Even while the last Apollo Missions were heading to the Moon, NASA was working on its next phase of space travel - the Space Transportation System, or Space Shuttle.

Initial plans called for a totally reusable system but this did not come to fruition, and the hybrid design as we know it today was born. The NASA Space Shuttle therefore consists of a winged manned Orbiter and an unmanned Booster section. The Orbitor resembles an aircraft in general shape, with a large 15 x 60 feet cargo bay that can carry up to 65,000lbs to Low Earth Orbit, with a normal compliment of seven crew. The orbiter is 122 feet long with a 78 feet wingspan and weighs 150,000lbs (dry). The Booster section consists of two large Solid-fuelled Rocket Boosters - SRBs - almost 150 feet long by 12 feet diameter, plus the giant External Tank - the ET - 154 x 27.5 feet, which hold the liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel for the Orbiter engines.

The SRBs are recoverable, but the External Tank is not salvaged. The whole assembly - Orbiter, SRBs and Tank is known as the Full Stack Space Shuttle. At launch the three Space Shuttle Main Engines fire, powered from the fuel in the External Tank, plus the two SRBs, developing a thrust of over seven million pounds. At a height of approximately 28 miles, when the Shuttle is travelling at over 3,000mph the SRBs are jettisoned, and parachute back into the ocean where they are recovered for refurbishment. The Orbiter continues to climb, still attached to the ET, until nearly nine minutes into the mission, a speed of over 17,000mph and an altitude of 70 miles. The ET is then jettisoned and falls back into the atmosphere.

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