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Space Shuttle Information
NASA Space Shuttles

Space Shuttle Program

The space shuttle program was conceived in the 1970s and was finally brought about by the flight of the Columbia on April 12, 1981. Four more space going shuttles were built, bringing the total up to five. They were the Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and the Endeavour. These have flown for over 100 missions, saving NASA billions of dollars in constructing new rockets and pods. Before the shuttle, none of the space program rockets were reusable before the invention of the space shuttle. Since then, NASA has been able to spend the billions saved on other useful endeavors. The Hubble Space Telescope was one of these such projects.

NASA's Other Projects

NASA has been busy with other projects since the invention of the space shuttle. Some of their recent projects have been probes and the International Space Station. The International Space Station has cost over $100,000,000,000 dollars, which is considered by several people to be a waste of money. The general population prefers the probes to planets that send back valuable information and pictures rather than the unknown research going on at the International Space Station. Therefore, NASA has put much of its public efforts into exploring for life and water on Mars, with a launch of the Pheonix Mission in 2007. There are also plans for the Orion project, which is to take over the space shuttle program. Orion will be a manned spacecraft designed to take astronauts to various places in the solar system, including the Moon and Mars. These projects have a lot of public interest, as well as Project Constellation, the plan to put a permanent base on the Moon by 2024.

NASA Shuttle Achievements

NASA has had 6 landings on the moon, has built a space station, put the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit, and has given us valuable information on our solar system and beyond. They have provided us with plastic, heat resistant materials, and velcro. Their contributions to America are very numerous, and the space shuttle program is just one of the many achievements of NASA that deserves being noted.
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