posted 08-29-2020 07:46 AM               

Space Cover #575: Shuttle Orbiters First Flights

On July 21, 2011, when Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at the end of the final space shuttle mission on STS_135, NASA's orbiters had flown a total of more than 21,000 orbits of Earth, totaling 513.7 million miles, while carrying a total of 355 different astronauts and cosmonauts on 135 flights.

Six shuttle orbiters were built, but with orbiter Enterprise serving only as an atmospheric test vehicle for approach and landing tests (ALT) at Edwards AFB, CA in 1977. Following Enterprise's successful test flights, in 1981 Shuttle Orbiter Columbia was launched on the first space shuttle orbital flight, STS-1. Columbia was followed by Challenger (1983), Discovery (1984), Atlantis (1985) and Endeavour (1992). Orbiters Challenger (STS-51L in 1986) and Columbia (STS-107 in 2003) and crews were lost during flights.

The four surviving orbiters are now proudly displayed in museums around the country.

Enterprise is in the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City, NY; Discovery is in the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center in Washington, DC; Atlantis is at the KSC Visitors Center; and Endeavour is in the California Science Center in Los Angeles, CA.

Above, the top cover was canceled for the first Enterprise ALT free flight, and the cover below canceled for the first shuttle orbital flight, STS-1, with both covers autographed by the crew members.

The top cover was canceled for Challenger's first flight, STS-6, and on the date of the Shuttle Program's first EVA, and the bottom cover was canceled for Discovery's first flight, with both covers autographed by each crew.

The top cover marks orbiter Atlantis' first flight and the bottom cover, with a NASA Exchange printed cachet, marks Endeavour's first flight, with both covers autographed by each crew.

Some numbers: orbiters docked with the ISS thirty-seven times; ten crew members returned to earth on STS-71; nine orbiter dockings with the Russian space station Mir; eight astronauts were launched on STS-61-A; and there were two female shuttle commanders.