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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A crowd lays roses and pays their respects space shuttle Challenger's STS-51L crew members who gave their lives for while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery. They gathered for a memorial ceremony in front of the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the loss of Challenger, which broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean 73 seconds into flight on Jan. 28, 1986.       Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-2011-1236

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A crowd lays roses and pays their respects space shuttle Challenger's STS-51L crew members who gave their lives for while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery. They gathered for a memorial ceremony in front of the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the loss of Challenger, which broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean 73 seconds into flight on Jan. 28, 1986. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett KSC-2011-1236

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A crowd lays roses and pays their respects space shuttle Challenger's STS-51L crew members who gave their lives for while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery. They gathered for a memorial ceremony in front of the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the loss of Challenger, which broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean 73 seconds into flight on Jan. 28, 1986. 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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28/01/2011
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