AstronautAtlas
Search the complete archive…
Loading AstronautAtlas records
Program archive
Space Shuttle
The complete Shuttle flight archive joins 16 Enterprise Approach and Landing Test events with all 135 orbital missions flown by Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour—from reusable-flight qualification to satellite deployment, orbital research, Shuttle-Mir, Hubble servicing, and International assembly.
- Missions
- 152
- People
- 356
- Vehicles
- 168
Explore this program
Choose a path through the Space Shuttle archive.
A reusable spacecraft era
The complete Shuttle flight archive joins 16 Enterprise Approach and Landing Test events with all 135 orbital missions flown by Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour—from reusable-flight qualification to satellite deployment, orbital research, Shuttle-Mir, Hubble servicing, and International assembly.
Program details1977–2011NASA · development and flight testing 1972–1981 · orbital operations 1981–2011
Flight record151 flights143 crewed · 8 uncrewed · 1 non-flight record
First flown missionEnterprise ALT-1February 15, 1977
Latest flown missionSTS-135July 8, 2011
Core capabilities
Program story
NASA developed the Space Transportation System to provide reusable access to low Earth orbit. Enterprise first put the full-scale orbiter shape, controls, carrier-aircraft combination, separation sequence, atmospheric handling, and unpowered landing profile through 16 Approach and Landing Test events in 1977: three taxi tests, five captive-inert flights, three captive-active flights, and five free flights.
The operational Shuttle launched as a complete stack: a reusable orbiter with three main engines, an expendable external tank, and two recoverable solid rocket boosters. In orbit the orbiter carried crew and payloads, maneuvered as a spacecraft, and then returned through the atmosphere for an unpowered runway landing.
Columbia opened the flight era with STS-1 in April 1981. Over 135 missions, the shuttle fleet deployed satellites and observatories, carried laboratories, serviced the Hubble Space Telescope, supported international cooperation with Mir, and delivered the majority of the large U.S. elements of the International Space Station.
The losses of Challenger on STS-51-L and Columbia on STS-107 reshaped the program and NASA’s approach to risk. Each was followed by investigation, redesign, and organizational change. Atlantis completed the final shuttle mission, STS-135, in July 2011.
Names, numbers, and patches
Why Shuttle mission names do not follow launch order
A Shuttle flight designation identified a planned mission, not necessarily its eventual place in the launch sequence. NASA changed systems after STS-9, then changed back after Challenger; assigned designations stayed with their paperwork through delays and manifest changes. Crew patches could compress, omit, or artistically arrange the formal designation while emphasizing the orbiter, payload, crew, or destination.
FlightOfficial NASA nameCrew and patch name
STS-1 through STS-9Official NASA name · Sequential Space Transportation System flight designationsCrew and patch name · Patches generally displayed the STS number, while crews and controllers also used the orbiter name as the spacecraft call sign.
STS-41-B through STS-51-LOfficial NASA name · The first digit indicated the planned fiscal year, the second the launch site (1 for Kennedy; 2 was reserved for Vandenberg), and the letter indicated planned sequenceCrew and patch name · Patches and contemporary material often styled the same designation without the second hyphen—STS-41B instead of STS-41-B. This archive preserves the historical flight designation and indexes both forms.
STS-26 through STS-135Official NASA name · NASA returned to a sequential numbering system after ChallengerCrew and patch name · A number was assigned during planning and was not renamed when delays changed launch order, so numerical order and actual flight order sometimes differ.
Canceled and reassigned flightsOfficial NASA name · Some designations belonged to missions that never flew, while payloads and crews could move to a new designationCrew and patch name · Unflown labels may appear on early crew art, training records, or payload documentation; they are documented as planning history rather than counted among the 135 orbital missions.
Enterprise ALT-1 through ALT-16Official NASA name · Approach and Landing Test event identifiers, including ground taxi, captive, and free-flight phasesCrew and patch name · The five released gliding flights are commonly summarized as Enterprise free flights, but the full ALT sequence also includes the earlier mated tests that made those releases possible.
STS always meant Space Transportation System. The 1984–1986 code described the manifest NASA expected when it assigned the name; it was not a running count of flights. That is why STS-41-B followed STS-9, why STS-51-C launched before STS-51-B, why later flights such as STS-94 and STS-93 flew out of numerical order, and why a patch’s typography can differ from an official historical designation without representing a different mission.
NASA: Behind the Space Shuttle Mission Numbering System →