MUSEUM OF THE FALLEN
Dominance is not eternal.
The Wall/ Lost Technology/ The Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle Columbia lifting off from Kennedy Space Center on April 12, 1981, the first Shuttle launch (STS-1).

NASA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Lost Technology

The Space Shuttle

1981 CE 2011 CE

A winged spaceship meant to make orbit routine, which built a station and a telescope but never shook the shadow of two lost crews.

Born
1981 CE
Died
2011 CE
Lived
30 years
Dead for
15 yrs
At its peak
135 missions flown over 30 years by a fleet of five orbiters
Cause of death
Replaced · Disaster
Replaced by
Commercial crew vehicles (SpaceX Dragon) and the Russian Soyuz
The Obituary

The Space Shuttle was NASA’s attempt to make spaceflight reusable and routine: a winged orbiter that launched like a rocket and landed like a glider. Across 135 missions from 1981 to 2011, its five orbiters deployed the Hubble Space Telescope and assembled most of the International Space Station. But the promised cheap, frequent access never came; each flight cost hundreds of millions, and the vehicle was fragile. Challenger exploded shortly after launch in 1986 and Columbia broke apart on re-entry in 2003, killing fourteen astronauts in all. NASA retired the fleet in 2011, ending with STS-135.

Worth remembering

  • It deployed the Hubble Space Telescope and built most of the International Space Station.
  • Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch in 1986; Columbia disintegrated on re-entry in 2003.

Sources

  1. Space Shuttle flew 135 missions, 1981-2011 Wikipedia
  2. Challenger (1986) and Columbia (2003) disasters killed 14 astronauts Wikipedia

A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.

Buried nearby
Dead Companies
Atari, Inc.
1972 CE — 1984 CE
Dead Companies
Bethlehem Steel
1857 CE — 2003 CE
Dead Companies
CompuServe
1969 CE — 1998 CE
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