On the 12th April 1981 the very first space shuttle was launched, beginning a new era in space transport technology. The U.S.S. Columbia became the world's first reusable space vehicle. About the same size as a DC9 jetliner the shuttle is capable of carrying aboard its cargo bay a payload of 29 tonnes.
At the rear of the shuttle are three large rocket engines which are its main engines. These are supplied with fuel by a large external fuel tank to which the shuttle is attached. Liquid oxygen and hydrogen are fed into the engines from this tank during launch. To give additional lift, two further solid fuel rocket boosters are attached to either side of the main fuel tank. These solid fuel boosters are jettisoned two minutes into the launch and parachute into the ocean for retrieval and reuse. The main fuel tank continues to supply fuel to the shuttle's main engines for a further six minutes before being jettisoned. This fuel tank however, is not designed for reuse and falls back into the Earth's atmosphere where it burns up and is destroyed. With the help of small maneuvering thrusters the shuttle is now in a circular orbit above the Earth's surface.
One of the first tasks the crew must perform is to open the cargo bay doors which contain cooling systems which dissipate any excess heat away from the shuttle into cold space. This enables it to stay in orbit for greater periods of time. Once the mission is completed the crew prepare the shuttle for re-entry. Due to friction caused by re-entering Earth's atmosphere the shuttle's hull heats up to above 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. Ordinarily this would burn up the shuttle's mainly aluminium alloy body, however, NASA technicians overcame this by fixing thousands of heat resisting tiles to the underside of the shuttle's body protecting it from the fierce heat of re-entry. Once in the atmosphere the crew fly the shuttle like a giant glider back to earth (Edwards Air Base) where they land on a specially lengthened runway. The shuttle is then taken back to its hangar where it is overhauled and prepared for its next flight.
