KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- With sunrise just minutes away, the orbiter Columbia swoops down on KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility, Runway 33. The 33rd KSC landing in Shuttle program history is set to occur on the first opportunity Dec. 7 at 6:49 a.m. EST. Prior landing attempts Dec. 5 and 6 were scrubbed due to weather conditions. The extended time aloft allowed the five- member crew of Mission STS-80 to set a new record for long-duration Shuttle flight. At main gear touchdown, mission duration will be about 17 days, 16 hours, surpassing the 16-day, 21-hour set by the STS-78 crew earlier this year. Guiding Columbia onto the runway is STS-80 Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell; the pilot is Kent V. Rominger. The three mission specialists are Tamara E. Jernigan, Thomas D. Jones and Story Musgrave KSC-96pc1332

Similar

STS-131 - EOM - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Resting on its 76-wheeled orbiter transporter, space shuttle Discovery rolls toward the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Inside the VAB, Discovery will be attached to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters in high bay 3 in preparation for its upcoming STS-124 mission to the International Space Station. On the mission, the STS-124 crew will transport the Japanese Experiment Module - Pressurized Module and the Japanese Remote Manipulator System to the space station. Launch of Discovery is targeted for May 31. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder KSC-08pd1026

View of the shuttle orbiter Atlantis from the Mir Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - With landing gear down, space shuttle Atlantis approaches landing on Runway 33 at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida after 11 days in space, completing the 4.5-million mile STS-129 mission on orbit 171. Main gear touchdown was at 9:44:23 a.m. EST. Nose gear touchdown was at 9:44:36 a.m., and wheels stop was at 9:45:05 a.m. Aboard Atlantis are Commander Charles O. Hobaugh; Pilot Barry E. Wilmore; Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Randy Bresnik, Mike Foreman and Robert L. Satcher Jr.; and Expedition 20 and 21 Flight Engineer Nicole Stott who spent 87 days aboard the International Space Station. STS-129 is the final space shuttle Expedition crew rotation flight on the manifest. On STS-129, the crew delivered 14 tons of cargo to the orbiting laboratory, including two ExPRESS Logistics Carriers containing spare parts to sustain station operations after the shuttles are retired next year. For information on the STS-129 mission and crew, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts129/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Tom Joseph KSC-2009-6607

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Endeavour is "go" for takeoff from the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida mounted atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA. Takeoff came at 7:22 a.m. EDT. The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era. For more information on the shuttles' transition and retirement, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-2012-5373

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- With sunrise just minutes away, the orbiter Columbia swoops down on KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility, Runway 33. The 33rd KSC landing in Shuttle program history is set to occur on the first opportunity Dec. 7 at 6:49 a.m. EST. Prior landing attempts Dec. 5 and 6 were scrubbed due to weather conditions. The extended time aloft allowed the five- member crew of Mission STS-80 to set a new record for long-duration Shuttle flight. At main gear touchdown, mission duration will be about 17 days, 16 hours, surpassing the 16-day, 21-hour set by the STS-78 crew earlier this year. Guiding Columbia onto the runway is STS-80 Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell; the pilot is Kent V. Rominger. The three mission specialists are Tamara E. Jernigan, Thomas D. Jones and Story Musgrave KSC-96pc1332

description

Summary

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- With sunrise just minutes away, the orbiter Columbia swoops down on KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility, Runway 33. The 33rd KSC landing in Shuttle program history is set to occur on the first opportunity Dec. 7 at 6:49 a.m. EST. Prior landing attempts Dec. 5 and 6 were scrubbed due to weather conditions. The extended time aloft allowed the five- member crew of Mission STS-80 to set a new record for long-duration Shuttle flight. At main gear touchdown, mission duration will be about 17 days, 16 hours, surpassing the 16-day, 21-hour set by the STS-78 crew earlier this year. Guiding Columbia onto the runway is STS-80 Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell; the pilot is Kent V. Rominger. The three mission specialists are Tamara E. Jernigan, Thomas D. Jones and Story Musgrave

Space Shuttle Program

The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.