http://blog.nasm.si.edu/history/the-last-space-shuttle-mission/ Wed, 15 May 2013 19:26:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://blog.nasm.si.edu/history/the-last-space-shuttle-mission/comment-page-1/#comment-33235 Daniel Fischer Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:34:55 +0000 http://blog.nasm.si.edu/?p=3483#comment-33235 Yes, shuttle launches and landings were cool – but proof that “we were able to build a rocket that can take humans safely to space” the Space Transportation System was not: orbiters launched 135 times and returned in one piece 133 times. Or put it this way: 40% of the operational vehicles were destroyed. With 14 losses of life. Compare that to crewed spaceflight in the U.S. before the shuttle: 33 launches, 33 safe returns, not one crewmember killed or even hurt during a mission – in spite of vastly less experience and making it even to the Moon at times …

]]> http://blog.nasm.si.edu/history/the-last-space-shuttle-mission/comment-page-1/#comment-33184 Jon V Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:06:49 +0000 http://blog.nasm.si.edu/?p=3483#comment-33184 Great post Isabel! Love the response “history bring written sentence by sentence”. Don’t forget you got to meet Xeni!

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