Image: Wikimedia Commons

Space Shuttle program

United States government's crewed launch vehicle program, administered by NASA from 1972 to 2011

EntityNASA program human spaceflight programQ1775296

Also known as Space Transportation System · STS

Instance of: NASA program
, human spaceflight program
Country: United States
Founded: 1972

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its official program name was carried over from the 1969 plan for the Space Transportation System (STS) of reusable spacecraft. Only the shuttle and supporting rockets were funded for development; a proposed nuclear lunar shuttle in the plan was canceled in 1972. It flew 135 missions and carried 355 astronauts from 16 countries, many on multiple trips.

Overview

All data

51 statements · 10% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Members / parts: STS-1
STS-75
STS-103
STS-97
STS-52
STS-32
STS-46
STS-98
Show 15 moreShow less
STS-57
STS-56
STS-29
STS-112
STS-93
STS-133
STS-66
STS-28
STS-72
STS-53
STS-37
STS-71
STS-130
STS-55
STS-4
Started: 1972
Ended: 2011
Operator: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Has goal: orbital spaceflight
human spaceflight
Uses: Space Shuttle orbiter
Space Shuttle
Start point: Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39
Different from: Buran programme
Significant event: last flight(July 21, 2011) part of: STS-135
maiden flight(April 12, 1981) applies to part: human spaceflight · part of: STS-1
maiden flight(August 12, 1977) applies to part: Approach and Landing Tests
rocket launch quantity: 135
landing quantity: 133
success quantity: 133
failure quantity: 2
Replaces: Space Transportation System program

On other databases

6 identifiers linking Space Shuttle program across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

10%

externally sourced

Source last edited September 2, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

Suggest a fact or correction

Links

Use this data

curl https://aidb.si/api/v1/entities/Q1775296

API docs, limits & keys

Cite this page

AIDB. (2026). Space Shuttle program (Q1775296). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/space-shuttle-program-Q1775296