Space Shuttle Atlantis
The space shuttle Atlantis is a NASA space shuttle. Named after the first American oceanographic research vessel Atlantis, it was completed in April 1984 and had its maiden flight in October 1985 (STS -51- J). The internal name is the orbiter OV- 104. Your last mission ended on 21 July 2011.
History
From 1995 to 1997, the Atlantis was exclusively used for the flights to the Russian space station Mir as part of the Shuttle -Mir program, for which she was fitted with a coupling adapter Russian design.
On 8 July 2011, she started at its 33rd and final mission. It transported supplies, materials and equipment for experiments on the ISS and brought the Raffaello logistics module back to Earth. On July 21, 2011 promptly at 11:57 CEST she sat safely on the runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida (USA). Your landing ended the era of shuttle flights. The program cost about 775 million dollars last mission.
After the end of the American shuttle program, the Space Shuttle is issued as a museum piece in the visitor center at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Overall, the Atlantis has traveled more than 193 million kilometers in its 25 years of service.
Construction
The Atlantis benefited from the experience that had been made in the construction and testing of Enterprise, Columbia and Challenger. Upon completion, she weighed about 3,200 pounds less than Columbia. In addition, the experience gained in shuttle construction reduced the working hours by 49.5 percent (compared to Columbia). This is mainly due to the use of heat shield blankets on the upper part of the orbiter instead of small tiles.
During the construction of Discovery and Atlantis, NASA has decided to make "structural parts " customize to facilitate repair in the event of an accident. The contract had an overall value of $ 389 million and consisted of spare parts for the rear and the central hull, and forward fuselage halves, vertical rudder, wings and flaps. These spare parts were later used for the Endeavour.
Numerous improvements and adjustments were between November 1997 and July 1999 in Palmdale, California, made to the Atlantis. Among other things, the orbiter is equipped with a braking parachute and a glass cockpit, there were new pipes and wiring installed and replaced over 800 heat protection tiles and blankets.
Missions
Fiction
- In the Book of Space Camp ( German title: Holiday in space ) and the same film from 1986 plays a central role in the Atlantis.
- In the movie Deep Impact the crew with the Atlantis is brought to parked in orbit spaceship Messiah.
- In the movie Armageddon - The Last Judgement, the Atlantis explodes due to an asteroid collides with the asteroid belt and then bombarded the Earth orbit with mini - meteorites.