NASA has announced that the final launch of a space shuttle is targeted for July 8, 2011, nearly thirty years after its debut.
Since its first operational mission in 1982, five orbiters (the crew and payload component) have completed a combined total of 132 successful flights to space. During this time, two accidents resulted in the death of 14 astronauts and loss of two orbiters; the Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003.
The shuttle system is composed of the orbiter, a large, outer fuel tank and two rockets. The fuel tank and rockets are disposed of before the orbiter enters space. The...