National Geographic's team also created zoomable panoramas of Atlantis and Endeavour, the magazine reported.Ī total of five NASA space shuttles reached orbit, but two of them were lost along with their entire seven-astronaut crews in the line of duty.
NASA and its prime shuttle-servicing contractor, United Space Alliance, allowed photographers aboard all three shuttles after their final space missions, to help give future generations a more complete picture of the iconic space planes. The three remaining space-flown orbiters will spend the rest of their days as museum showpieces the shuttle Endeavour is headed to the California Science Center in Los Angeles, while Atlantis will take up residence at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex in Florida.Įnterprise, a shuttle prototype that never reached space, had been at the Smithsonian but will head to New York City's Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum to make room for Discovery. NASA retired its space shuttle fleet in July 2011 after 30 years of service. The photographers also created gigapan images of Discovery's flight deck, payload bay, underbelly and various other shuttle sectors and components check them out in this National Geographic story (opens in new tab) or at the magazine's new "Spaceflight HD" hub (opens in new tab). It was set up at the request of NASA astronaut Sally Ride, who became the first American woman in space on the shuttle Challenger's STS-7 mission in 1983. Viewers can zoom in to get close-up looks at various parts of the mid-deck, including the airlock hatch, the galley and the "Sally Ride Curtain" - a privacy drape separating the toilet from the rest of the mid-deck.
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