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The
National Aeronautics and Space Administration developed the Space Shuttle.
NASA coordinates and manages the Space Transportation System (NASA's name
for the overall Shuttle program), including intergovernmental agency requirements
and international and joint projects. NASA also oversees the launch and
space flight requirements for civilian and commercial use.
The Space Shuttle system consists of four primary elements: an orbiter spacecraft,
two Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB), an external tank to house fuel and oxidizer
and three Space Shuttle main engines. The orbiter is built by Rockwell International's
Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, Calif., which also has
responsibility for the integration of the overall space transportation system.
Both orbiter and integration contracts are under the direction of NASA's
Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The SRB motors are built by the
Wasatch Division of Morton Thiokol Corp., Brigham City, Utah, and are assembled,
checked out and refurbished by United Space Boosters Inc., Booster Production
Co., Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla. The external tank is built
by Martin Marietta Corp. at its Michoud facility, New Orleans, La., and
the Space Shuttle main engines are built by Rockwell's Rocketdyne Division
in Canoga Park, Calif. These contracts are under the direction of NASA's
George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
Curtsey of NASA |