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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-133 Mission Specialist Alvin Drew prepares to practice driving an M-113 armored personnel carrier. Behind him is Commander Steve Lindsey. An M-113 is kept at the foot of the launch pad in case an emergency egress from the vicinity of the pad is needed, and training on the vehicle is part of the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT). TCDT provides each shuttle crew and launch team an opportunity to participate in various simulated activities, including equipment familiarization and a launch countdown. Space shuttle Discovery and its STS-133 crew will deliver the Permanent Multipurpose Module, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, the dexterous humanoid astronaut helper, to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for Nov. 1 at 4:40 p.m. For more information on the STS-133 mission, visit www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts133/. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-2010-5116
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-133 Mission Specialist Alvin Drew prepares to practice driving an M-113 armored personnel carrier. Behind him is Commander Steve Lindsey. An M-113 is kept at the foot of the launch pad in case an emergency egress from the vicinity of the pad is needed, and training on the vehicle is part of the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT). TCDT provides each shuttle crew and launch team an opportunity to participate in various simulated activities, including equipment familiarization and a launch countdown. Space shuttle Discovery and its STS-133 crew will deliver the Permanent Multipurpose Module, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, the dexterous humanoid astronaut helper, to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for Nov. 1 at 4:40 p.m. For more information on the STS-133 mission, visit www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts133/. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.
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