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However reality was to interject and NASA found themselves with a rapidly plunging budget. Rather than stepping back and looking at their future as a whole given their new financial situation, they attempted to save as many of the individual projects as possible. The mission to Mars was quickly eliminated, but the Space Station and Shuttle continued on. Eventually only one of them could be saved, so it stood to reason that a low-cost Shuttle system would be the better bet, because without it a large station would never be affordable.

Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster Crew of STS-107 on launch day () STS-107 was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Columbia. The entire seven member crew was killed on February 1, 2003, when the shuttle disintegrated over Texas during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere.This was the second total loss of a Space Shuttle, the first being Challenger. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Timeline 2 Effect on US space program 3 Investigation 3.1 The Columbia Accident Investigation Board 4 Shuttle Crew of Flight STS-107 5 External Links Timeline At about 05:54 PST (08:54 EST), a California news photographer observed pieces breaking away from Columbia as it passed overhead, as well as a red flare coming from the shuttle itself. At about 09:00 EST (14:00

X-Prize
two weeks. This must be essentially the same vehicle: propellant can be replaced, but most of the rest of the vehicle must be reused. Even NASA's space shuttle falls short of this performance requirement, since it takes much more than two weeks to ready a given shuttle between flights. This prize foundation was created to encourage the development of private space travel, which is why government-funded projects are not allowed. The X Prize is designed to help create a space industry, and is modeled after many prizes from the early 20th century that helped prod the development of air flight—notably the $25,000 Orteig Prize that spurred Charles Lindbergh to make his solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The X-Prize Foundation (based in St. Louis, Missouri) maintains a list of organizations registered

NASA had conducted a series of paper-projects throughout the 1960s on the topic of reusable spacecraft to replace their expedient "one-off" systems like Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.

Canadian space program
Canadian space program Canada has contributed expertise and personnel to the world space effort, especially in collaboration with NASA. Eight Canadians have participated on 11 NASA missions to date: Name Shuttle Mission Launch Date Notes Marc Garneau Challenger STS-41-G October 5, 1984 First Canadian in space Roberta Bondar Discovery STS-42 January 22, 1992 First Canadian woman in space Steven G. MacLean Columbia STS-52 October 22, 1992 Chris Hadfield Atlantis STS-74 November 12, 1995 Marc Garneau Endeavour STS-77 May 19, 1996 Robert Thirsk Columbia STS-78 June 20, 1996 Bjarni Tryggvason Discovery STS-85 August 7, 1997 Dafydd Rhys Williams Columbia STS-90 April 17, 1998 Julie Payette Discovery STS-96 May 27, 1999 Marc Garneau Endeavour STS-97 November 30, 2000 Chris Hadfield Endeavour STS-100 April 19, 2001 First spacewalk by a

Space Shuttle Endeavour
Space Shuttle Endeavour Shuttle Orbiter Endeavour (NASA Designation: OV-105) is the most recent Space Shuttle orbiter to be built. Construction began in 1987 to replace the Challenger, lost in an accident in 1986. Endeavour was first launched in 1992. The orbiter is named for the HM Bark Endeavour, the ship commanded by 18th century explorer James Cook (which explains the British spelling). Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Flights 2 Related articles 3

Image Below form NASA: Tiny Craters on Meridiani Planum These two craters, each smaller than a foot in diameter and less than one-half inch deep, were found intact by NASA's Mars rover Opportunity. Image credit: NASA/JPL

Barbara Morgan
R. Morgan (November 28, 1951 - ) is the first NASA Educator Astronaut, scheduled to fly on STS-118. Morgan trained to fly on the ill-fated STS-51-L mission of Space Shuttle Challenger as backup to Christa McAuliffe and has remained involved in the space program since then. Personal Data Born November 28, 1951, in Fresno, California. Married to Clay Morgan of McCall, Idaho. They have two sons. She is a classical flutist who also enjoys jazz, literature, hiking, swimming, cross-country skiing, and her family. Her parents are Dr. and Mrs. Jerry Radding. Her mother-in-law is Mrs. Clay Morgan. Education Hoover High School, Fresno, California, 1969; B.A., Human Biology, with distinction, Stanford University, 1973; Teaching Credential, College of Notre Dame, Belmont, California, 1974. Teaching Experience Morgan began her teaching career in 1974 on

The Air Force relucantly agreed, but only after demanding a large increase in capability to allow for launching their projected spy satellites (mirrors are heavy). These were quite large, weighing an estimated 40,000 lbs, and needed to be put into polar orbit, which requires more energy to get to than the more common LEO. And since the AF also wanted to be able to abort after a single orbit (as did NASA), and land at the launch site (unlike NASA), the spacecraft would also require the ability to manuver significantly to either side of its orbital track to adjust for the launching point rotating away from it while in polar orbit - in a 90 minute orbit Vandenberg would move over 1,000 miles, whereas in a "normal" equatorial orbit NASA needed the range would be less than 400. This large 'cross-range' capability meant the craft had to have a greater lift to drag ratio than originally planned. This required the addition of bigger, heavier wings.

The answer within those groups dedicated to the shuttle was to show that as long as you have enough launches, the development cost of the system would be overwhelmed by the cost of the rockets you would otherwise throw away. One factor that needs to be considered is inflation though, and in the 1970s this was high enough that the payback from the development had to happen very quickly or that money would never pay for itself. In other words you needed a very high launch rate to make the system work.