The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated by NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft of which it was the only item funded for development. Operational missions launched numerous satellites, conducted science experiments in orbit, and participated in construction and servicing of the International Space Station (ISS). The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights beginning in 1982.

From 1981 to 2011 a total of 135 missions were flown, all launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During that time period the fleet logged 1,322 days, 19 hours, 21 minutes and 23 seconds of flight time. The longest orbital flight of the Shuttle was STS-80 at 17 days 15 hours, while the shortest flight was STS-51-L at one minute 13 seconds when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart during launch. The cold morning shrank an O-ring on the right solid rocket booster causing the external fuel tank to explode. The shuttles docked with Russian space station Mir nine times and visited the ISS thirty-seven times. The highest altitude (apogee) achieved by the shuttle was when deploying the Hubble Space Telescope. The program flew a total of 355 people representing 16 countries, and with 852 total shuttle fliers. The Kennedy Space Center served as the landing site for 78 missions, while 54 missions landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California and one mission landed at White Sands, New Mexico.

The first orbiter built, Enterprise, was used for atmospheric flight tests (ALT) but future plans to upgrade it to orbital capability were ultimately canceled. Four fully operational orbiters were initially built: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis. Challenger and Columbia were destroyed in mission accidents in 1986 and 2003 respectively, killing a total of fourteen astronauts. A fifth operational orbiter, Endeavour, was built in 1991 to replace Challenger. The Space Shuttle was retired from service upon the conclusion of STS-135 by Atlantis on 21 July 2011.

Flight numbering

The U.S. Space Shuttle program was officially referred to as the Space Transportation System (STS). Specific shuttle missions were therefore designated with the prefix "STS". Initially, the launches were given sequential numbers indicating order of launch, such as STS-7. Subsequent to the Apollo 13 mishap, due to Administrator of NASA James M. Beggs's triskaidekaphobia and consequent unwillingness to number a forthcoming flight as STS-13, beginning in 1984, each mission was assigned a code, such as STS-41-B, with the first digit (or pair of digits for years 1990 and beyond) indicating the federal fiscal year offset into the program (so 41-B was scheduled for FY 1984, 51-A through 51-L originally for FY 1985, and the third flight in FY 1985 would have been named 51-C), the second digit indicating the launch site (1 was Kennedy Space Center and 2 was Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, although Vandenberg was never used), and the letter indicating scheduling sequence. These codes were assigned when the launches were initially scheduled and were not changed as missions were delayed or rescheduled. The codes were adopted from STS-41-B through STS-51-L (although the highest code used was actually STS-61-C), and the sequential numbers were used internally at NASA on all processing paperwork.

After the Challenger disaster, NASA returned to using a sequential numbering system, with the number counting from the beginning of the STS program. Unlike the initial system, however, the numbers were assigned based on the initial mission schedule, and did not always reflect actual launch order. This numbering scheme started at 26, with the first flight as STS-26R—the R suffix stood for "reflight" to disambiguate from prior missions. The suffix was used for two years through STS-33R, then the R was dropped. As a result of the changes in systems, flights under different numbering systems could have the same number with one having a letter appended, e.g. flight STS-51 (a mission carried out by Discovery in 1993) was many years after STS-51-A (Discovery's second flight in 1984). It wasn't until STS-127 in 2009 where the flight numbering system returned to a standard and consistent order.

Shuttle flights

Atmospheric flight tests

The Approach and Landing Test program encompassed 16 separate tests of Enterprise, covering taxi tests, uncrewed and crewed flights on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), and finally the free flight tests. The following list includes the free-flight tests, durations listed count only the orbiter free-flight time. The list does not include total time aloft along with airborne time atop of the SCA.

Order Launch date Mission Shuttle Crew Duration Landing site Notes 1 12 August 1977ALT-12 Enterprise 2 00 h 05 m Edwards First free flight First non-captive flight of Enterprise First landing at Edwards Air Force Base 2 13 September 1977 ALT-13 Enterprise 2 00 h 05 m Edwards Second free flight 3 23 September 1977 ALT-14 Enterprise 2 00 h 05 m Edwards Third free flight 4 12 October 1977 ALT-15 Enterprise 2 00 h 02 m Edwards Fourth free flight First flight without tailcone (operational configuration) 5 26 October 1977 ALT-16 Enterprise 2 00 h 02 m Edwards Final free flight Final non-captive flight of Enterprise First landing on runway rather than lakebed

Launches and orbital flights

Order Launch date Mission Shuttle Crew Duration Launch pad Landing site Notes 1 12:00:04 UTC07:00:04 EST STS-1 Columbia 2 02d 06h LC-39A Edwards First orbital flight test First reusable orbital spacecraft flight Maiden flight of Columbia Maiden flight of the Space Shuttle program 2 15:10:00 UTC10:10:00 EST STS-2 Columbia 2 02d 06h LC-39A Edwards Second orbital flight test First reuse of a crewed orbital space vehicle First test of Canadarm robot arm Truncated due to fuel cell problem Shortest orbital mission flown 3 16:00:00 UTC11:00:00 EST STS-3 Columbia 2 08d 00h LC-39A White Sands Third orbital test Only landing at White Sands, New Mexico 4 15:00:00 UTC11:00:00 EDT STS-4 Columbia 2 07d 01h LC-39A Edwards Fourth and final orbital flight test First Department of Defense (DoD) payload 5 12:19:00 UTC07:19:00 EST STS-5 Columbia 4 05d 02h LC-39A Edwards First "operational" flight Multiple comsat deployments First Extravehicular activity of program canceled due to suit problems 6 18:30:00 UTC13:30:00 EST STS-6 Challenger 4 05d 00h LC-39A Edwards Tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS-A) deployment Maiden flight of Challenger First Space Shuttle Extravehicular activity 7 11:33:00 UTC07:33:00 EDT STS-7 Challenger 5 06d 02h LC-39A Edwards First American woman in space, Sally Ride Multiple comsat deployments First deployment and retrieval of a Shuttle pallet satellite 8 06:32:00 UTC02:32:00 EDT STS-8 Challenger 5 06d 01h LC-39A Edwards Comsat deployment First flight of an African American in space, Guion Bluford Test of robot arm on heavy payloads with Payload Flight Test Article First night launch First night landing 9 16:00:00 UTC11:00:00 EST STS-9 Columbia 6 10d 07h LC-39A Edwards First Spacelab mission First European Space Agency Astronaut on a shuttle mission and first West German in space Ulf Merbold 10 13:00:00 UTC08:00:00 EST STS-41-B Challenger 5 07d 23h LC-39A Kennedy SLF Deployed two Comsats First untethered spacewalk by Bruce McCandless II with Manned Maneuvering Unit First landing at Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Dry run of equipment for Solar Maximum Mission rescue 11 13:58:00 UTC08:58:00 EST STS-41-C Challenger 5 06d 23h LC-39A Edwards Solar Maximum Mission servicing First satellite rescue by astronauts Long Duration Exposure Facility deployment 12 12:41:50 UTC08:41:50 EDT STS-41-D Discovery 6 06d 00h LC-39A Edwards Multiple comsat deployments Maiden flight of Discovery First Jewish American in space, Judith Resnik Test of OAST-1 Solar Array 13 11:03:00 UTC07:03:00 EDT STS-41-G Challenger 7 08d 05h LC-39A Kennedy SLF Earth Radiation Budget Satellite deployment First flight of two women in space, Sally Ride and Kathryn Sullivan First woman in space twice, Ride First spacewalk by American woman, Sullivan First Canadian in space, Marc Garneau First spaceflight of Australian origin and first Oceanian in space, Paul Scully-Power 14 12:15:00 UTC07:15:00 EST STS-51-A Discovery 5 07d 23h LC-39A Kennedy SLF Multiple comsat deployments First mother in space, Anna Lee Fisher Retrieval of two other comsats (Palapa B2 and Westar VI), which were subsequently refurbished on Earth and reflown 15 19:50:00 UTC14:50:00 EST STS-51-C Discovery 5 03d 01h LC-39A Kennedy SLF First classified Department of Defense (DoD) mission Magnum satellite deployment First flight of an Asian American in space, Ellison Onizuka 16 13:59:05 UTC08:59:05 EST STS-51-D Discovery 7 06d 23h LC-39A Kennedy SLF Multiple comsat deployments First flight of a sitting politician in space, Jake Garn First impromptu Extravehicular activity of program to fix Syncom F3 (Leasat 3) 17 16:02:18 UTC12:02:18 EDT STS-51-B Challenger 7 07d 00h LC-39A Edwards First mission with Spacelab module in a fully operational configuration Conducted experiments in microgravity First African-American Space Shuttle pilot, Frederick D. Gregory 18 11:33:00 UTC07:33:00 EDT STS-51-G Discovery 7 07d 01h LC-39A Edwards Multiple comsat deployments Second French in space, Patrick Baudry Flight of first member of royalty, Saudi, Muslim, and Arab in space, Sultan bin Salman Al Saud 19 22:00:00 UTC18:00:00 EDT STS-51-F Challenger 7 07d 22h LC-39A Edwards Spacelab mission Abort to Orbit. Faulty temperature sensor incorrectly indicated that fuel turbine discharge temperature exceeded the limit. Therefore, one main engine was shut down at T+345 s, resulting in a much lower orbit than planned. All mission objectives achieved 20 10:58:01 UTC06:58:01 EDT STS-51-I Discovery 5 07d 02h LC-39A Edwards Multiple comsat deployments Rescue of Syncom F3 (Leasat-3) 21 15:15:30 UTC11:15:30 EDT STS-51-J Atlantis 5 04d 01h LC-39A Edwards Second classified DoD mission Defense Satellite Communications System satellite deployment Maiden flight of Atlantis 22 17:00:00 UTC12:00:00 EST STS-61-A Challenger 8 07d 00h LC-39A Edwards Largest crew on a spaceflight Third flight of Spacelab Spacelab-D1 microgravity experiments Mission funded by Germany Last successful mission of Challenger First Dutchman in space, Wubbo Ockels 23 24:29:00 UTC19:29:00 EST STS-61-B Atlantis 7 06d 21h LC-39A Edwards Multiple comsat deployment EASE/ACCESS experiment First Mexican and Hispanic or Latino in space, Rodolfo Neri Vela 24 11:55:00 UTC06:55:00 EST STS-61-C Columbia 7 06d 02h LC-39A Edwards Comsat deployment Flight of US Representative Bill Nelson Second African-American Space Shuttle pilot, Charles Bolden Last successful mission before STS-51-L 25 16:38:00 UTC11:38:00 EST STS-51-L Challenger 7 01m 13s LC-39B Planned tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS-B) and Spartan Halley deployment First Space Shuttle launch from LC-39B First private citizen astronaut, Christa McAuliffe (part of Teacher in Space Project) First fatal Space Shuttle mission First first-time astronauts to die during mission besides McAuliffe, Michael J. Smith and Gregory Jarvis Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) leak and breakup destroyed the orbiter and killed crew 26 15:37:00 UTC11:37:00 EDT STS-26 Discovery 5 04d 01h LC-39B Edwards Second total and first successful launch from LC-39B Tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS-C) deployment First post-Challenger flight First Space Shuttle mission with an all-veteran crew 27 14:30:34 UTC09:30:34 EST STS-27 Atlantis 5 04d 09h LC-39B Edwards Third classified DoD mission