Space Shuttle

The first reusable crewed spacecraft: a winged orbiter strapped to an external tank feeding its three main engines and to two recoverable solid rocket boosters. The orbiter landed on a runway like a glider and carried crews and large payloads in its 18-metre bay. Five orbiters flew 135 missions from 1981 to 2011, deploying and servicing Hubble and building most of the International Space Station.

Key figures

Builder

Rockwell International, Martin Marietta, Thiokol

Status

Retired

First flight

1981

Last flight

2011

Height

56 m

Mass at launch

2,030 t

Payload to low Earth orbit

27.5 t

Flights

135

Destinations

• Hubble

All spacecraft