Snapshots in History: July 21: Remembering the Space Shuttle Program

On July 21 and beyond, remember the United States of America’s Space Shuttle program (officially referred to as the Space Transportation System (STS)) that concluded following the landing of its final flight STS-135 with the orbiter Atlantis on July 21, 2011. The origins of the STS program go back to 1972 but the first manned launch vehicle flight under the program occurred on April 13, 1981 for a thirty (30) year duration and 135 missions flown in total.

While many look back remembering the catastrophic losses of the Challenger and Columbia orbiters and their seven-person crews in 1986 and 2003, the Space Shuttle program had many accomplishments, including spacelab experiments, participation in the construction and servicing of the International Space Station (ISS), repair of the Hubble Space Telescope and orbiting satellites, and the launch of interplanetary probes Magellan, Galileo, and Ulysses.

Consider the following titles for borrowing from Toronto Public Library collections:

Books: