NASA had sent astronauts to the moon as part of the Apollo missions Now it had a new project NASA would use the money to design space shuttles These reusable vehicles would take people into outer space and back again Scientists hoped the shuttles would make space travel easier safer and less expensive than ever before Designing a spacecraft that could be used multiple times was challenging A space shuttle needed a way to launch carry fuel and return to Earth But NASA scientists were already hard at work Between 1959 and 1968 they designed and built several prototypes Prototypes are early versions of inventions that are created to test an idea NASA used the prototypes to try out designs for space shuttles One was a rocket powered airplane known as the X 15 X 15s made 199 test flights During flights these
A NASA scientist tests a model of the X 15 by hanging it underneath a model of a bomber NASA learned about hypersonic flight The X 15's success helped NASA prepare to create a space shuttle NASA's space shuttle program officially began in 1972 The shuttle design had three parts main
Each shuttle would have an orbiter an external fuel tank and rocket boosters The orbiter looked like an airplane Astronauts would live in this part of the shuttle during their trips to space The external fuel tank would carry liquid fuel for the shuttle to use during its journey Each shuttle also used two rocket boosters These solid fuel rockets would attach to either side of the shuttle's huge fuel tank The boosters would help launch the shuttle into space However designing a shuttle was only the beginning NASA needed to test each part to make sure it worked By 1976 NASA was ready to test the shuttle's orbiter NASA scientists needed to make sure it could bring astronauts safely back to Earth So they created the Approach and Landing Test ALT program This program made sure the orbiter could glide and properly land
SPACE SHUTTLE PARTS External Tank Solid Rocket Booster Orbiter 1 Nose landing gear 2 Steering thrusters 3 Mid deck 4 Flight deck 5 Airlock 6 Docking port 7 Cargo bay 8 Robotic arm 9 Cargo module 10 Main rocket engines
