Tuesday, July 05, 2011

GreenBkk.com Tech | Factbox: U.S. Space shuttle program by the numbers

Factbox: U.S. Space shuttle program by the numbers

Fish-eye view of the Space Shuttle Atlantis in orbit as seen from the Russian Mir space station during the STS-71 mission on June 29, 1995.
Credit: Reuters/NASA/Kennedy Space Center/Handout

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. | Tue Jul 5, 2011 11:11am EDT

(Reuters) - NASA is preparing to launch space shuttle Atlantis on Friday on a mission to the International Space Station.

The launch is the 135th and last in the 30-year-old shuttle program, which will end when Atlantis returns from its 12-day mission. Here are some facts about the program:


Number of people who flew on the shuttles -- 355

Most flights by individual astronauts -- 7, a record shared by Franklin Chang-Diaz and Jerry Ross

Satellites and other payloads deployed -- 179

Satellites and other payloads returned -- 52

Total mass delivered into space -- 3.5 million pounds (1,750 tons)

Dockings at Russian space station Mir -- 9

Dockings at International Space Station -- 36

Longest flight -- nearly 18 days

Largest crew -- 8

Smallest crew -- 2

Total time in flight -- 1,310 days

In-flight fatalities -- 14

Total program costs -- $196.5 billion, according to an analysis published in the journal Nature by Roger Pielke, with Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Tom Brown and Todd Eastham)

Credit: Reuters (www.reuters.com)

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