Space Shuttle Atlantis

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Space Shuttle Atlantis

Space Shuttle Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle Designation
Orbiter Vehicle Designation

Each NASA space shuttle designation is composed of a prefix and suffix separated by a dash. The prefix for operational shuttles is OV, for Orbiter Vehicle....
: OV-104) is one of the three currently operational orbiters
Space Shuttle Orbiter

The Space Shuttle orbiters are the orbital spacecraft of the Space Shuttle Space Shuttle program operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States....
in the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System , is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions....
fleet of NASA
NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
, the space agency of the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. (The other two are Discovery

Space Shuttle Discovery

Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the three currently operational Space Shuttle orbiter in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States....
and Endeavour

Space Shuttle Endeavour

Space Shuttle Endeavour is one of the three currently operational Space Shuttle orbiter in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States....
.) Atlantis was the fourth operational shuttle built. "Atlantis" is named after a two-masted sailing ship that operated from 1930 to 1966 for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

In early 2008, NASA officials decided to keep Atlantis flying until 2010, the projected end of the Shuttle program. This reversed a previous decision to retire Atlantis in 2008.

first flight of Atlantis, STS-51-J
STS-51-J

STS-51-J was a space shuttle mission by NASA that was the first to use the Space Shuttle Atlantis. It was the 21st mission, and carried a payload for the U.S....
, took place during October 1985.

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Space Shuttle Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle Designation
Orbiter Vehicle Designation

Each NASA space shuttle designation is composed of a prefix and suffix separated by a dash. The prefix for operational shuttles is OV, for Orbiter Vehicle....
: OV-104) is one of the three currently operational orbiters
Space Shuttle Orbiter

The Space Shuttle orbiters are the orbital spacecraft of the Space Shuttle Space Shuttle program operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States....
in the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System , is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions....
fleet of NASA
NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
, the space agency of the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. (The other two are Discovery
Space Shuttle Discovery

Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the three currently operational Space Shuttle orbiter in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States....
and Endeavour
Space Shuttle Endeavour

Space Shuttle Endeavour is one of the three currently operational Space Shuttle orbiter in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States....
.) Atlantis was the fourth operational shuttle built. "Atlantis" is named after a two-masted sailing ship that operated from 1930 to 1966 for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

In early 2008, NASA officials decided to keep Atlantis flying until 2010, the projected end of the Shuttle program. This reversed a previous decision to retire Atlantis in 2008.

History
The first flight of Atlantis, STS-51-J
STS-51-J

STS-51-J was a space shuttle mission by NASA that was the first to use the Space Shuttle Atlantis. It was the 21st mission, and carried a payload for the U.S....
, took place during October 1985. The mission was one of five flights during which crews conducted classified military activities. Atlantis flew one other mission, STS-61-B
STS-61-B

STS-61-B was the 23rd Space Shuttle mission, and the second using the Space Shuttle Atlantis orbiter.Crew*Brewster H. Shaw, Jr....
, before the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster

The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight leading to the deaths of its seven crew members....
temporarily grounded the shuttle fleet in 1986.

Atlantis was used for ten flights between 1988 and 1992. Two of these, both flown in 1989, deployed planetary probes (Magellan
Magellan probe

The Magellan spacecraft was a space probe sent to the planet Venus, the first unmanned spacecraft to be launched by NASA since its successful Voyager 1 spacecraft to Jupiter and Saturn in 1977....
on STS-30
STS-30

STS-30 was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Atlantis. It was the 29th shuttle mission, and the fourth for Atlantis. It carried the Magellan probe bound for Venus....
and Galileo on STS-34
STS-34

STS-34 was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Atlantis. It was the 31st shuttle mission, and the 5th flight for Atlantis....
). Another mission, STS-37
STS-37

STS-37, the eighth launch of the Space Shuttle Space Shuttle Atlantis, was a six-day mission with a primary objective to launch the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory , the second of the Great Observatories program which included the visible-spectrum Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope....
flown in 1991, deployed the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory
Compton Gamma Ray Observatory

The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory was the second of the NASA "Great Observatories program" to be launched to space, following the Hubble Space Telescope....
.

Beginning in 1995 with STS-71
STS-71

STS-71 was the third mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, which carried out the first Space Shuttle docking to Mir, a Russian space station....
, Atlantis made seven straight flights to Mir
Mir

Mir was a Soviet Union orbital station. Mir was the world's first consistently inhabited long-term research station in space, and the first 'third generation' type space station, constructed over a number of years with a Space station#Modular....
(a Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
n space station
Space station

A space station is an artificial structure designed for humans to live in outer space. So far only low earth orbit stations are implemented, also known as orbital stations....
) as part of the Shuttle-Mir Program
Shuttle-Mir Program

The Shuttle–Mir Program was a collaborative space program between Russia and the United States, which involved American Space Shuttles visiting the Russian space station Mir, Russian cosmonauts flying on the shuttle and an American astronaut flying aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to engage in long-duration expeditions aboard Mir....
.

After STS-86
STS-86

STS-86 was a Space Shuttle Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station. This was the last Atlantis mission before it was taken out of service temporarily for maintenance and upgrades, including the glass cockpit....
, the seventh flight of Atlantis to Mir, the orbiter underwent a series of refitting operations. From November 1997 to July 1999, about 165 modifications were made to Atlantis, including the installation of the Multifunction Electronic Display System, or glass cockpit
Glass cockpit

A glass cockpit is an aircraft Cockpit that features electronic instrument Display device. Where a traditional cockpit relies on numerous mechanical gauges to display information, a glass cockpit utilizes several computer displays that can be adjusted to display flight information as needed....
. In May 2000 Atlantis returned to service for STS-101
STS-101

STS-101 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station flown bySpace Shuttle Atlantis. The mission was a 10-day mission conducted between May 19, 2000 and...
, a flight to the International Space Station
International Space Station

The International Space Station is a research facility Assembly of the International Space Station in outer space. On-orbit construction of the station began in 1998, and is scheduled to be complete by 2011, with operations continuing until around 2015....
(ISS).

The first mission flown by Atlantis after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, with the loss of all seven crew members, shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission, STS-107....
was STS-115
STS-115

STS-115 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis. It was the first ISS assembly sequence to the ISS after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, following the two successful Return to Flight missions, STS-114 and STS-121....
, conducted during September 2006. The mission carried the P3/P4 truss segments and solar arrays to the ISS.

The longest mission flown using Atlantis -- STS-117
STS-117

STS-117 was a Space Shuttle mission flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis, launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 of the Kennedy Space Center on June 8, 2007....
during June 2007 -- lasted almost 14 days. Because Atlantis is not equipped to take advantage of the Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System
Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System

The Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System allows a docked Space Shuttle orbiter to make use of power provided by the International Space Station Integrated Truss Structure#Solar arrays....
, missions cannot be extended by making use of power provided by ISS.

NASA had planned to withdraw Atlantis from service in 2008, as the orbiter would have been due to undergo the scheduled Orbiter Maintenance Down Period (OMDP); this is a major program of refit and maintenance which would have lasted at least a year. Because of the final retirement of the shuttle fleet in 2010, this was deemed uneconomic. It was planned that Atlantis would be kept in near flight condition to be used as a parts hulk for Discovery and Endeavour. However, with the significant planned flight schedule up to 2010, the decision was taken to extend the time between OMDPs, allowing Atlantis to be retained for operations. Atlantis has been swapped for one flight of each of the other orbiters in the flight manifest. As of March 2008, Atlantis is now projected to fly at least three more missions prior to the end of the shuttle program:
STS-125
STS-125

STS-125, or HST-SM4 is a planned Space Shuttle mission scheduled to be the fifth and final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope ....
- final Hubble
Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope is a Space observatory that was carried into Low Earth orbit STS-31 in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble....
servicing mission
STS-129
STS-129

STS-129 is a planned Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station which is expected to be flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis. The launch date for the mission is planned for November 12, 2009....
- ISS assembly mission (EXPRESS Logistics Carriers 1 & 2 ELC1 & ELC2)
STS-131
STS-131

STS-131 is a mission of the Space Shuttle Space Shuttle Discovery planned for launch on February 11, 2010. The mission is referred to by the ISS program as ISS 19A....
- ISS logistics mission (Multi-Purpose Logistics Module
Multi-Purpose Logistics Module

A Multi-Purpose Logistics Module is a large pressurized container used on Space Shuttle missions to transfer cargo to and from the International Space Station ....
Raffaello)

Flights

Atlantis has completed 29 flights, spent 220.40-days in space, completed 3,468 orbits, and flown in total, . Among the five Space Shuttles flown in space, Atlantis has conducted a subsequent mission in the shortest time after the previous mission when it launched in November, 1985, only 50 days after its previous mission.

‡ Longest shuttle mission for Discovery
+ Targeted date as mission has yet to launch
* No Earlier Than (Tentative)
** To Be Determined

Aging

NASA announced that 24 helium and nitrogen gas tanks, named Composite Overwrap Pressure Vessels, in Atlantis are older than their designed lifetime (designed for 10 years, later cleared for another 10 years but in service now for 22 years). NASA said it cannot guarantee any longer that the vessels on Atlantis will not burst or explode under full pressure
Pressure

Pressure is the force per unit area applied to an object in a direction surface normal to the surface. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the local atmospheric or ambient pressure....
. Therefore, the vessels will only be at 80 percent pressure as close to the launch countdown as possible, and the launch pad will be cleared of all but essential personnel when pressure is increased to 100 percent. A launch pad explosion could damage parts of the shuttle and even wound or kill ground personnel. An in-flight failure to the vessels could even result in the loss of the orbiter and its crew. Because the original vendor is no longer available, the vessels cannot be rebuilt before 2010, when the shuttles are scheduled to be retired. NASA analyses originally assumed that the vessels would leak before they burst, but new tests showed that they would burst before they leak. The new launch procedure, of clearing the launch pad of all but the essential personnel and pressurizing the tanks to 100 percent as late as possible, will now be conducted during the remaining Atlantis launches if no other resolution is found. Atlantis will have to fly at least one more time in this setting. It is unclear, but possible, that Discovery
Space Shuttle Discovery

Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the three currently operational Space Shuttle orbiter in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States....
, which will launch another five or six times, has the same problems and if the same launch procedure needs to be conducted with Discovery. Since Endeavour
Space Shuttle Endeavour

Space Shuttle Endeavour is one of the three currently operational Space Shuttle orbiter in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States....
, which will launch another six or seven times, was built much later, around 1990, it is possible that Endeavour does not have the same problem.

See also

List of human spaceflights
List of human spaceflights

These chronological lists include all crewed spaceflights that reached an altitude of at least 100 km , or were launched with that intention but failed....
List of Space Shuttle crews
List of space shuttle missions
List of space shuttle missions

This is a list of missions flown by space shuttles. As of 2009, only the United States has flown human spaceflight Space Shuttle missions in the Space Shuttle program, while the Soviet Union flew one unmanned flight of the Buran ....
Timeline of Space Shuttle missions
Timeline of Space Shuttle missions

Timeline of space shuttle missionsPost-Columbia timeline Complete timeline See also...
List of human spaceflights
List of human spaceflights

These chronological lists include all crewed spaceflights that reached an altitude of at least 100 km , or were launched with that intention but failed....
Space shuttles in fiction
Space shuttles in fiction

Even before the first Space Shuttle program was launched, science fiction filmmakers were featuring the craft in their productions. The laws of physics have traditionally been no impediment to creativity, as some of the following demonstrate:...

External links

for Google Earth
Google Earth

Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographic information program that was originally called Earth Viewer, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a company acquired by Google in 2004....