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Information about the shuttle Enterprise
SPACE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM (STS)
The Space Transportation System includes the first reusable spacecraft.
The Space Shuttle is a four-part vehicle: a reusable orbiter, which resembles a
jetliner, mounted piggyback on an expendable liquid propellant external tank
(ET) and two recoverable and reusable solid rocket boosters (SRBs).
Designed for routine use of space, the Shuttle operates in low Earth
orbit. In space, it is a base to deploy payloads; it is also used to repair
and service satellites, and to serve as a platform for scientific research.
THE SPACECRAFT
The manned component of the STS is the orbiter. Capable of being used up
to 100 times, it is a 68,000 kg (150,000 lbs) craft measuring about 38 m (125
ft) in length with a wingspan of about 24 m (78 ft). Its payload bay is 18.3 m
(60 ft) long and 4.6 m (15 ft) in diameter.
It is launched in the conventional manner, and in orbit, operates like a
spacecraft. When returning to Earth, upon entry into the atmosphere, the
orbiter sails back like a glider and lands at a designated ground location.
THE FLIGHTS
APPROACH AND LANDING TESTS
In September 1976, the Space Shuttle Orbiter 101, the Enterprise (named for
the STAR TREK spaceship) was rolled out from the Rockwell International final
assembly facility. The following January, it was transported overland by a
90-wheel trailer to Dryden Flight Research Facility. There, during 1977, it
underwent a series of 13 Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) from atop a modified
Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), to verify its aerodynamic and flight
control characteristics, avionics, structures, and mechanical systems
performance.
PHASE I
February - March 1977
Five flights of the mated SCA/Enterprise. The orbiter was unmanned and its
systems turned off.
PHASE II
Three manned captive flights of the Enterprise/SCA with astronauts at the
controls of the orbiter verified crew procedures and systems operations.
Two crews of two astronauts were selected for the ALT flight:
Fred W. Haise, Jr. and C.Gordon Fullerton and Joe H. Engle and
Richard H. Truly.
Flights 1 (June 18) and 3 (July 26) were flown by Haise and Fullerton; Flight 2
(June 28) by Engle and Truly.
PHASE III
During five flights the orbiter was released from SCA and glided to a runway
landing at Edwards, CA. Flights 1 (August 12), 3 (September 23), and 5
(October 26) were flown by Haise and Fullerton. Flights 2 (September 13), and
4 (October 12) were flown by Engle and Truly.
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