Close-up view of NASA's Orbiter Vehicle Atlantis (OV-104), showing the Reaction Control System (Attitude thrusters)
The Space Shuttle Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV‑104) is a Space Shuttle orbiter belonging to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. Constructed by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985, Atlantis is the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was STS-51-J from 3 to 7 October 1985. Atlantis embarked on its 33rd and final mission, also the final mission of a space shuttle, STS-135, on 8 July 2011. STS-134 by Endeavour was expected to be the final flight before STS-135 was authorized in October 2010. STS-135 took advantage of the processing for the STS-335 Launch On Need mission that would have been necessary if STS-134's crew became stranded in orbit. Atlantis landed for the final time at the Kennedy Space Center on 21 July 2011. By the end of its final mission, Atlantis had orbited the Earth a total of 4,848 times, traveling nearly 126,000,000 mi (203,000,000 km) or more than 525 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Atlantis is named after RV Atlantis, a two-masted sailing ship that operated as the primary research vessel for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 1930 to 1966. It is currently on display at Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex in Florida. Orbiter Vehicle Atlantis. Each shuttle is covered by more than 24,000 of the six- by six-inch blocks. Most of the tiles are made of silica fibers, which are produced from high-grade sand. Silica is an excellent insulator because it transports heat slowly. When the outer portion of a tile gets hot, the heat takes a long time to work its way down through the rest of the tile to the shuttle’s skin. The tiles keep the orbiter’s aluminum skin at 350 degrees or molds,
Size: 4688px × 3398px
Location: The Kennedy Space Centre, Merritt Island, Florida, USA.
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: atlantis, attitude, centre, ceramics, close-, complex, control, gas, heat, jet, jets, kennedy, nasa, orbiter, rcs, reaction, rocket, shield, shuttle, silica, space, steering, system, thrusters, tiles, vehicle, visitors
