KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 (PMA 2), at left, part of the first International Space Station (ISS) element to be launched from the U.S., awaits prelaunch processing in the Space Station Processing Facility after its arrival at KSC. PMAs 1 and 2 attached to a component called Node 1, shown in background at far right, to form the first U.S.-launched ISS element. The Node 1/PMA assembly will provide key connecting points in orbit for other Space Station modules and for docking of the orbiter with the ISS. PMA 1 will provide the interface between U.S. and Russian elements of the Station; PMA 2 will provide a Shuttle orbiter docking area. The Node 1/PMA assembly is targeted for liftoff aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-88 in July 1998. KSC-97pc1531
Summary
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 (PMA 2), at left, part of the first International Space Station (ISS) element to be launched from the U.S., awaits prelaunch processing in the Space Station Processing Facility after its arrival at KSC. PMAs 1 and 2 attached to a component called Node 1, shown in background at far right, to form the first U.S.-launched ISS element. The Node 1/PMA assembly will provide key connecting points in orbit for other Space Station modules and for docking of the orbiter with the ISS. PMA 1 will provide the interface between U.S. and Russian elements of the Station; PMA 2 will provide a Shuttle orbiter docking area. The Node 1/PMA assembly is targeted for liftoff aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-88 in July 1998.
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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