The Space Shuttle
Beginning of paper
The shuttle, a manned, multipurpose, orbital-launch space plane, was designed to
carry payloads of up to about 30,000 kg (65,000 lb) and up to seven crew members
and passengers. The upper part of the spacecraft, the orbiter stage, had a
theoretical lifetime of perhaps 100 missions, and the winged orbiter could make
unpowered landings on ....
Middle of paper
.... astronaut, Sally K. Ride; the ninth mission, November 28-December 8, 1983,
which carried the first of the European Space Agency's Spacelabs; the 11th
mission, April 7-13, 1984, during which a satellite was retrieved, repaired, and
redeployed; and the 14th mission, November 8-14, 1984, when two expensive
malfunctioning satellites were retrieved and returned to earth.
Despite such successes, the shuttle program was falling behind in its pla ....
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Number of words: 613
Number of pages: 3 (approx. 250 words per double-spaced page)
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