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Stories & Lifestyle: Space flights – the US shuttle program

German astronaut Thomas Reiter has made it. With the crew of the Discovery he arrived at the International Space Station ISS on July 6 right on schedule. On Tuesday, July 4, 8:41pm German time the Discovery had been launched into space without any problems. NASA director Michael Griffin talked about the best-possible start. The pieces of foam that fell off during takeoff were too small to cause serious damage. Three years after the Columbia disaster and almost one year after the bumpy test run of shuttle Discovery the NASA space flight program is back on track. The start had been delayed twice, first of all due to bad weather. Then a small crack in the external fuel tank's foam insulation had been found during inspection. Fortunately, it proved to be harmless - NASA let the countdown continue. Thomas Reiter is the first German to travel to space in ten years. Reiter will spend six to seven months on ISS and conduct scientific experiments. The first German on board the ISS will be the third member of the permanent crew. Ever since the shuttle accident, development of the ISS and the research activities had been slowed down.

The Space Shuttle Adventure Began More Than Thirty Years Ago
The Space Shuttle program began over 30 years ago, when President Nixon introduced a program in 1972 aimed at developing a re-usable space plane - the Space Shuttle. In 1974 the first shuttle was built in the Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale and in August of 1976 the Enterprise started on its maiden flight inside the Earth's atmosphere. Among others, Apollo astronaut Fred Haise was part of the Enterprise's test crew. The Enterprise was used exclusively for testing landing, aerodynamics and structure. Star Trek fans had seen to it that the shuttle was named "Enterprise." This was criticized later, because especially the one shuttle that never reached orbit was named after the Star Trek flagship. Only on April 12, 1981 the Columbia became the first shuttle to fly into space. The crew consisted of astronaut veterans John Young and Robert Crippen. Ever since then, the Enterprise was only used for exhibitions. The Columbia's first flight was the first time a space plane started on a manned maiden flight. Back then, the developers believed it was impossible to steer a shuttle by a remote computer-based system. A feat that was later accomplished with the Russian shuttle Buran.

After the Enterprise (1976) and the Columbia (1979), the shuttles Challenger (1983), Discovery (1983), Atlantis (1985) and Endeavour (1991) were built to travel into space. The Challenger was destroyed by an explosion 73 seconds after take-off on January 28, 1986, leading to the death of all seven crew members (Christa McAuliffe, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis, Ronald McNair, Richard Scobee and Michael Smith). Christa McAuliffe had been the first civilian chosen to fly into space. It was supposed to be a kind of government gift to the tax payers who, after all, financed the Space Shuttle Program. Being a teacher, she wanted to give the students a better insight into space travel with two lessons from space. The reason for the disaster was the failure of an O-ring seal on the right solid rocket booster. It was later found out that a NASA engineer had warned that O-ring seals on the booster could fail if temperatures were too low even months before the launch and also during the start of STS-51L. NASA, however, chose to ignore this. Take-off with Christa McAuliffe on board was not to be delayed. No one had believed such an accident to be possible, the public had rather already expected a sort of regular passenger transport into space without any kind of risk. Ever since this sad anniversary (it had been the 25th Shuttle start) no space shuttle took off for more than two years. The NASA used this time to significantly improve the orbiters. Only on September 29, 1988 the Discovery again took off into space.

Great Disasters and Great Success
Apart from the Challenger disaster, the Shuttle Program can look back on many successes. From the first untethered free flight of an astronaut in space (Bruce McCandless 1984) to numerous successful satellite repairs and scientific experiments, the program set many milestones for American space travel.
With the repair of the half-blind Hubble Telescope NASA achieved a special feat. The embarrassing mistake turned into a triumph. The mission was the best advertising and justification for manned space travel and the need for the Space Shuttles. But another terrible disaster occurred on February 1, 2003. NASA loses contact with the Space Shuttle Columbia when it disintegrates at a height of ca. 60 kilometers. On board were seven astronauts, among them one Israeli.

The shuttles are being significantly upgraded every three years. Right now glass cockpits, new displays, satellite navigation, a better heat shield, better cooling systems and energy supply are in the planning. In addition, a re-usable liquid booster is being developed that will return to Earth after take-off. The Space Shuttles will probably only be in use until 2010, a new US space ship is not yet in the planning. NASA director Michael Griffin has announced that after the Space Shuttle Program ends, the US will have to rely on Russian Sojus-space ships for a while. He said there might be a certain period of time between 2010 and the development of a new US space shuttle, according to Russian news agencies on Sunday at air traffic control near Moscow. During this time we will have to rely on the Russians and other foreign nations to fly to the International Space Station ISS, Griffin was quoted. The development of ISS is supposed to be finished by 2010. Until then, the three remaining NASA Shuttles Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour will still be needed, because they are the only ones capable of transporting large components to the ISS. The basic Sojus-technology's concept is more than 40 years old. Other than the American Space Shuttles that can take off and land just like planes, the Russian space ships are single-use models. Neither the Sojus space ships not its small landing capsules can be used again. The ISS crew for the next half year will be Russian Commander Pawel Winogradow, US board engineer Jeffrey Williams and German astronaut Thomas Reiter.

Find more about the history of Space Travel on wikipedia.