Facts for the Day: Space Shuttles
Enterprise
[September 17, 1976 - Present]
Current location: The Air & Space Museum, The Smithsonian, Washington D.C.
*Fact: An incomplete test model with no engines or heat shield; NASA named the ship in honor of the 1966 television series "Star Trek".
Pathfinder
[1977 - Present]
Current Location: U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama
*Fact: An incomplete, metal and wood scale mock-up, used to test the orbiter's lifting machinery.
Columbia
[March 25, 1979 - February 1, 2003, Destroyed]
Current Location: Kennedy Space Center, Restricted Access Storage Area
*Fact: The first true Space Transport System (STS), Columbia was totally unique; no other Space Shuttle would be like it.
Challenger
[July 1982 - January 28, 1986, Destroyed]
Current Location: Cape Canaveral, Entombed in two unused Minuteman Silos
*Fact 1: Challenger was almost destroyed on July 29th, 1985, when one of the shuttles engines shut down prematurely and another attempted to. This would have caused too much drag and ripped the shuttle from the liquid fuel (orange) tank, where it would have tumbled and broken up.
*Fact 2: Debris from Space Shuttle Challenger still washes ashore on occasion, most notably when two large pieces were found on Cocoa Beach - almost eleven years later - on December 17th, 1996.
Discovery
[November 1983 - Present; To be decommissioned in 2010]
Current Location: Kennedy Space Center, Orbiter Processing Facility #3
*Fact: Discovery was originally to be used only by the Department of Defense (DOD), yet, due to the Challenger disaster the DOD dropped the shuttle. However, Discovery would preform five covert mission for the DOD and would later go on to launch the Hubble Space Telescope.
Atlantis
[April 1985 - Present; To be decommissioned in 2008]
Current Location: Kennedy Space Center,Orbiter Processing Facility #1
*Fact: Atlantis' final flight, STS-125, is also the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. This mission was supposed to be carried out by Columbia.
Endeavour
[May 1991 - Present; To be decommissioned in 2010]
Current Location: Kennedy Space Center, Orbiter Processing Facility #2
*Fact 1: Endeavour was built to replace Challenger because it would have cost too much to retrofit Enterprise.
*Fact 2: Endeavour is mentioned in the movie Contact with Jodie Foster
Explorer
[Unknown - Present, Damaged and Repaired]
Current Location: Kennedy Space Center, Visitor's Complex
*Fact 1: Was originally planned to be another fully functional shuttle, but costs prohibited it's completion. NASA instead used spares to finish Explorer and set it up outside the Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex.
*Fact 2: Can be turned into a fully functional shuttle if ever needed.
???-1
[Unknown - Unknown]
Current Location: Kennedy Space Center
*Fact: Possibly, partially used for Endeavour and general spare parts.
???-2
[Unknown - Unknown]
Current Location: Kennedy Space Center
*Fact: Possibly, partially used for Endeavour and general spare parts.
???-3
[Unknown - Unknown]
Current Location: Kennedy Space Center
*Fact: Possibly turned into Explorer and used for general spare parts.
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"America"
[1994 - Present]
Current Location: SixFlags Great America
*Fact: Full scale mock-up, shutdown, damaged beyond practical repair.]