KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Space Shuttle Discovery shines on Launch Pad 39B after rollback of the Rotating Service Structure. Situated above the external tank is the Gaseous Oxygen Vent Arm with the “beanie cap,” a vent hood. Extended out from the Fixed Service Structure (left) to the orbiter is the orbiter access arm with an environmentally controlled chamber, known as the White Room, at the end of the arm. The White Room provides entrance for the astronaut crew into the orbiter. On either side of the tail and main engines are the tail service masts. Rising 31 feet above the Mobile Launcher Platform, the tail masts provide umbilical connections for liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen lines to fuel the external tank from storage tanks adjacent to the launch pad. Discovery carries the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo, the primary delivery system used to resupply and return Station cargo requiring a pressurized environment. Leonardo will deliver up to 10 tons of laboratory racks filled with equipment, experiments and supplies for outfitting the newly installed U.S. Laboratory Destiny. Launch on mission STS-102 is scheduled March 8 at 6:42 a.m. EST KSC01pp0443

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The first Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) is installed on Space Shuttle Atlantis following the welding repair of the propulsion system flow liners as preparations to launch mission STS-112 continue. Angela DiMattia is the move director for Rocketdyne. Rocketdyne employee Gerald Braham is seen here behind the engine offering additional guidance. Below him are Mark Starr (left) and Teryon Jones (right), both employees of Rocketdyne. Mission STS-112 is an assembly flight to the International Space Station and is targeted for launch no earlier than Sept. 28, 2002. Members of the STS-112 crew are Commander Jeffrey Ashby; Pilot Pamela Melroy; and Mission Specialists David Wolf, Piers Sellers, Sandra Magnus, and Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Space Agency. KSC-02pd1193

STS-132 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

STS-134 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United Space Alliance technicians have completed installation of space shuttle Endeavour’s left orbital maneuvering system OMS pod. The OMS pod underwent complete deservicing and cleaning at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, part of the transition and retirement processing of each shuttle. Endeavour is being prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Over the course of its 19-year career, Endeavour spent 299 days in space during 25 missions. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis KSC-2012-1877

Space Shuttle Discovery, Space Shuttle Projects

In the early morning hours, Space Shuttle Discovery is framed with light from the Fixed Service Structure on Launch Pad 39B as it waits for flight and mission STS-103. At the top is seen the external tank gaseous oxygen vent arm system with the vent hood (commonly called the "beanie cap") poised above the external tank. The retractable arm and the beanie cap are designed to vent gaseous oxygen vapors away from the Space Shuttle. The arm truss section is 65 feet long and the diameter of the vent hood is 13 feet. Extending toward the cabin of the orbiter below is the orbiter access arm, with the environmental chamber (called the White Room) at the end. Through this chamber the crew enters the orbiter. The STS-103 mission, to service the Hubble Space Telescope, is scheduled for launch Dec. 17 at 8:47 p.m. EST. Mission objectives include replacing gyroscopes and an old computer, installing another solid state recorder, and replacing damaged insulation in the telescope. The mission is expected to last about 8 days and 21 hours. Discovery is expected to land at KSC Sunday, Dec. 26, at about 6:25 p.m. EST KSC-99padig046

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Space Shuttle Discovery shines on Launch Pad 39B after rollback of the Rotating Service Structure. Situated above the external tank is the Gaseous Oxygen Vent Arm with the “beanie cap,” a vent hood. Extended out from the Fixed Service Structure (left) to the orbiter is the orbiter access arm with an environmentally controlled chamber, known as the White Room, at the end of the arm. The White Room provides entrance for the astronaut crew into the orbiter. On either side of the tail and main engines are the tail service masts. Rising 31 feet above the Mobile Launcher Platform, the tail masts provide umbilical connections for liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen lines to fuel the external tank from storage tanks adjacent to the launch pad. Discovery carries the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo, the primary delivery system used to resupply and return Station cargo requiring a pressurized environment. Leonardo will deliver up to 10 tons of laboratory racks filled with equipment, experiments and supplies for outfitting the newly installed U.S. Laboratory Destiny. Launch on mission STS-102 is scheduled March 8 at 6:42 a.m. EST KSC01pp0443

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Space Shuttle Discovery shines on Launch Pad 39B after rollback of the Rotating Service Structure. Situated above the external tank is the Gaseous Oxygen Vent Arm with the “beanie cap,” a vent hood. Extended out from the Fixed Service Structure (left) to the orbiter is the orbiter access arm with an environmentally controlled chamber, known as the White Room, at the end of the arm. The White Room provides entrance for the astronaut crew into the orbiter. On either side of the tail and main engines are the tail service masts. Rising 31 feet above the Mobile Launcher Platform, the tail masts provide umbilical connections for liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen lines to fuel the external tank from storage tanks adjacent to the launch pad. Discovery carries the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo, the primary delivery system used to resupply and return Station cargo requiring a pressurized environment. Leonardo will deliver up to 10 tons of laboratory racks filled with equipment, experiments and supplies for outfitting the newly installed U.S. Laboratory Destiny. Launch on mission STS-102 is scheduled March 8 at 6:42 a.m. EST

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.