The Space Shuttle is a rocket-orbiter system that is designed to carry astronauts and payloads to low Earth orbit and back.
It is used to perform scientific experiments, carry essential needs to the International Space Station, carry payloads such as communications satellites, a telescope, and space station parts.
Its known appearance was on the SFS Steam Beta version, presumably hidden in the files. These parts do not have a specific texture as if it was currently under development.
Players individually do make their own design, but most players download blueprints from YouTubers.
In real life parts[]
The Space Shuttle consists of 3 main parts:
Orbiter[]
The Orbiter is a partially reusable orbital spacecraft system that was part of the discontinued Space Shuttle program. Operated from 1977 to 2011 by NASA, the U.S. space agency, this vehicle could carry astronauts and payloads into low Earth orbit, perform in-space operations, then re-enter the atmosphere and land as a glider, returning its crew and any on-board payload to the Earth.
In addition to their crews and payloads, the reusable orbiter carried most of the Space Shuttle System's liquid-propellant rocket system, but both the liquid hydrogen fuel and the liquid oxygen oxidizer for its three main rocket engines were fed from an external cryogenic propellant tank. Additionally, two reusable solid rocket boosters provided additional thrust for approximately the first two minutes of launch. The orbiters themselves did carry hypergolic propellants for their RCS thrusters and Orbital Maneuvering System engines.
Solid Rocket Booster[]
The Solid Rocket Booster (Space Shuttle SRB) was the first solid-propellant rocket to be used for primary propulsion on a vehicle used for human spaceflight and provided 85% of the Space Shuttle's thrust at liftoff and for the first two minutes of ascent. After burnout, they were jettisoned and parachuted into the Atlantic Ocean where they were recovered, examined, refurbished, and reused.
The Space Shuttle SRB was the most powerful solid rocket motor ever flown. Each provided a maximum 14.7 MN (3,300,000 lbf) thrust, roughly double the most powerful single-combustion chamber liquid-propellant rocket engine ever flown, the Rocketdyne F-1. With a combined mass of about 1,180 t (1,160 long tons; 1,300 short tons), they comprised over half the mass of the Shuttle stack at liftoff. The motor segments of the SRBs were manufactured by Thiokol of Brigham City, Utah, which was later purchased by ATK. The prime contractor for most other components of the SRBs, as well as for the integration of all the components and retrieval of the spent SRBs, was USBI, a subsidiary of Pratt and Whitney. This contract was subsequently transitioned to United Space Alliance, a limited liability company joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin
External Tank[]
The Space Shuttle external tank (ET) was the component of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle that contained the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. During lift-off and ascent it supplied the fuel and oxidizer under pressure to the three RS-25 main engines in the orbiter. The ET was jettisoned just over 10 seconds after main engine cut-off (MECO) and it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. Unlike the Solid Rocket Boosters, external tanks were not re-used. They broke up before impact in the Indian Ocean (or Pacific Ocean in the case of direct-insertion launch trajectories), away from shipping lanes and were not recovered.
The ET was the "backbone" of the shuttle during launch, providing structural support for attachment with the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) and orbiter. The tank was connected to each SRB at one forward attachment point (using a crossbeam through the intertank) and one aft bracket, and it was connected to the orbiter at one forward attachment bipod and two aft bipods. In the aft attachment area, there were also umbilicals that carried fluids, gases, electrical signals and electrical power between the tank and the orbiter. Electrical signals and controls between the orbiter and the two solid rocket boosters were also routed through those umbilicals.
In game parts[]
made up of separate parts
Trivia[]
- The Space Shuttle flew from 1981 to 2011 with a total of 135 missions, two of which failed.
- There were 6 versions of the Space Shuttle. They are Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. The Enterprise was only used for testing and never reached space.
- The Space Shuttle has even a Soviet-counterpart, the Buran which only flew in one flight.
- Since the Space Shuttle does not have escape options, the astronauts need to "sacrifice" themselves to ride onboard the shuttle, two of which failed in a disaster (STS-51-L; STS-107).
- The external tank and the SRBs were to be used for NASA's Ares rockets which never flew. (Except for Ares I-X)
- Instead, the parts are to be used by NASA's SLS (Space Launch System).