Every STS mission
STS overview
The STS (aka Space Shuttle) was the first ever orbital spaceplane but the first spaceplane was the X-15.
The STS operated from 1981 to 2011 over 135 missions with 2 fatal disasters, 2 losses of an orbiter and the death of 14 people.
There were 5 orbiters (listed chronologically): Columbia (1981-2003), Challenger (1983-1986),
Discovery (1984-2011), Atlantis (1985-2011), Endeavour (1992-2011).
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External Tank
Overview
The STS was launched with an External Tank which carried fuel for the 3 SSME/RS-25s on the orbiter.
It was 46.9 meters tall and 8.4 meters wide and carried 1,991,127 litres of liquid fuel onboard,
541,314 of which was liquid oxygen and 1,450,114 being hydrogen.
The ET was dropped into either the Indian or Pacific Ocean depending on the launch profile,
with the launch profile designed so that the ET never dropped on shipping lanes.
The ET was designed with 2 attachments for the orbiter on the orbiter-facing side and attachments for the SRBs on the sides.
The ETs were produced originally by Martin Marietta then later Northrop Grumman and produced at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility.
There were 3 variants of the ET:
Standard Weight Tank
The Standard Weight Tank which was made out of 2219 Aluminium Alloy flying on STS-1 through 7 excluding STS-6,
with a major change on STS-4 and later missions by removing the anti-geyser line.
Lightweight Tank
Then there is the Lightweight Tank (LWT) starting on STS-6 and last flown on STS-107.
It reduced weight by safely removing structural stiffeners and stiffener rings.
It also modified frames in the hydrogen tank and reduced thickness.
The SRB attachments were changed from aluminium to titanium.
Super Lightweight Tank
Finally there is the Super Lightweight Tank (SLWT), used on STS-91 to STS-135 with the exceptions of STS-99 and STS-107.
It was similar to the LWT except it changed material to Aluminium 2195 and added the extra performance needed to go to the ISS.
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Solid Rocket Boosters
Overview
The Solid Rocket Boosters or SRBs were attached to the sides of the ET and they were 45.46 meters tall and 3.71 meters wide.
and carried 500 metric tonnes of ammonium perchlorate composite propellant and provided 85% of the thrust of the STS and weighed
91 metric tonnes without propellant. The SRBs burned for 123 seconds after ignition and are produced by Thiokol originally then
later by ATK which was part of Northrop Grumman after 2015.
Separation
The SRBs would seperate from the rest of the STS at T+125 seconds or 2 minutes 5 seconds at 45km altitude using 4 BSMs or
Booster Seperation Motors to push themselves away from the rest of the STS charring the ET then they would continue climbing
to 67km before dropping back down to parachute down then be recovered, refurbished and reused.
Recovery
After reaching apogee the SRB would start to fall down without anything major happening then at 4.6km a drogue chute would
deploy to slwo it down to safely releae the main parachutes then at 2km the main chutes would open to slow the SRB down to
be safely recovered by a crew. Every SRB was recovered except for the STS-4 SRBs which failed to deploy its parachute resulting in
destroyed.
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Orbiter
Overview
The STS Orbiter is the part of the STS most recognized as the space shuttle. It is 37.237 meters long,
with a wingspan of 23.79 meters and was 17.86 meters tall. The orbiter hosted 3 SSMEs or Space Shuttle
Main Engines with fuel being borught in from the ET and 2 OMS or Orbital Manuevering System Engines which
used monopropellant aswell as 2 RCS sections in the forward and aft fuselage.
The Payload Bay
The Payload bay was 18.3 meters long and 4.6 meters wide and tall and had the capability to launch a payload of 304
cubic meters. Also the payload bay doors carried radiators to remove heat from the STS.
Fuselages
The orbiter was split into 3 sections in the fuselage
Forward Fuselage
Forward fuselage is where the crew lived with 3 decks: The flight deck on the top was the only one to have
windows and is where 4(including pilot and commander) crew are seated for launch and
is where you could control the STS and SRMS and the back of the flight deck, the flight deck contained
2214 controls which is actually more than the apollo CSM. The next deck is the Middeck or Crew Deck which
carried 3 Beds(The rest of the crew were in sleeping bags strapped to walls), Storage space, Galley, Bathroom,
a hatch to get in and out of the orbiter on the ground and a hatch to go into the airlock and go into a docked
space station, also 4 other crew could be in the middeck during launch and reentry but only 1 mission (STS-61A)
used the 4th seat most missions only used 3. The next deck is the bottom deck which wasnt meant for crew but
just for instruments and other equipment also in the forward fuselage there is 1 RCS pod to manuver the orbiter.
Mid Fuselage
Next is the Mid Fuselage which carried the wings, the payload bay, the doors, radiators, power systems, and
on some flights the SRMS. It was 18.3 meters long and 4.6 meters wide. Under the payload bay there were fuel cells
Crew and Electronics. Last is to generate power the STS. On the paylaod bay doors there were radiators to dissipate heat
rated from the Sun, Crew and Electronics.
Aft Fuelage
Next is the aft fuselage which carried the OMS, SSMEs, and RCS.
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STS-1
Mission
STS-1 was the first ever flight of the Space Shuttle carrying no external payloads.
The external tank of STS-1 was painted white instead of the signature orange because NASA deemed the paint
a useless expense that added unnecessary weight.
STS-1 was also the first crewed mission to use solid rocket boosters.
STS-1 carried the ACIP (Aerodynamic Coefficient Identification Package).
During the launch Crippen reported seeing white stuff all over the windows which was jsut the white
paint added on the ET. Also after launch acoustic loads caused the spacecraft to potentially be damaged via
getting shooken, this caused NASA to add a water spray system to absorb the acoustic loads. Also after this
mission Young became the first astronaut to fly 5 times aswell as first person to command a orbital spaceplane.
Vostok 1 Shared Anniversary
The launch date of STS-1 was the same as the 20th anniversary of Vostok 1 carrying Yuri Gagarin into space
as the first human in space.In 2001, Yuri's Night was established to celebrate the 40th anniversary of
Vostok 1 and the 20th anniversary of STS-1.
Crew
John W. Young (5th spaceflight) as commander
Robert Crippen (1st spaceflight) as pilot
Spacecraft Reuse
After STS-2, Columbia became the first reused crewed spacecraft. But the Gemini 2 space capsule was reused on the MOL test flight.
Mission Length, Launch and Landing
Launch
Kennedy Space Center LC-39A
12 April 1981 at 12:00:04 UTC
Landing
Edwards Air Force Base Runway 23
14 April 1981 at 18:20:57 UTC
Mission duration
2 days, 6 hours, 20 minutes, 53 seconds
Hardware Used
Orbiter: Columbia(First Mission)/OV-102
SSMEs: 2007, 2006, and 2005
SRBs: A7 and A8
OMS Pods: LV-01 and RV-01
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STS-2
Mission
STS-2 was the second mission of the STS programme. It was the second and last space shuttle mission to
carry the white ET before on STS-3 forward the ET wasnt painted. STS-2 was to test the STS' capability
for long duration spaceflight but a fuel cell issue caused it to return early. STS-2 also was the first
test of the SRMS aka Canadarm, even though the flight was to test the canadarm the issue caused them
to return early and they needed to get rest to pilot the STS during reentry but instead of sleeping the
astronauts decided to test the SRMS. STS-2 was also the first ever manual reentry and landing of the STS
programme.
Crew
Joe H. Engle(First Spaceflight*) as commander
Richard H. Truly(First spaceflight) as pilot
Launch Date and Location, Landing Date and Location, and Mission Length
Launch
Kennedy Space Center LC-39
12 November 1981 at 15:09:59 UTC
Landing
Edwards Air Force Base Runway 23
14 November 1981 21:23:12 UTC
Mission Length
2 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes, 12 seconds
Hardware used
Orbiter: Columbia(second flight)/OV-102
SSMEs: 2007, 2006 and 2005
SRBs: A9 and A10
OMS Pods: LV-01 and RV-01
spacecraft reuse
Columbia was the first ever spacecraft to be reused with a crew on both flights whilst the gemini 2 space
capsule was reused both its missions were uncrewed and suborbital.
Orbiter
The orbiter used on STS-2 was Columbia/OV-102 and it was its second mission.
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STS-3
Mission
STS-3 was the third flight of the STS and the third flight of the orbiter Coumbia/OV-102 and the mission
was to fly some scientific payloads and test long duration flights of the orbiter. Columbia carried the
OSS-1 pallet which was used to study the Near Earth Enviroment, Columbia also carried Contamination Moniter
Package which was to study the buildup of contamination in Columbias enviroment. The Microabrasion Foil
Experiment was to study micromeatorites and the Solar Ultraviolet Spectral Irradiance Monitor studied the
solar ultraviolet irrdiance measurement over a large wavelength.
Crew
Jack Lousma(second spaceflight) as commander
C. Gordon Fullerton(first spaceflight) as commander
Launch Date and Location, Landing Date and Location, and Mission Length
Launch
Kennedy Space Center LC-39A
22 March 1982 16:00:00
Landing
White Sands Air Force Base Runway 17
30 March 1982 16:04:45 UTC
Mission Length
8 days, 4 minutes and 45 seconds
Hardware Used
Orbiter: Columbia/OV-102
SSMEs: 2007, 2006, and 2005
SRBs: A11 and A12
OMS Pod: LV 01 and RV 01
Images
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