The End of an Era. A Tribute to the Space Shuttles. One of the finest piece of machinery human being ever made.
Thousands of NASA Kennedy Space Center employees stand side-by-side to form a full-scale outline of a space shuttle orbiter outside the Vehicle Assembly Building on March 18, 2011.
The Space Shuttle orbiter is the orbital spacecraft of the Space Shuttle program operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States. The orbiter is a reusable winged "space-plane", a mixture of rockets, spacecraft, and aircraft.
A total of seven (six Orbiters & one simulator) were ever made - Pathfinder, Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour. Individual Space Shuttle orbiters are named in honor of antique sailing ships of the navies of the world, and they are also numbered using the NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation system. All were built by the southern California based Rockwell International company.
 | Pathfinder (honorary Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-098) is a Space Shuttle test simulator made of steel and wood. The simulator was used in activities such as checking roadway clearances, crane capabilities and fits within structures. It was later shipped by barge to the Kennedy Space Center and was used for ground crew testing in the Vehicle Assembly Building, Orbiter Processing Facility, and Shuttle Landing Facility. It is presently on display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. |
 | Enterprise (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-101) was the first Space Shuttle orbiter. It was named after the Starship Enterprise, featured on the television show Star Trek. It was built for NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program to perform test flights in the atmosphere. It was constructed without engines or a functional heat shield, and was therefore not capable of spaceflight. |
 | Columbia (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-102) was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it completed 27 missions before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th, STS-107. All seven crew members were killed. |
 | Challenger (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-099) was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia having been the first. Its maiden flight was on April 4, 1983, and it completed nine missions before breaking apart 73 seconds after the launch of its tenth mission, STS-51-L on January 28, 1986, resulting in the death of all seven crew members. |
 | Discovery (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) was one of the orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States, and was operational from its maiden flight, STS-41-D on August 30, 1984, until its final landing during STS-133 on March 9, 2011. Prior to its retirement, Discovery was NASA's Orbiter Fleet leader, having flown 39 successful missions during over 27 years of service. In 1984, Discovery became the third operational orbiter following Columbia and Challenger. |
 | Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-104) is the last Space Shuttle orbiters in the Space Shuttle fleet belonging to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States (the other operational Space Shuttle being Endeavour). The Atlantis was the fourth operational (and the next-to-the-last) Space Shuttle to be constructed by the Rockwell International company in Southern California, and it was delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center in eastern Florida in April 1985. |
 | Endeavour (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-105) is one of two currently operational orbiters in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States. (The other is Atlantis.) Endeavour is the fifth and final spaceworthy NASA space shuttle to be built, constructed as a replacement for Challenger. Endeavour first flew in May 1992 on mission STS-49 and was scheduled for decommissioning in 2010. Before its decommissioning, NASA expects to use Endeavour for the STS-134 mission. Its STS-134 mission was originally thought as the final mission of the Space Shuttle program, however, the proposed STS-135 mission was approved, and now Atlantis will be the final Space Shuttle to fly. |
