How To Raise The Space Shuttle

Seventy three seconds into its 10th flight, on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean, killing the seven crew members on board [1]. The Challenger was the second space shuttle constructed by NASA and had completed nine successful missions prior to the disaster. Following the accident, the shuttle program was suspended for 32 months as President Ronald Regan appointed a Commission, chaired by William P. Rogers and known as the Rogers Commission, to investigate the cause of the accident [1].

In the 1970’s, NASA started the missions of a new shuttle, Challenger. The Challenger created many milestones, it carried the first U.S. women to go to space along with the first African American person, plus the first seven-person crew, and the first shuttle to include two women at the same time as well, and the first spacewalk by a woman, Kathryn Sullivan.

In 1972, Nixon completed one of his most impacted successes of his life and the life of America. What Nixon did was sign a bill giving the “ok” to build the U.S space shuttle (Accomplishments). The space shuttle represented a giant leap forward in the technology of space travel. Designed to function more like a cost-efficient “reusable” airplane than a one-use-only rocket-launched capsules, the shuttle afforded NASA pilots and scientists more time in space with which to conduct space-related research. Due to Nixon’s hard work and research NASA launched Columbia, the first space shuttle, in 1981 (Accomplishments).

The Cold War was a turning point in both technological advancements and education in the hard sciences. Because of the Cold War, it formed several competitions, including the Nuclear Arms race and the Space Race. The United States continued their space passion by opening the space shuttle program in January of 1972, twenty-five years after the Cold War began. During the space shuttle programs, NASA sent over 600 astronauts to space, along with numerous other satellites. NASA’s space shuttles consisted of mainly three components which included the two 185,000 pound rocket boosters, orbiter, and the 78,100 pound external tank. Within the external tank were the shuttle’s propellants, which was mainly consisted of liquid hydrogen fuel and oxygen

The Shuttle program was formally launched on January 5th, 1972 but the first flight took place on April 12, 1981, with the Columbia Shuttle and the STS-1 (mission 1), the first shuttle orbital flight. The space shuttle program finished with its last mission, STS-135 and Atlantis, which came to a conclusion on July 21, 2011, with the final shuttle landing and setting an end to the program.

STS-107, carried equipment and 7 crew members, was launched on January 16th, 2013 and was expected to stay in space

On January 28, 1986, millions of people from all over the world sat down, and turned on CNN to watch the Challenger go into orbit on live television. Schools held school-wide assemblies in the auditorium to watch it take off, and adults watched the take off from work. It was 11:39 am, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, when The Challenger took off, however seventy-three seconds into the trip, the Challenger broke apart and caught on fire causing the worst accident in space history. The Challenger Space Shuttle is important because of its background, its mechanics and the science behind it, and the lessons it taught NASA and other space programs.

Alan Shepard was the first American to fly into space in 1961. Eight years later, Neil Armstrong was the first to set foot on the moon, uttering those famous words, “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” He returned to earth safely with Buzz Aldrin. The first module of the International Space Station was named Zara, an autonomous Soviet Union proton rocket, added November 20, 1998. Many more modules were added and will be added in the future. Today we have rovers or probes all around our solar system, and five probes that are leaving or have left our solar system. Space exploration is the ongoing discovery and exploration of celestial structures in outer space by means of continuously evolving and growing space technology. A rocket is a simple or a complex tube like device containing combustibles that when ignited, liberate gas propelling the tube into the air. Space Exploration is necessary because it can lead to many great inventions that can be used both on earth and in space in the future, lead to research and development, and save mankind and life as we know it from any extinction

Spaceships transport humans from Earth to space and then back to Earth in the space shuttle program.

There was an idea of having a space station in Low Earth Orbit in the 1980s. There was then the International Space Station This contributes to all the future exploration missions such as the apollo missions.

The decrease in funding was great. The creation of the International Space Station (ISS) took the biggest hit in the aftermath of Columbia, making its need for funding to go up from $24 billion to $30 billion, but the actual funding itself stand still, if not decrease. The budget for NASA was now seen as a burden, or a waste in resources, and the billions of dollars that were going to them were starting to dwindle away. Because of this, Shuttle Discovery and Atlantis, which were supposed to fly much sooner, took longer to fund and get up into space. The plan for these four shuttle expeditions ended up taking 30 years and billions of dollars, when that was typically not the original plan. Things were set to a halt because of the Challenger and the Columbia' failures, but essentially NASA was still able to accomplish all they desired to, just in a much larger time frame. NASA now focuses on expeditions to sound, singular locations such as the Moon and Mars, and that is where they are planning on putting most of their budget and resources for the time being. While there may have been a funding decrease due to the Columbia and its failure, support from government officials such as George W. Bush allowed NASA to rebuild their budget while still explaining the importance of space travel and exploration. The NASA we have today is not held in as much importance as it was back in the 80's and

It launched for the first time on mission STS-1 on April 12, 1981, the first flight of the Space Shuttle program. Over 22 years of service it completed 27 missions before disintegrating during re-entry near the end of its 28th mission, STS-107 on February 1, 2003, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members.

Ranger 1’s mission was a test flight for the most part. It was the first test of a prototype for the Ranger spacecraft program for an unmanned space missions. Because of some malfunctions, the spacecraft only launched to reach the low part of Earth’s orbit. The launch was supposed to reach Earth’s higher orbit but failed to do so, because of this, the spacecraft did not complete its mission. This mission helped NASA learn

NASA soon responded with the Mercury Missions. These Missions put Americans in orbit and many believe was the real start of the America’s space program. This brought one of the biggest changes to the Nation’s space program. Every tool had to either be built or adapted from another tool to fit the requirement needed. The procedures and systems all had to be redesigned. After the 10 missions, NASA moved on to project Gemini, which concentrated on learning the skills to be able to descend onto the lunar surface. This included docking in space and performing EVAs, or extra vehicular activities, more commonly known as a space walks.

I have learned from my twenty years of service in the U.S. Air Force, significant background knowledge of the history of the space shuttle. In September 1969, two months after the first manned lunar landing, a Space Task Group appointed by the President of the United States to study the future course of U.S. space research and exploration made the recommendation that "…the United States accept the basic goal of a balanced manned and unmanned space program.