The flagship of the shuttle orbiter fleet has received her three replica main engines, as Discovery prepares for next year’s ferry trip to her final resting place. The three Replica Shuttle Main Engines (RSMEs) are substitutes for the three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) she last flew with, as they prepare to live on with [...]

One of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) suitors – Boeing and their CST-100 spacecraft – have signed a 15 year lease to utilize Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF-3) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The deal was announced on Monday, following a NASA agreement with Space Florida – the State’s aerospace economic development agency.

With the Space Shuttle Program now officially a part of NASA’s past, the agency is continuing the process of getting Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour ready for their display at museums around the United States. However, following STS-135, NASA did conduct one official post-flight review – an investigation into RCC nose cap/chin strap damage to orbiter [...]

During Wednesday’s Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Hearing – which focused on the Russian investigation into their recent Soyuz failure – the question on restarting shuttle was once again dismissed out of hand. However, the shrift response, noting the question would have been “interesting” if asked three or four years ago, failed to elaborate on a [...]

NASA managers have further refined their plans to transfer Orbiter and Ground Support Equipment (GSE) Main Propulsion System (MPS) hardware to the Space Launch System (SLS). Known as hardware retention, the plan now calls for Discovery to remain untouched, while Atlantis and Endeavour would donate their “inners” to play a key role in the development [...]

With the Space Shuttle Program now an element of NASA’s past, the U.S. agency is pressing forward with evaluations on how best to make use of the floor space at Mission Control Center Houston now that a major element of the agency’s focus for the past 30+ years has been retired.

As the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) officially ended this week – closing out 30 years of achievements and advancements in human space travel – United Space Alliance (USA) Vice President and SSP manager Howard DeCastro noted his pride in the strong finish to the program, whilst adding he fears there may be a price to [...]

NASA’s three retired Space Shuttle orbiters are set to donate their entire Main Propulsion Systems (MPS) to the opening salvo of Space Launch System (SLS) Heavy Lift Launch Vehicles (HLV). The work to remove the MPS’ array of plumbing, tanks and valves from the aft of the orbiters would result in a delay of six [...]

For over 30 years, the Space Shuttle Program captured the hearts and minds of millions of people throughout the world. From following the missions on TV, in newspapers, on websites, the Shuttle program has been lived by people on every continent. And through it all, the missions, the people, and the workforce have been brought [...]

As the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) heads into its final week of operations, United Space Alliance (USA) Vice President and SSP manager Howard DeCastro has spoken about how the retirement of the fleet makes no sense, from a technical, ISS support and national security standpoint. A last ditch reversal of the decision, likely via a [...]

In a rare occurrence, Space Shuttle orbiters Discovery and Endeavour were purposefully visible together this morning at the Kennedy Space Center as a Shuttle shuffle took place to move Endeavour from OPF-1 to the VAB for storage and Discovery from the VAB to OPF-1 for full Transition and Retirement processing, set to culminate for the [...]

Providing stunning images of the grand finale of the Shuttle Program, the External Tank (ET) camera on ET-138 concluded a 22-flight legacy - beaming back images of the tank’s performance through ascent. However, a camera modification was ultimately unsuccessful in transmitting much more than static footage of the tank as it tumbled into Earth’s atmosphere for its [...]

Adding to the long list that is her legacy, Atlantis’ successful final test of Neptec’s TriDAR rendezvous and docking system has resulted in Orbital completing a deal to use high tech sensors on their Cygnus spacecraft. With the orbiter’s also testing DragonEye for SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, the two commercial vehicles will “Tally Ho” the ISS [...]

Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Director Bob Cabana has spoken of his emotions during and after the final NASA Space Shuttle mission, ranging from launch day, through to seeing Atlantis return to her final resting place. Despite being known as a huge advocate of the transition to commercial launches, Mr Cabana chose to focus on the [...]

Shuttle Atlantis has been given top marks for her return to Earth via the Mission Evaluation Room (MER) landing report – normally a highly technical, emotionless review into vehicle performance. However, as Atlantis begins down processing for her retirement, her team of engineers and controllers signed off on a report which included numerous notes of [...]

Atlantis has concluded her historic 13-day mission to the International Space Station with a perfect landing at KSC. With a ‘go’ for deorbit and entry operations from Flight Controllers – confirmed thanks to excellent weather conditions at Kennedy – Atlantis’ 0556 EDT landing was saluted with a four minute visible, overhead pass by the ISS just nine [...]

Following the expected clearance of the Thermal Protection System (TPS) – which was re-checked during Late Inspections, along with the successful checkouts of the systems the orbiter will use to carry her crew back to Earth – Atlantis is in the final hours of orbiting the planet, ahead of an expected early morning landing at [...]

Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis has undocked from the ISS for the final time, ahead of carrying out the unique and stunning flyaround. And while the moment resulted in dazzling images of a graceful orbital ballet, as well as a multitude of emotions, Atlantis once again lent a helping hand to future spacecraft as she performed [...]

Teams on the ground are working through possible root causes into the temporary failure of one of Atlantis’ General Purpose Computers (GPC-4), with a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) listed as one of three potential contributing factors. The computer now appears to be functioning normally, as Atlantis and her crew head into the final part of [...]