 mission of Discovery (2006) Atlantis retained the role as a rescue shuttle and the associated Mission number STS -300.

For the mission of Atlantis ( STS -115 ) the discovery for a possible rescue mission was available. This rescue mission was numbered STS- 301.

From Mission STS -116 ( Discovery ) was used for rescue missions, a new numbering system. The Atlantis then served as a rescue shuttle and renumbered as STS- 317. This new numbering method was so far more useful than the Atlantis was being prepared at this time to their assigned flight STS -117. In case of a rescue mission, only the first digit from 1 to 3 would thus have changed.

Flight list

Graduated flights

Rescue missions STS -3xx

STS -3xx (English Space Transportation System) was the name of NASA for the space shuttle rescue missions. These were introduced after the disaster of the space shuttle Columbia during mission STS -107 to allow a return of the crew in the case where the mission shuttle is damaged and a safe re-entry and landing could not be guaranteed. It's never been a rescue mission.

In the last mission of the shuttle program STS -135 astronauts would have had to remain on board the ISS in a rescue situation and would then have been placed in the following months, with Soyuz spacecraft back to Earth.

Tabular overview

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