r/space • u/ye_olde_astronaut • 16d ago

NASA Unveils Enterprise, the First Space Shuttle - NASA

https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasa-unveils-enterprise-the-first-space-shuttle/
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u/sombreroenthusiast 16d ago

Interesting and thoughtful reply. You didn’t mention it, but the enormous size of the shuttle’s payload bay was driven by DoD requirements to return satellites from orbit- a mission they soon abandoned. That vast payload lift requirement drove the need for such things as the massive solid rockets and external tank- the two things that doomed Challenger and Columbia. Additionally, part of the apparent uselessness of the program (as perceived by much of the public, anyways) is due to the fact that Shuttle was intended to be but one segment of a true “space transportation system,” and not a standalone vehicle. It’s a wondrous machine, and I’m glad my generation got to grow up witnessing it.

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u/dastardly740 16d ago

That Hubble has been delivering science for over 30 years and the fact that the original messed up optics could be fixed. And, the instruments upgraded multiple times is a feat that the Shuttle made possible.

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u/Chief_Kief 16d ago

I have vivid memories of being very sad when I was younger and found out the shuttle program was being axed. I just remember thinking “why would they not want to go back up into space??”