Scientific Discoveries of Space Shuttle Program. NASA's space shuttle program is drawing to a close. The Space Shuttle Atlantis is in orbit and will complete a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. Four astronauts will deliver parts and supplies to astronauts in outer space. The scientific missions of the space shuttle have been numerous. With various equipment and satellites delivered to earth orbit for scientists to study scientific principles in outer space, the 30-year program has been invaluable for inhabitants of earth. Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope was delivered to high orbit in 1990.
Without being hindered by the earth's atmosphere, Hubble provided some of the most stunning images of the universe that unlocked more scientific discoveries than ever before. The discovery of exoplanets has also furthered Hubble's mission. Spacelab There were 25 Spacelab missions undertaken by the space shuttle program. Technological Innovations Carbon monoxide detectors were used in shuttle flights since 1990. Space Shuttle. Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and space shuttle mockup to become centerpiece of new exhibit at Space Center Houston visitor center near NASA's Johnson Space Center. Still in its protective shrink wrap, space shuttle Atlantis has been raised and tilted into display position at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Atlantis starred in a daylong parade and celebration as the shuttle was moved into an exhibit hall at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The storied spacecraft's pair of 60-foot-long doors were closed Sept. 20 during preps for permanent display.
NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft pilots will carry Endeavour to its new home in Los Angeles. End of the space shuttle programme spells disaster for local economy | Science. As landlord of the nearest pub to the Kennedy Space Centre, Bill Grillo is proud of his highbrow crowd of regulars. For three decades, astronauts, rocket scientists, engineers, technicians and mission managers have kept the till at Shuttles sports bar and grill ringing.
Every American who has blasted into space from a nearby launchpad has taken a meal there, and had his or her framed picture placed prominently on a wall. But all that will change this month when the time bell rings for Nasa's iconic space shuttle programme. If the Florida weather permits, on Friday, for the 135th and final time in a 30-year era punctuated by many extraordinary highs and two infamous disasters, an orbiter will launch into the heavens from the nation's spaceport at Cape Canaveral. When Atlantis returns to Earth 12 days later, another 2,000 Kennedy Space Centre employees will be laid off, bringing job losses from the shuttle programme close to 10,000. "Shuttles is an institution. Even so, uncertainty remains. End of shuttle program slams Space Coast economy.
By Donna Leinwand Leger, USA TODAY Updated 7/5/2011 12:27 PM | Gerry Mulberry had the best pickup line ever. I'm a rocket scientist, he told the woman at the Cocoa Beach restaurant. That was Feb. 6, 1981. When the first space shuttle launched on April 12, 1981, the woman who would become his wife stood beside him to watch, chills running up her spine. By Preston C. By Preston C. "The shuttle has always been special for me because it was the first thing my husband and I shared together," Brenda Mulberry says. It is also their livelihood. Florida's Space Coast, with NASA's Kennedy Space Center as its anchor and identity, is bracing for an economic meltdown when the shuttle program officially ends later this month. Mulberry's husband already lost his job as a quality engineer in the April 8 layoffs at the Space Center.
"It's bad, because we don't want to leave here," says Mulberry, who has two children in high school. "It's a perfect economic storm, and we're in it," Stains says. Shuttle shutdown may kill 8,000 jobs - Technology & science - Space - Human spaceflight. MIAMI — More than 8,000 NASA contractor jobs in the nation’s manned space program could be eliminated after the space shuttle program is shut down in 2010, the agency said Tuesday. The number of civil servants is expected to remain roughly the same, but dramatic job cuts are possible among private contractors as NASA transitions to the Constellation program, which is developing the next-generation vehicle and rockets to go to the moon and later to Mars.
Constellation isn’t scheduled to begin flights until 2015. Bill Gerstenmaier, an associate administrator for the space agency, cautioned that the estimates of job losses were preliminary and don’t take into account numerous factors of potential workload. “Don’t overreact to these numbers,” he said. NASA acknowledged that job losses could fluctuate depending on who’s occupying the White House next year and their support for space exploration. NASA said it could be more than a year before it has more dependable job forecasts. Florida Gov. Former space workers struggle a year after last shuttle. TITUSVILLE, Fla. – A year after NASA ended the three-decade-long U.S. space shuttle program, thousands of formerly well-paid engineers and other workers around the Kennedy Space Center are still struggling to find jobs to replace the careers that flourished when shuttles blasted off from the Florida "Space Coast. " Some have headed to South Carolina to build airplanes in that state's growing industry, and others have moved as far as Afghanistan to work as government contractors.
Some found lower-paying jobs beneath their technical skills that allowed them to stay. Many are still looking for work and cutting back on things like driving and utilities to save money. "Nobody wants to hire the old guy," said Terry White, a 62-year-old former project manager who worked 33 years for the shuttle program until he was laid off after Atlantis landed last July 21.
White earned more than $100,000 a year at the end of his career at the space center. "I live day to day.