The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated by NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft of which it was the only item funded for development.^[1] Operational missions launched numerous satellites, conducted science experiments in orbit, and participated in construction and servicing of the International Space Station (ISS). The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights beginning in 1982.

From 1981 to 2011 a total of 135 missions were flown, all launched from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. During that time period the fleet logged 1,322 days, 19 hours, 21 minutes and 23 seconds of flight time.^[2] The longest orbital flight of the Shuttle was STS-80 at 17 days 15 hours, while the shortest flight was STS-51-L at one minute 13 seconds when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart during launch. The cold morning shrunk an O-Ring on the right Solid Rocket Booster causing the external fuel tank to explode. The shuttles docked with Russian space station Mir nine times and visited the ISS thirty-seven times. The highest altitude (apogee) achieved by the shuttle was 386 mi (621 km) when deploying the Hubble Space Telescope.^[3] The program flew a total of 355 people representing 16 countries, and with 852 total shuttle fliers.^[4] The Kennedy Space Center served as the landing site for 78 missions, while 54 missions landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California and one mission landed at White Sands, New Mexico.^[5]

The first orbiter built, Enterprise, was used for atmospheric flight tests (ALT) but future plans to upgrade it to orbital capability were ultimately canceled. Four fully operational orbiters were initially built: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis. Challenger and Columbia were destroyed in mission accidents in 1986 and 2003 respectively, killing a total of fourteen astronauts. A fifth operational orbiter, Endeavour, was built in 1991 to replace Challenger. The Space Shuttle was retired from service upon the conclusion of STS-135 by Atlantis on 21 July 2011.^[6]

Flight numbering

The U.S. Space Shuttle program was officially referred to as the Space Transportation System (STS). Specific shuttle missions were therefore designated with the prefix "STS".^[2] Initially, the launches were given sequential numbers indicating order of launch, such as STS-7. Subsequent to the Apollo 13 mishap, due to Administrator of NASA James M. Beggs's triskaidekaphobia and consequent unwillingness to number a forthcoming flight as STS-13,^{[7][8][9][10]} beginning in 1984, each mission was assigned a code, such as STS-41-B, with the first digit (or pair of digits for years 1990 and beyond) indicating the federal fiscal year offset into the program (so 41-B was scheduled for FY 1984, 51-A thru 51-L originally for FY 1985, and the third flight in FY 1995 would have been named 151-C), the second digit indicating the launch site (1 was Kennedy Space Center and 2 was Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, although Vandenberg was never used), and the letter indicating scheduling sequence.^[11] These codes were assigned when the launches were initially scheduled and were not changed as missions were delayed or rescheduled.^[6] The codes were adopted from STS-41-B through STS-51-L (although the highest code used was actually STS-61-C), and the sequential numbers were used internally at NASA on all processing paperwork.

After the Challenger disaster, NASA returned to using a sequential numbering system, with the number counting from the beginning of the STS program. Unlike the initial system, however, the numbers were assigned based on the initial mission schedule, and did not always reflect actual launch order. This numbering scheme started at 26, with the first flight as STS-26R—the R suffix stood for "reflight" to disambiguate from prior missions. The suffix was used for two years through STS-33R, then the R was dropped.^[6] As a result of the changes in systems, flights under different numbering systems could have the same number with one having a letter appended, e.g. flight STS-51 (a mission carried out by Discovery in 1993) was many years after STS-51-A (Discovery's second flight in 1984).^[6] It wasn't until STS-127 in 2009 where the flight numbering system returned to a standard and consistent order.

Shuttle flights

Test flights

The Approach and Landing Test program encompassed 16 separate tests of Enterprise, covering taxi tests, uncrewed and crewed flights on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), and finally the free flight tests. The following list includes the free-flight tests, durations listed count only the orbiter free-flight time. The list does not include total time aloft along with airborne time atop of the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA).

Order	Launch date	Mission	Shuttle	Crew	Duration	Launch pad	Landing site	Notes	Sources
1	12 August 1977	ALT-12	Enterprise	2	00 h 05 m	N/A	Edwards	First free flight First non-captive flight of Enterprise First landing at Edwards Air Force Base	[12][13][14][15]
2	13 September 1977	ALT-13	Enterprise	2	00 h 05 m		Edwards	Second free flight	[12][13]
3	23 September 1977	ALT-14	Enterprise	2	00 h 05 m		Edwards	Third free flight	[12][13]
4	12 October 1977	ALT-15	Enterprise	2	00 h 02 m		Edwards	Fourth free flight First flight without tailcone (operational configuration)	[12][13][15][16]
5	26 October 1977	ALT-16	Enterprise	2	00 h 02 m		Edwards	Final free flight Final non-captive flight of Enterprise First landing on runway rather than lakebed	[12][13][17]

Launches and orbital flights

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=List_of_Space_Shuttle_missions
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Order	Launch date	Mission	Shuttle	Crew[a]	Duration	Launch pad	Landing site	Notes	Sources
1	12 April 1981 12:00:04 UTC 07:00:04 EST	STS-1	Columbia	2	02d 06h	LC-39A	Edwards	First reusable orbital spacecraft flight Maiden flight of Columbia Maiden flight of the Space Shuttle program	[18][19][20]
2	12 November 1981 15:10:00 UTC 10:10:00 EST	STS-2	Columbia	2	02d 06h	LC-39A	Edwards	First reuse of a crewed orbital space vehicle First test of Canadarm robot arm Truncated due to fuel cell problem Shortest orbital mission flown	[21][22][23]
3	22 March 1982 16:00:00 UTC 11:00:00 EST	STS-3	Columbia	2	08d 00h	LC-39A	White Sands	Shuttle R&D flight Only landing at White Sands, New Mexico	[24][25][26]
4	27 June 1982 15:00:00 UTC 11:00:00 EDT	STS-4	Columbia	2	07d 01h	LC-39A	Edwards	Last shuttle R&D flight First Department of Defense (DoD) payload	[27][28][29][30]
5	11 November 1982 12:19:00 UTC 07:19:00 EST	STS-5	Columbia	4	05d 02h	LC-39A	Edwards	Multiple comsat deployments First Extravehicular activity of program canceled due to suit problems	[31][32][33][34]
6	4 April 1983 18:30:00 UTC 13:30:00 EST	STS-6	Challenger	4	05d 00h	LC-39A	Edwards	Tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS-A) deployment Maiden flight of Challenger First Space Shuttle Extravehicular activity	[35][36]
7	18 June 1983 11:33:00 UTC 07:33:00 EDT	STS-7	Challenger	5	06d 02h	LC-39A	Edwards	First American woman in space, Sally Ride Multiple comsat deployments First deployment and retrieval of a Shuttle pallet satellite	[37][38]
8	30 August 1983 06:32:00 UTC 02:32:00 EDT	STS-8	Challenger	5	06d 01h	LC-39A	Edwards	Comsat deployment First flight of an African American in space, Guion Bluford Test of robot arm on heavy payloads with Payload Flight Test Article First night launch First night landing	[39][40]
9	28 November 1983 16:00:00 UTC 11:00:00 EST	STS-9	Columbia	6	10d 07h	LC-39A	Edwards	First Spacelab mission Flight of Ulf Merbold First European Space Agency Astronaut on a shuttle mission	[41][42]
10	3 February 1984 13:00:00 UTC 08:00:00 EST	STS-41-B	Challenger	5	07d 23h	LC-39A	Kennedy	Deployed two Comsats First untethered spacewalk by Bruce McCandless II with Manned Maneuvering Unit First landing at Kennedy Space Center Dry run of equipment for Solar Maximum Mission rescue	[43][44]
11	6 April 1984 13:58:00 UTC 08:58:00 EST	STS-41-C	Challenger	5	06d 23h	LC-39A	Edwards	Solar Maximum Mission servicing First satellite rescue by astronauts Long Duration Exposure Facility deployment	[45][46][47]
12	30 August 1984 12:41:50 UTC 08:41:50 EDT	STS-41-D	Discovery	6	06d 00h	LC-39A	Edwards	Multiple comsat deployments Maiden flight of Discovery Test of OAST-1 Solar Array	[48][49]
13	5 October 1984 11:03:00 UTC 07:03:00 EDT	STS-41-G	Challenger	7	08d 05h	LC-39A	Kennedy	Earth Radiation Budget Satellite deployment First flight of two women in space, Sally Ride and Kathryn Sullivan First spacewalk by American woman, Sullivan First Canadian in space, Marc Garneau	[50][51]
14	8 November 1984 12:15:00 UTC 07:15:00 EST	STS-51-A	Discovery	5	07d 23h	LC-39A	Kennedy	Multiple comsat deployments Retrieval of two other comsats (Palapa B2 and Westar VI), which were subsequently refurbished on Earth and reflown	[52][53]
15	24 January 1985 19:50:00 UTC 14:50:00 EST	STS-51-C	Discovery	5	03d 01h	LC-39A	Kennedy	First classified Department of Defense (DoD) mission Magnum satellite deployment	[28][54][55]
16	12 April 1985 13:59:05 UTC 08:59:05 EST	STS-51-D	Discovery	7	06d 23h	LC-39A	Kennedy	Multiple comsat deployments First flight of a sitting politician in space, Jake Garn First impromptu Extravehicular activity of program to fix Syncom F3 (Leasat 3)	[56][57]
17	29 April 1985 16:02:18 UTC 12:02:18 EDT	STS-51-B	Challenger	7	07d 00h	LC-39A	Edwards	First mission with Spacelab module in a fully operational configuration Conducted experiments in microgravity First African-American Space Shuttle pilot, Frederick D. Gregory	[58][59]
18	17 June 1985 11:33:00 UTC 07:33:00 EDT	STS-51-G	Discovery	7	07d 01h	LC-39A	Edwards	Multiple comsat deployments Flight of first member of royalty, Saudi, Muslim, and Arab in space, Sultan bin Salman Al Saud	[60][61]
19	29 July 1985 22:00:00 UTC 18:00:00 EDT	STS-51-F	Challenger	7	07d 22h	LC-39A	Edwards	Spacelab mission Abort to Orbit. Faulty temperature sensor incorrectly indicated that fuel turbine discharge temperature exceeded the limit. Therefore, one main engine was shut down at T+345 s, resulting in a much lower orbit than planned. All mission objectives achieved	[62][63]
20	27 August 1985 10:58:01 UTC 06:58:01 EDT	STS-51-I	Discovery	5	07d 02h	LC-39A	Edwards	Multiple comsat deployments Rescue of Syncom F3 (Leasat-3)	[64][65]
21	3 October 1985 15:15:30 UTC 11:15:30 EDT	STS-51-J	Atlantis	5	04d 01h	LC-39A	Edwards	Second classified DoD mission Defense Satellite Communications System satellite deployment Maiden flight of Atlantis	[28][66][67]
22	30 October 1985 17:00:00 UTC 12:00:00 EST	STS-61-A	Challenger	8	07d 00h	LC-39A	Edwards	Largest crew on a spaceflight Third flight of Spacelab Spacelab-D1 microgravity experiments Mission funded by West Germany Last successful mission of Challenger First Dutchman in space, Wubbo Ockels	[68][69]
23	26 November 1985 24:29:00 UTC 19:29:00 EST	STS-61-B