50 Years of Spaceflight, 30 Years of the Space Shuttle

50 Years of Spaceflight, 30 Years of the Space Shuttle

Today, in commemoration of the Space Shuttle, NASA published this interesting infographic, and launched an interactive Space Shuttle site.

Since 1981, NASA space shuttles have been rocketing from the Florida coast into Earth orbit. The five orbiters — Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour — have flown more than 130 times, carrying over 350 people into space and travelling more than half a billion miles, more than enough to reach Jupiter. Designed to return to Earth and land like a giant glider, the shuttle was the world’s first reusable space vehicle. More than all of that, though, the shuttle program expanded the limits of human achievement and broadened our understanding of our world.

NASA

Nasa Space Shuttle Infographic