The US Shuttle program is shut down and can not be restarted without a-never-gonna-happen expediture of funds. The Orbiters are in museums, the tooling to build External Tanks is gone or repurposed, the work force is dispersed. The Soviet-era Buran program is, if possible, even deader.
While reentering Earth’s atmosphere, Columbia broke apart, killing the entire crew. All of these factors — high costs, slow turnaround, few customers, and a vehicle (and agency) that had major safety problems — combined to make the Bush administration realize it was time for the Space Shuttle Program to retire.
Orion is Nasa’s new spaceship for humans, designed to visit destinations such as the Moon and Mars. Here’s our guide to America’s replacement for the space shuttle. When astronauts return to the Moon this decade – under a Nasa plan called Artemis – they’ll travel there in Orion.
Gravity then pulls the spacecraft back towards the Earth. The spacecraft may be slowed to a safe landing speed by parachutes. The space shuttle has stubby wings so that it can land on a runway like an aeroplane, but many spacecraft splash down gently into the sea.
NASA – Shuttle Basics. The Space Shuttle is the world’s first reusable spacecraft, and the first spacecraft in history that can carry large satellites both to and from orbit. The Shuttle launches like a rocket, maneuvers in Earth orbit like a spacecraft and lands like an airplane.
“The bottom line answer is that it was too expensive. Way too expensive,” former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory system engineer Mark Adler wrote in 2015. “The shuttle never met its promise for low-cost access to space by virtue of the system’s reusability.”
Why don’t we make space shuttles anymore?
While reentering Earth’s atmosphere, Columbia broke apart, killing the entire crew. All of these factors — high costs, slow turnaround, few customers, and a vehicle (and agency) that had major safety problems — combined to make the Bush administration realize it was time for the Space Shuttle Program to retire.
Will NASA ever build a new shuttle?
Orion is Nasa’s new spaceship for humans, designed to visit destinations such as the Moon and Mars. Here’s our guide to America’s replacement for the space shuttle. When astronauts return to the Moon this decade – under a Nasa plan called Artemis – they’ll travel there in Orion.
Can space shuttle return to Earth?
Gravity then pulls the spacecraft back towards the Earth. The spacecraft may be slowed to a safe landing speed by parachutes. The space shuttle has stubby wings so that it can land on a runway like an aeroplane, but many spacecraft splash down gently into the sea.
Can spacecraft be reused?
Examples of reusable spacecraft are spaceplanes (such as the Space Shuttle orbiters and the Dream Chaser) and space capsules like the SpaceX Dragon. Such spacecraft need mechanisms to prevent the disintegration of the spacecraft and its occupants/cargo during reentry.
Why don’t we have a space program anymore?
An obvious dead end program without possible evolution to greater things. Obsolescent technology with MAJOR supportability issues. Not politically supportable having exposed Nasa’s bureaucratic ineptitude. Because of two airframe losses, no longer able to support required operations tempo.
Will we ever have a space shuttle again?
The current condition of the orbiters also makes it unlikely that they’ll ever fly again. NASA technicians have been prepping Atlantis and its sister shuttles Discovery and Endeavour for their retirement roles as museum showpieces ever since they touched down.
Why is NASA no longer launching shuttles?
All of these factors — high costs, slow turnaround, few customers, and a vehicle (and agency) that had major safety problems — combined to make the Bush administration realize it was time for the Space Shuttle Program to retire.
Will they ever bring back the Space Shuttle?
According to Roger Launius, space history curator at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, which currently houses the Space Shuttle Enterprise (soon to be replaced with Discovery), the shuttles are firmly settled into retired life, and it would be prohibitively expensive to get them back off the ground.
Did the space shuttle make it back to Earth?
Two NASA astronauts and two crewmates from France and Japan strapped into their Crew Dragon spacecraft, undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth on Monday, safely splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico to close out a 199-day mission.
Can SpaceX bring astronauts back to Earth?
SpaceX returns private Ax-1 astronaut crew to Earth after extended space station stay. SpaceX safely returned its Crew Dragon spacecraft from orbit Monday, carrying the private crew of Axiom Space’s Ax-1 mission back from the International Space Station.
Can a Space Shuttle be used more than once?
The Space Shuttle was the first operational orbital spacecraft designed for reuse. Each Space Shuttle orbiter was designed for a projected lifespan of 100 launches or ten years of operational life, although this was later extended.
How many times can SpaceX Starship be reused?
According to Elon Musk, almost every piece of the Falcon should be reused over 100 times. Heat shields and a few other items should be reused over 10 times before replacement. In March 2017, SpaceX announced progress in their experiments to recover, and eventually reuse, the 6-million dollar payload fairing.
Are spaceships one time use?
Recoverable spacecraft may be reusable (can be launched again or several times, like the SpaceX Dragon and the Space Shuttle orbiters) or expendable (like the Soyuz). In recent years, more space agencies are tending towards reusable spacecraft.
Did NASA shut down space program?
The final shuttle mission was completed with the landing of Atlantis on July 21, 2011, closing the 30-year Space Shuttle program.
What happened to the US space program?
The Space Shuttle program finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011, retiring the final Shuttle in the fleet. The Space Shuttle program formally ended on August 31, 2011.
Who ended the US space program?
NASA stopped the Space Shuttle Program almost nine years ago on July 21, 2011. This was when Atlantis rolled to a stop at the Kennedy Space Center, the independent agency’s home port.
More Answers On Could The Space Shuttle Be Reactivated
Could NASA Bring the Space Shuttles Back Out of Retirement?
The space shuttle Discovery stands ready for liftoff at Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Image credit: NASA)
Did Nasa Re Use The Shuttle? – EclipseAviation.com
Could The Space Shuttle Be Reactivated? With no money left over, the US Shuttle program has to shut down and no funding will allow it to be reopened. At the very least, the Orbiters are museum pieces, the tooling used to build External Tanks is no longer there, and the work force has gone away.
Will Nasa Launch Anymore Shuttles? – EclipseAviation.com
Could The Space Shuttle Be Reactivated? A critical fund withdrawal prevents the US Shuttle program from restarting. Visitor Orbiters are at museums, molds designed to manufacture External Tanks are gone or repurposed, employees are dispersed throughout the country. Soviet-era Buran programs are, as such, even harder to learn.
Why Did Nasa Retire The Space Shuttle? – EclipseAviation.com
Could The Space Shuttle Be Reactivated? It is not possible to return to the US Shuttle program in the near future if certain items do not happen. Several Orbiters of External Tanks are at museums, tooling for their manufacture or repurposing will be repurposed, and all workers have been dispersed.
Space Shuttle Program | NASA
The Space Shuttle Fleet Leader Program simulated the mission duty flights of the orbital maneuvering subsystem shuttle engines to foresee any anomalies prior to actual flights. Numerous full‐scale propulsion systems for the space shuttle orbiter were developed and qualified through exhaustive simulated mission duty cycle testing. We also …
Could the SpaceShipOne fly again? – Space Exploration Stack Exchange
$begingroup$ @Giovanni the X-Prize requirements were ” build and launch a spacecraft capable of carrying three people to 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, twice within two weeks”, and SpaceShipOne did this with a three person cabin, but each flight made was done with just the pilot and some representative ballast for passengers. There was absolutely no space in the cabin for any …
How fast could the Space Shuttle be made operational again, in an …
How fast could the Space Shuttle be made operational again, in an emergency? Okay, weird technical question time—say, for whatever reason, we needed to get one of the Space Shuttles reactivated and launched (and later returned), ASAP. Assuming this wasn’t secret, and had all the material and financial support it needed, how long would this take?
Which decommissioned interplanetary spacecrafts can potentially be …
Answer (1 of 2): Ummm…. we don’t have any decommissioned interplanetary spacecraft. There are a handful of probes that have been sent to gather data about planets while passing by them, and another handful that have made landings on planets (almost exclusively Mars) – but neither category is eve…
What kind of work/time would be needed to make a Shuttle fly again? : space
Let’s say that, defying any kind of logic or economically good reason to do so, we need to launch a space shuttle again, action movie style. What’s … Press J to jump to the feed.
Why Did Nasa Stop Using Space Shuttles? – EclipseAviation.com
Will Space Shuttles Ever Be Used Again? Space Shuttle Commander Buran will be laid to rest by the company.It is not clear yet if either of the orbiting projects will ever be returned to space.It is likely that they will have to be reactivated at great expense. Watch Why Did Nasa Stop Using Space Shuttles Space Home Computers Industry News
NASA Issues Warning As Space Herpes Reactivates In Astronauts
NASA has been forced to voice a warning about space herpes being reactivated in astronauts aboard the International Space Station. … (53%) astronauts on short space shuttle flights, and 14 out …
landing – Could the Space Shuttle have landed on any long runway other …
The Space Shuttle didn’t need a “specially reinforced” runway. If a runway could accept a 747 it could probably handle the shuttle. … moot. However, as the Wikipedia page you link to says, Fairford is currently being maintained to the level at which it could be reactivated within 24-48hrs if needed. Also, the American portion of the base is …
Launch Pad 39B Retooled for Future | NASA
They will be repainted, but not taken down. The old liquid oxygen water-cooled vaporizer will be replaced with modern, air-cooled one that is far more efficient than the water-cooled system used the past 30 years. The reworking of the pad began while the shuttle fleet was still active.
NASA Plans Emergency Spacewalks to Fix Space Station
Mission Control reactivated one of the two offline gyroscopes on Sunday and astronauts installed jumper cables between some station systems and the power system on the outpost’s U.S. Destiny …
How do viruses affect astronauts in space? Here’s what we know so far.
Testing done on astronauts in the space shuttle programs and more recent space station missions show that this virus, among others, reactivated in some astronauts. In a few cases, astronauts have…
Space Shuttle retirement – Wikipedia
Three lightning towers were added to the pad and it was temporarily “re-activated” in April 2009 when Endeavour was placed on standby to rescue the STS-125 crew (the STS-125 mission was the last to visit the Hubble Space Telescope, which meant that the ISS was out of range) if needed; Endeavour was then moved over to LC-39A for STS-126.
WATCH LIVE AT 6:54 p.m.: NASA, ULA set for 2nd orbital flight test of …
News 6 will stream launch live at top of story. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Thursday evening, Boeing’s reusable Starliner capsule is scheduled to embark on its second-ever orbital test flight …
Latent virus reactivation in astronauts on the international space …
Introduction. Increased reactivation of some naturally occurring latent herpes viruses including Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) was previously demonstrated in astronauts during short-duration (10-16 days) space shuttle flights. 1 However, following reactivation, viruses were shed in body fluids and the astronauts were typically asymptomatic …
NASA – Launch Pad 39B Retooled for Future
The reworking of the pad began while the shuttle fleet was still active. Three large lightning towers, each taller than the Vehicle Assembly Building, were completed in time for the shuttle Endeavour to be positioned on the pad as a backup for Atlantis ahead of the STS-125 mission to NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
Spaceflight Triggers Herpes Viruses to ‘Reawaken’ | Space
This in turn provides a window for herpes viruses to reactivate. Out of 89 astronauts who flew on short space shuttle flights, 53 percent showed reactivation of herpes viruses in their saliva or…
Hubble returned to operational service, showcases exoplanet’s second …
Unless the spacecraft were to be re-boosted, it will naturally reenter the atmosphere sometime in the 2030s — with the exact date dependent on solar activity, which affects the thickness of Earth’s…
Spaceflight Reactivates Herpes in Astronauts | National News | US News
The viruses likely reactivate due to stress, which can come from both physical and social situations. Astronauts face exposure to microgravity, cosmic radiation and extreme G-forces during take-off…
Are NASA’s spacecrafts reused? – Quora
Answer (1 of 4): The first reusable launch vehicle to reach orbit was the Space Shuttle. NASA isn’t really in the rocket development business. Space Shuttle: The First Reusable Spacecraft of NASA. NASA’s space shuttle was the world’s first reusable spacecraft. It launched like a rocket and retur…
Most of us have viruses sleeping inside us, and spaceflight wakes them up
They found that four of the eight herpes viruses known to infect humans reactivated and resurfaced as a result of spaceflight. Specifically, 53 percent of astronauts who underwent space shuttle …
Space station coolant loop reactivated after spacewalks
Satisfied the new pump module was healthy, engineers at mission control in Houston reactivated the space station’s coolant loop A early Wednesday to begin the process of turning back on …
Final Years – Glenn Research Center | NASA
Final Years. The B-3 test stand in 2007, over 30 years after it was shut down. The steady reduction of NASA’s budget in the late 1960s and early 1970s coincided with the agency’s decision to develop the space shuttle. NASA shelved other major programs, such as a space station and long-duration human journeys to other planets.
Hubble Space Telescope
The five U.S. space shuttle flights to deliver and service Hubble: Shuttle flight number 35, known officially as STS-31, in 1990 delivered the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to orbit above Earth. … in 2002 serviced the telescope, installed the advanced new camera system, reactivated the infrared camera, installed new solar arrays, and installed …
Trailhead Direct shuttle returns Memorial Day weekend for hiking …
Published May 19, 2022 7:42PM. Environment. FOX 13 Seattle. SEATTLE – For outdoor enthusiasts looking to hit some Seattle-area trails, a King County service is returning again this year to shuttle …
Launch Pad 39B Retooled for Future | NASA
Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as it stands following the removal of the fixed service structure and rotating service structure that were used to support the space shuttle. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett. The flame trench at Launch Pad 39B will be refurbished and the flame deflector in the middle could become portable …
Could the Space Shuttle Program Be Extended to 2015?
Congressional legislators in Florida are mounting a campaign to extend space shuttle operations to 2015, adding two flights each year. U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas said a bipartisan plan is in the …
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