what to study for pilot in 2023?May 28, 2022 2022-11-16 11:35
what to study for pilot in 2023?
what to study for pilot in 2023?
what to study for pilot in 2023? Aviation is a dream. Maybe because it’s not on earth! Those who seek to create a better life or fulfill their longstanding dreams of taking off could find those courses useful.
Courses in aviation are too many to count. Schools and academies in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America present such lessons for beginners and passionate aviation students who want to catch their dreams.
The courses are wide-ranging, covering many areas in the aviation field, enabling students to gain expertise in the industry, knowing it inside-out.
If you are ever looking for what to study for pilot, here in uni-app you will help you find the best content that can help you become a great commercial pilot in the world.
Read more: How to choose the right undergraduate course for you?
what to study for pilot in 2023?
SO, we bring you the best aviation courses you may study for pilot:
1. Fast Track Pilot Program
It is provided by Andorra Aviation Academy. This program is intended to prepare students for flight crew positions with major European airlines as well as work as a pilot on a corporate/private jet.
2. Airline First Officer Program – Integrated ATPL
This program is provided by EUROPEAN AVIATION SCHOOL OF BARCELONA. The course is held in accordance with AIRCREW European regulations, allowing participants to obtain a commercial pilot license with Sep, Mep, and the MCC course.
After completing the course, you will be eligible for a position as a First Officer in any European airline or in countries that follow EASA rules.
3. Integrated Zero To ATPL
It’s a course provided by Olympus Aviation Academy in Greece. Olympus Aviation has developed a comprehensive pilot training program to bring students up to proficiency in order for them to operate as co-pilots on single and/or multi-engine airliners in commercial air transport and continue their aviation career.
4. Private Pilot Certificate
It’s a course from San Diego Flight Training International. The Private Pilot Certification Course is the student’s first exposure to modern aviation. A minimum of 35 hours of flight training and 70 hours of ground and/or classroom instruction will be provided to the applicant.
5. Commercial Licence Pilot Course
This course is provided by St.Thomas Flight Centre in Canada. Whether you want to fly for fun or become a commercial pilot, the St. Thomas Flight Centre is providing this course, opening up new opportunities for entering the aviation arena.
6. Vocational Professional Pilot Program
It’s a course presented by the US Aviation Academy. The Vocational Professional Pilot Program at US Aviation Academy is the quickest way to begin your career as an airline pilot.
Starting with no prior aviation experience, you can become a Commercial Multi-Engine pilot with an Instrument Rating in less than a year.
7. Private Pilot Certification
It’s provided by the Institute of Aviation at Parkland College in the USA. During the program, associate degree students will earn the private pilot certificate, instrument rating, commercial pilot certificate, and multiengine rating in order.
There is also the possibility of obtaining flight instructor certificates for airplanes, instruments, and multiengines.
8. Course: Flying Lessons
It’s a course provided by Canada’s Laurentide Aviation. Having the opportunity to learn how to fly is one of life’s most fulfilling experiences. Whether you want to learn to fly for fun or for a career, you are about to embark on one of the most exciting and enjoyable experiences of your life.
Whether you want to fly for fun or to pursue a career in the exciting world of aviation, our excellent team of experienced flight instructors is fully qualified to provide you with quality training toward a variety of licenses.
9. Aircraft Maintenance Technology
This course is delivered by École nationale d’aérotechnique in Canada. During this course, applicants will learn how to maintain aircraft airworthiness by checking, repairing, replacing, or modifying aircraft components, as well as researching and troubleshooting aircraft problems and writing technical reports.
10. Course in Avionics Technician
Avionica in the US is providing this course. The Avionics Technicians Association (ATA) has partnered with the Division of Continuing Education at the University of Central Florida to offer a three-month, 72-hour training program to prepare individuals for certification to work in the aviation industry.
11. Course in Flight Training
As to this course, it’s delivered by Deland Aviation in the USA. Our seasoned instructors, advanced flight training devices, scenario-based instruction, and emphasis on GPS technology will make you a safer, more confident instrument pilot, regardless of your level of experience.
12. AMM Aircraft Maintenance Mechanic
43 Air School in South Africa is providing this course. Maybe this course is your passport to a successful career in the global aircraft maintenance industry.
Customized curriculum developed with the assistance of Aircraft Maintenance Organizations ensures that students gain the necessary industry-specific Aviation Maintenance knowledge and skills. Our Training Academy can help students choose a trade that matches their aptitude and area of interest.
13. Airline Cadet Program
It’s a course from Brics Aviation in Poland. You will be trained from the ground up to become a professional airline pilot during this program. After successfully completing the course, you will be awarded the EASA frozen ATPL (Airline Transport Pilot License). You’re all set for your first airline mission.
14. Aviation Service Provider
It’s a course provided by Deltion College in the Netherlands. If you choose the Aviation Service Provider / Steward (ess) course, you will know how to put every guest at ease, whether at a height of 10 kilometers or on the ground. You provide the best service and ensure safety on board an aircraft and at the airport.
15. Stewardess / Ground Stewardess
This course is delivered by Laurentius College in the Netherlands. This course is quickest way to start pursuing your dream. You will quickly feel comfortable with your fellow students if you only take practical courses.
Read more: Top 4 Universities to pursue a Veterinary master’s degree in Germany in 2023
Huh! This collection of courses has some to an end. But the aviation courses you may study for pilot are unlimited. Everyday there’s a new course, a new experience and a new attempt at success in the aviation industry.
Diverse courses, programs and certificates are in the making, and they will be posted once they are accomplished!
Passion may be insufficient for you to reach your dream, but once you have the vehicle that moves you towards it, you are down the right path! Enjoy.


Aer-O's lead aviation consultant has over 30 years experience as a pilot. Robin Leabman is a captain on multiple large-cabin Gulfstreams, twin-engine helicopters, and a Gold Seal flight instructor for single- and multi-engine airplanes, seaplanes, helicopters, and gliders. He owned and operated a successful global aircraft delivery company for 10 years, boasting a 100% mission completion rate, with zero incidents or accidents.
Ferrying an aircraft? Joining the Earth-Rounder club? With Robin as your aviation consultant, he will draw upon 10 years of small aircraft international ferrying, and relationships with hundreds of contacts globally, to help you navigate the hurdles of flying around the world.


Civil Aviation Sector has been in a major development within the last 20 years. The main theme behind acceleration of this development is aviation mergers. First of all, with the concept of this development, the applied mergers of the countries in civil aviation in recent years; China, America and Japan, Air France-KLM and British Airways-IBERIA mergers are examined to reach a conclusion of what the latter mergers can possibly gain to the merger of two companies Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa as a partner. Secondly, listing the advantages and disadvantages of Turkish Airlines-Lufthansa mergers based on Air France-KLM, British Airways-IBERIA with some suggestions are offered for this merger to have a better result for Turkish Airlines.
Airline Mergers, Losing Brand Equity, Destination Point, Point to Point Service, The Concept of Hub.


The aim is to create a space equipped with abundant resources to explore and conduct researches in the field of space exploration and astronomy and make the experience highly interactive and uniquely futuristic through the utilization of advanced technologies.
- To provide a functional space for researchers and scientists to further their exploration and investigation into space.
- To design a space for the youth that cultivates their interests and inclination towards space exploration.
- Utilize high-end technology to materialize the actual experience of exploring space
- To make vast information about the current and future endeavors towards space exploration available to the general public.
The space is designed with an underlying theme of futurism and Sci-fi to give the end-user an experience of delving into the future. This is done by designing the space with futuristic technologies which are interactive and engaging.
UAE’s immense interest in space exploration is quite clear from the initiatives taken from UAE Govern-ment. Therefore, it is important to spread more knowledge amongst the youth and researchers to help the country and individuals interested in space exploration achieve more by building a suitable space for them.


It was another gloomy day in Seattle. I spent the first several hours of my day in a museum. Before you all gasp in astonishment, it was an airplane museum. I visited the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field in Seattle. In the picture below you can see a couple military aircraft in front of the building. Fittingly a British Airways 747 was flying overhead as I entered.
Boeing's old Red Barn is part of the museum.
The museum is full of military aircraft and a section on space flight. But the area that most interested me was commercial aviation. Below is a concorde.
I got to walk through this retired aircraft from British Airways. Below is the passenger cabin.
Next I walked through SAM970. This was the first jet Air Force One. It was used by Eisenhower and Kennedy. It became Vice President Johnson's Air Force Two when Kennedy got a new airplane.
Below is the president's conference room.
And below is the cockpit.
Pictured below is the first 737 ever built. The 737 is the most popular aircraft ever built with over 5000 planes built and they are still being produced.
The picture below is a blast from the past. An American Airlines 727. I flew on quite a few of those back in the day.
Below is the first 747 ever built. No longer the largest commercial aircraft flying since the A380 came along. But still the most attractive. Maybe not this one though, it looks quite beat up.
All the above aircraft where outside. They had many exhibits inside as well. This Alaska Airlines DC-3 was hanging from the ceiling.
I could show you the pictures of a lot more aircraft, but I am sure you're bored enough already. I had lunch at the Wings Cafe while I was there. After I finished with the museum I drove back to downtown Seattle. I was going to visit the observation deck at Columbia Center (the tallest building in Seattle). But I was having a hard time finding a place to park and it also started to rain so I gave up on that idea. I had a seaplane flight scheduled for 4:30 but that was canceled as well. So I just decided to get out of Dodge. The traffic in this city is a nightmare. I was going to spend two nights in Seattle. But I decided last night to only spend one to save the cost of the expensive downtown hotel for a second night. I drove 85 miles south to the small town of Chehalis and checked into my usual Holiday Inn Express. Only one third the cost of last nights hotel.
This also puts me in good position to explore Mt. Rainier tomorrow. The weather is supposed to clear sometime during the day tomorrow. I hope it clears early enough for me to see Mt. Rainier. I was going to see it on my way to Seattle yesterday, but the weather prevented that from happening. I will try again tomorrow.
Everyone pray for my sunny skies to return and I will write again tomorrow.
|TIM'S HOME PAGE SITE INDEX|
|Areas||Description||# of Pages|
|About Me||Current Picture of me and my home.|
Information about myself.
|Biography||Pictorial biography of myself.|
Pictures range from birth to adulthood.
|Family File||Pictures of my family|
and a little information about them.
|Local Spotlight||Pictures, Links, and Information for|
Indianapolis, Richmond, Plainfield,
and Mooresville, Indiana.
|Tim's Travels||Pictures, videos and travelogs from|
my travels around the world.
|Vacation Videos||Over 1100 videos from|
my travels around the world.


You can support your mobile phone on the controller for better flight control and rotation.
With high quality HD 1080P camera to have the perfect panoramic photos!
It has a return function with a single button, maintains a stable flight thanks to the 6-axis gyroscope and is made of durable high-strength material.
- Material: Metal, plastic
- Distance: 300 feet
- Dimensions: 12.5 × 7.5 × 5 cm
- Power source: Electric
- Charging time: ~ 150 minutes
- Battery: 3 x 1.5 AA battery (Not included)
- Control channels: 4 channels
- Flight time: ~ 8 minutes
- Controller function: MODE2
- Age range: Suitable for ages over 14 years
- Camera 720P
There are no reviews for this product.


Vacuum Furnace Systems, Heat Treat Robotics & Service for North, Central & South America
We are the world leader in the manufacturing of low pressure carburizing installations for automobiles and aeronautic markets. Since 1964, ECM Technologies has provided vacuum furnaces for the major buyers in the aeronautic, space and military industries.
Click on the industry to expand section.
Snecma Group (Hispanic Suiza, Turbomeca, Microturbo, Messier Bugatti, Snecma Service) Nanchang
Shenyang Aircraft (China)
Automotive - Vehicles
FORD Motor Company (USA, China)
General Motors (Germany, Turkey, France, Romania, Mexico, Australia, Hungary)…


Edizione originaleAutore: Robert Zubrin
Titolo: Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization
Link per l'acquisto
"Humans are not native to the Earth. So posits astronautical engineer Bob Zubrin in the opening of Entering Space. We're native to just a small sliver of it, the spot where our species originated in tropical Kenya. We set out from that paradise about 50,000 years ago, north into "the teeth of the Ice Age," and all the ground we've gained since then has been thanks to our tenacity and our tools.
Zubrin reasons that it's time we cover a little more ground. Written with a boyish enthusiasm and formidable techie know-how, Entering Space urges us to realize "the feasibility, the necessity, and the promise" of becoming a space-faring civilization, of colonizing our own solar system and beyond. And Zubrin, author of the influential and widely acclaimed The Case for Mars, knows his stuff--NASA adapted his plans for near-term human exploration of Mars, and Carl Sagan gave the author no less credit: "Bob Zubrin really, nearly alone, changed our thinking on this issue." Entering Space plots the second and third phases of humanity's course--now that we've mastered our own planet, Zubrin says we must first look to settling our solar system (beginning with Mars) and then to the galaxy beyond.
With its practicable visions of using "iceteroids" to terraform Mars and harnessing the power of the outlying gas giants ("the solar system's Persian Gulf"), Entering Space succeeds at making the fantastic seem attainable, the stuff of science fiction, science fact." Paul Hughes
"Astronautical engineer Zubrin stirred up more than a few imaginations with his 1996 The Case for Mars, which explained how and why humans could visit the red planet cheaply and soon. Zubrin's confident followup divides its predictions and programs into three sections: the first covers near-term projects in Earth orbit, with a view to commercial possibilities. The second part takes on the Moon, Mars, asteroids and the outer solar system, and the third adopts an optimistic view of interstellar travel and extraterrestrial life. Zubrin's range can amaze: he begins with the Space Shuttle (misguided and inefficient, he argues) and ends with speculation about how humanity might "change the laws of the universe." In between, Zubrin (privy to some of the dealings involved) shows how American politics quashed recent chances of cheap space flight; how "shake-and-bake" processing can profitably mine helium from the Moon; what we can do to defend life on Earth against a real-life Armageddon asteroid; and how a magnetic sail might speed up and slow down a starship. Zubrin's engineering background and his crisp prose make him a confident explainer, as technical as he needs to be but rarely more so. Regular readers of science fiction and anyone else with high school chemistry and physics will understand his arguments about the engines, ships and industries he proposes to create. His gung-ho clarity may even raise suspicions, especially when he moves from physics to metaphysics: Will the species really stagnate unless we become a "Type II" civilization? But anyone who cares about space travel will care about some part of this book. While some will gravitate to the near-term proposals, others will happily escape their pull and reach, with Zubrin, for the stars." Agent, Laurie Fox of the Linda Chester Literary Agency. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
La colonizzazione dello spazio: prospettive, modelli, tecnologia.
haust velocity, dry mass fraction, percent lightspeed, magnetic sail, photon rocket, nuclear electric propulsion, departure velocity, spacefaring civilization, thermal rocket, interstellar missions, cyclotron radiation, launch rate, outer solar system, launch prices, launch costs, interstellar flight, specific impulse, solar sails, exhaust velocities, fusion fuel, lunar base, reusable launch vehicle, extant life, interstellar travel, Main Belt, Oort Cloud, Mars Direct, Mars Society, Space Shuttle, Lunar Prospector, Pioneer Rocketplane, Kuiper Belt, Barnard's Star, Pax Mundana, The Challenge of Interstellar Travel, Big Bang, Hubble Space Telescope, Strategic Defense Initiative, Kistler Aerospace, space, spazio, astronautica, esplorazione, colonizzazione, colonies,


#iMakeCLT is fueled by generous sponsors and local partners that believe in supporting the local community through a fun and educational hands-on learning environment of science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
UTC Aerospace Systems designs, manufactures and services integrated systems and components for the aerospace and defense industries. UTC Aerospace Systems supports a global customer base, with significant worldwide manufacturing and customer service facilities. Follow the company on Twitter: @utcaerosystems
United Technologies Corp., based in Farmington, Connecticut, provides high-technology systems and services to the building and aerospace industries. To learn more about UTC, visit the website at www.utc.com or follow the company on Twitter: @UTC.
interested in being a sponsor or community partner?
If you would like to join the local Maker Movement, fill out the form below and an #iMakeCLT team member will get back to you.


CID Breaks All-Time Passenger Record
It only took three months and the Eastern Iowa Airport’s (CID) historic recordsetting total has been broken – again. The total number of passengers who chose CID in June is the highest number of passengers to fly CID in a single month.
The total number of passengers who flew CID in June was 127,333; 19.5 percent higher than June 2018. That total is 4.6 percent more than the number of people who flew in March when the airport’s previous monthly record total was set.
Year-over-year, the airport’s number of enplaned passengers (those who board a flight at CID) is up 8.9 percent.
Marty Lenss, CID airport director, says the additional traffic is due to larger aircraft, additional flights on existing routes and the addition of Nashville service on Allegiant. June is also when the seasonal nonstop flight to Los Angeles on Allegiant begins.
“Airlines do monitor whether a market responds to additional capacity, so we are glad to see these strong passenger numbers,” Lenss says. Recent air service enhancements include:
- American begins seasonal, daily nonstop service to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Dec. 18. American has also added a fourth daily flight to Dallas (DFW) and added two ORD flights in October;
- Nashville service on Allegiant has been extended through the end of October; Allegiant’s LAX seasonal flight began June 5 and goes through early August.
- United added a third daily flight to Denver (DEN).
- Frontier will have four to five weekly flights to Denver (DEN).
- Delta added a third daily flight to Atlanta (ATL).


We are searching data for your request:
Upon completion, a link will appear to access the found materials.
On April 12, 1981, NASA launched the world's first reusable manned spacecraft. In the minutes before takeoff, Kennedy Space Center launch control communicates with astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen as they prepare to take Columbia on its first test flight into space and back.
Space Shuttle Timeline
By Liz Olson
April 12, 1981
John Young and Robert Crippin pilot the space shuttle Columbia on the maiden flight of the Space Transport System (STS-1).
Nov. 11, 1982
Space shuttle Challenger is launched.
June 18?24, 1983
Sally Ride becomes the first American woman astronaut on the STS-7 flight of Challenger.
Aug. 30, 1983
The STS-8 Challenger flight introduces Guion S. Bluford, the first African-American astronaut to travel in space.
Feb. 7, 1984
Astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart make the first untethered space walks (with jet backpacks) on this Challenger flight.
Aug. 30, 1984
First flight of space shuttle Discovery.
Aug. 8, 1985
First flight of space shuttle Atlantis.
Oct. 3?7, 1985
Atlantis deploys a classified satellite for the Department of Defense.
Jan. 28, 1986
Challenger explodes 73 seconds into the flight.
Sept. 29?Oct. 3, 1988
The first shuttle flight after the Challenger disaster. Discovery launches a satellite.
May 4, 1989
The Magellan Venus probe is launched from Atlantis, the first U.S. planetary mission in 11 years and the first launched from a shuttle.
Oct. 18, 1989
Atlantis launches the Jupiter-bound Galileo spacecraft.
April 24?29, 1990
May 2?16, 1992
Endeavour?s maiden flight and the first 3-person spacewalk.
Dec. 2?13, 1993
This Endeavour flight successfully repairs the optics on the ailing Hubble Space Telescope.
Feb. 3?11, 1994
Sergei Krikalev becomes the first Russian cosmonaut on a U.S. shuttle mission.
Feb. 3?11, 1995
Eileen Collins becomes the first woman pilot, flying Discovery past the Russian space station Mir.
June 27?July 7, 1995
Space shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian Mir space station.
March 22?31, 1996
U.S. astronaut Shannon Lucid is dropped off by Atlantis for a 181-day mission on the Mir, setting a record for a woman in space.
Oct. 29?Nov. 7, 1998
The first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn, returns to space aboard the Discovery.
Dec. 4?12, 1998
Endeavour makes the first human flight to the International Space Station. The construction mission connects the Zarya and Unity modules.
July 22?27, 1999
Col. Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to command a shuttle mission. Columbia launches the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.
March 8?21, 2001
In the eighth shuttle mission to the International Space Station, Discovery picks up the Expedition One crew (delivered to the station in October by a Russian flight) and drops off Expedition Two.
March 1?12, 2002
Columbia makes the fourth Hubble Space Telescope maintenance/repair/upgrade visit.
Feb. 1, 2003
Fifteen minutes before completing its 28th mission, Columbia breaks up with the loss of all seven crew members.
July 26, 2005
Eileen Collins commands Discovery on the first shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster. Despite the safety measures, in an incident similar to that which caused the Columbia disaster, some foam insulation broke off the external tank after takeoff. Discovery continues its mission, but NASA grounds any further shuttle flights indefinitely.
July 4, 2006
The Discovery takes off for the International Space Station on the first Fourth of July liftoff, despite some reservations by the chief safety officer and chief engineer concerning the same foam insulation problem that downed Columbia in 2003 and and also occurred on 2005's shuttle flight.
August 8, 2007
Endeavour takes off for the International Space Station carrying the first teacher to ever visit space, Barbara Morgan. Morgan was once the backup to Christa McAuliffe, who was originally slated to become the first teacher in space, but was tragically killed in the Challenger disaster of 1986.
October 23, 2007
Discovery launches into space for a 14-day mission to the International Space Station carrying a new module that will expand the living space in the orbiting labratory.
March 26, 2008
Endeavour safely returns from its 16-day mission to the International Space Station. The Endeavour delivered the first section of the Japenese Kibo laboratory and a Canadian Space Agency robot called Dextre-every international partner has now contributed a major part to the ISS.
February 24, 2011
Discovery launches on its final mission and docks with the International Space Station. The crew consisted of six American astronauts, all of whom had been on prior spaceflights, including Commander Steven Lindsey. The crew joined the long-duration six person crew of Expedition 26, who were already aboard the space station. The mission transported several items to the space station, including the Permanent Multipurpose Module Leonardo, which was left permanently docked to one of the station's ports.
July 21, 2011
When the space shuttle Atlantis rolled into the Kennedy Space Center on July 21, NASA officially retired its Space Shuttle program after 30 years of service.
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
space shuttle, also called Space Transportation System, partially reusable rocket-launched vehicle designed to go into orbit around Earth, to transport people and cargo to and from orbiting spacecraft, and to glide to a runway landing on its return to Earth’s surface that was developed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Formally called the Space Transportation System (STS), it lifted off into space for the first time on April 12, 1981, and made 135 flights until the program ended in 2011.
The U.S. space shuttle consisted of three major components: a winged orbiter that carried both crew and cargo an external tank containing liquid hydrogen (fuel) and liquid oxygen (oxidizer) for the orbiter’s three main rocket engines and a pair of large, solid-propellant, strap-on booster rockets. At liftoff the entire system weighed 2 million kilograms (4.4 million pounds) and stood 56 metres (184 feet) high. During launch the boosters and the orbiter’s main engines fired together, producing about 31,000 kilonewtons (7 million pounds) of thrust. The boosters were jettisoned about two minutes after liftoff and were returned to Earth by parachute for reuse. After attaining 99 percent of its orbital velocity, the orbiter had exhausted the propellants in the external tank. It released the tank, which disintegrated on reentering the atmosphere. Although the orbiter lifted off vertically like an expendable rocket launcher, it made an unpowered descent and landing similar to a glider.
The space shuttle could transport satellites and other craft in the orbiter’s cargo bay for deployment in space. It also could rendezvous with orbiting spacecraft to allow astronauts to service, resupply, or board them or to retrieve them for return to Earth. Moreover, the orbiter could serve as a space platform for conducting experiments and making observations of Earth and cosmic objects for as long as about two weeks. On some missions it carried a European-built pressurized facility called Spacelab, in which shuttle crew members conducted biological and physical research in weightless conditions.
Designed to be reflown as many as 100 times, the U.S. space shuttle originally had been expected to reduce the high cost of spaceflight into low Earth orbit. After the system became operational, however, the vehicle’s operating costs and the time needed for refurbishment between flights proved to be significantly higher than early projections. Between 1981 and 1985 a fleet of four orbiters— Columbia (the first to fly in space), Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis—was put into service.
On January 28, 1986, Challenger, carrying seven astronauts, exploded shortly after liftoff, killing all aboard including a private citizen, schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. The presidential commission appointed to investigate the accident determined that a joint seal in one of the solid rocket boosters had failed as a result of mechanical design problems, which were exacerbated by the unusually cold weather on the morning of the launch. Hot gases leaking from the joint eventually ignited the fuel in the shuttle’s external tank, causing the explosion. After the accident, the shuttle fleet was grounded until September 1988 to allow NASA to correct the design flaws and implement associated administrative changes in the shuttle program. In 1992, Endeavour, a replacement orbiter for the destroyed Challenger, flew its first mission.
Between 1995 and 1998, NASA conducted a series of shuttle missions to the orbiting Russian space station Mir to give the agency experience in station operations in anticipation of the construction of the modular International Space Station (ISS). Beginning in 1998, the shuttle was used extensively to take components of the ISS into orbit for assembly and to ferry astronaut crews and supplies to and from the station.
On February 1, 2003, Columbia broke up catastrophically over north-central Texas at an altitude of about 60 km (40 miles) as it was returning from an orbital mission. All seven crew members died, including Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut to go into space. (See Columbia disaster.) Once again the shuttle fleet was immediately grounded. The accident investigation board concluded that, during the launch of the shuttle, a piece of insulating foam had torn from the external tank and struck the orbiter’s left wing, weakening its thermal protection ability. When the orbiter later reentered the atmosphere, it was unable to withstand the superheated air, which penetrated the wing and destroyed it, leading to the vehicle’s breakup. As in the analysis of the Challenger disaster, the Columbia accident was seen as the result of both mechanical and organizational causes that needed to be addressed before shuttle flights could resume.
Space shuttle flights resumed on July 26, 2005, with the launch of Discovery. The last space shuttle flight, the 135th, was launched on July 8, 2011. NASA announced that subsequent crewed missions would use the Russian Soyuz spacecraft as well as spacecraft built by American companies. The three remaining orbiters, as well as Enterprise (which did not fly into space but was only used in landing tests in 1977), were placed in museums across the United States. (For additional information on the space shuttle, see space exploration.)
This is the official insignia for the first space shuttle orbital flight test (STS-1). Crew of the 102 Columbia on STS-1 will be astronauts John W. Young, commander, and Robert L. Crippen, pilot. The art work was done by artist Robert McCall.
The space shuttle Columbia begins a new era of space transportation when it lifts off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla, on April 12, 1981. The reusable orbiter, its two fuel tanks and two solid rocket boosters (SRB) has just cleared the launch tower.
Next Generation Shuttle [ edit | edit source ]
Pathfinder [ edit | edit source ]
Prior to 1983, NASA had begun to develop a next generation space shuttle, OV-201 Pathfinder, which would test the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA) used to take astronauts to Mars. The first Pathfinder flight was conducted using an air-launch system from a C-5 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, followed by the use of the onboard NERVA engine to reach orbit and rendezvous with Sea Dragon 17.
Pathfinder shuttle in 1983.
Pathfinder Firing Radar Missiles
As of 1983, the Pathfinder program was taken over by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and armed to escort Sea Dragon 17 to the moon in order to deter a potential blockade by the Soviet Buran shuttle.
In real life, the shuttle Pathfinder was a generation one ground engineering article, and not a full shuttle.
1983-1986: The Missions and History of Space Shuttle Challenger
25-years ago today, Space Shuttle Challenger was lost with all hands in the bright blue sky over Central Florida. Embarking on her 10th mission on January 28, 1986, Challenger was at the time the most-flown orbiter in NASA’s fleet. Quickly rising to prominence as the fleet leader (in terms of not only the number of missions flown, but also her impressive scientific and technological accomplishments), Challenger was the workhorse of the early days of the Shuttle fleet, setting numerous records and leaving behind a legacy of education, inspiration, and safety.
The History of Space Shuttle Challenger:
The early history of Challenger is arguable the most complex of the six Shuttle orbiters (Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour) constructed by NASA in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s.
Beginning life as STA-099 (Structural Test Article -099), the components that would eventually become the airframe and body for orbiter Challenger were initially used by the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) to test and validate the effects of launch and entry stress (including heating) on a “light weight” Shuttle airframe – a weight reduction savings that would, in turn, allow future orbiters (from Challenger through Endeavour) to have a greater payload weight to orbit capability than pioneer orbiter and older sister Columbia.
Since computer technology in the 1970s was not powerful or advanced enough to accurately calculate/predict the effects a “light weight” airframe would have on an orbiter’s performance and ability during launch and entry ops, NASA opted to build STA-099 and submit the Structural Test Article to a year of intense vibration and thermal testing.
To this end, the contract to begin construction of STA-099 was awarded on July 26, 1972 to Rockwell International. For the next three years, components for STA-099 were manufactured simultaneously with components for what would eventually become orbiter Columbia.
On November 21, 1975, engineers began structural assembly of STA-099’s crew module. This was followed on June 14, 1976 by the start of structural assembly of the aft-fuselage.
STA-099’s tell-tale Delta wings arrived on-dock at the Palmdale, California construction facility on March 16, 1977.
Final assembly began later that year on September 30 and was completed on February 10, 1978. STA-099 rolled out of Palmdale on February 14 (Valentine’s Day), 1978.
For the next year, STA-099 was put through the wringer, with numerous vibration and thermal tests to provide and ground the light weight airframe design planned for future Shuttle orbiters.
As stated by Volume II of the NASA Engineering and Safety Center Technical Report from June 14, 2007, “There was a high probability that performing static strength tests to demonstrate ultimate design limits (1.4 times limit load) would result in deformations and strains that [would] render the vehicle unusable for flight.”
Nonetheless, “it was clear the vehicle must be shown to be acceptable at the design limit loads [ref. 19].”
To this end, “a hybrid qualification program was adopted that combined limited flight hardware testing and the validation of stress predictions through the modeling and testing of prototype hardware assemblies and components. “Qualification” tests on STA-099 were performed at 1.2 times the design limit loads.”
Meanwhile, Rockwell was busy finishing the final year of assembly of orbiter Columbia (OV-102) at Palmdale, and NASA was busy reviewing the wealth of data gathered from orbiter Enterprise’s (OV-101’s) free-flight approach and landing tests in 1977 while taking Enterprise through KSC mating, rollout, and launch pad validation ops.
But behind all this, discussions were beginning to focus on the cost and time that would be required to convert Enterprise into a space-worthy vehicle. As the costs and timelines began to build, NASA realized that it would cost less, and take less time, to convert STA-099 into a space-worthy vehicle than it would Enterprise.
On January 1, 1979, the decision was made official when NASA awarded Rockwell International the contract to convert STA-099 into OV-099 (Orbital Vehicle -099). While the process of converting STA-099 into OV-099 was simpler than converting Enterprise, it still involved intensive work and the disassembly and reconstruction of numerous air frame and flight elements.
With conversion of STA-099 into OV-099, the process began of selecting a name for the now-second orbiter of the Shuttle fleet.
Named after the HMS Challenger – a British corvette which served as the command ship for the Challenger Expedition (a pioneering global marine research expedition from 1872-1876) – and the Apollo 17 lunar module, Challenger is the only Shuttle orbiter to be named in honor of a previously-flown spacecraft that landed on the surface of another celestial body.
In an odd coincidence, crews began the start of structural assembly of Challenger’s flight-worthy crew module on January 28, 1979 – exactly 7 years to the day before she would be lost.
From this point, through Nov. 3, 1980, engineers and technicians disassembled and rebuilt Challenger. On Nov. 3, final assembly began and ran through October 21, 1981.
Workers spent the next year going over Challenger with a fine-toothed comb and completing installation of the vehicle’s Thermal Protection System (TPS) tiles and RCC (Reinforced Carbon-Carbon) WLE (Wing Leading Edge) and nose cap panels.
A major change between the construction of Columbia and Challenger was the replacement of TPS tiles with DuPont white nomex felt insulation on her payload bay doors, upper wing surfaces, and rear fuselage. This move further reduced Challenger’s weight by 2,500 lbs.
On June 30, 1982, Challenger rolled out of her Palmdale assembly facility. She was transported overland to Edwards Air Force Base the following day where she spent four days being mated to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for her ferry flight delivery to the Kennedy Space Center.
On the day of the beginning of the ferry flight, sister orbiter Columbia triumphantly returned to Earth on July 4 with an Independence Day landing at Edwards Air Force Base to cap off STS-4 and the orbital test flight phase of the Shuttle Program.
With Columbia on the runway at Edwards, Challenger and the SCA took off on July 4 under the watchful eye of then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan. One day later, Challenger arrived at the Kennedy Space Center.
One day after delivery, Challenger was towed into an OPF (Orbiter Processing Facility), where she underwent initial receiving inspections before being transitioned into pre-mission processing for her maiden flight.
Challenger spent nearly 4 months in the OPF before she was moved to the VAB on Nov. 23 for mating with her External Tank/Solid Rocket Booster (ET/SRB) stack. Seven days later, on November 30, 1982, Challenger and the STS-6 stack was rolled out to LC-39A to undergo both pad processing and the mandatory Flight Readiness Firing (FRF) before a targeted January 20, 1983 launch.
On December 18, 1982, the customary 20-second FRF occurred, revealing a hydrogen leak into SSME-1 (Space Shuttle Main Engine 1). Launch was postponed from January 20 and a second FRF was performed on January 25.
The second FRF confirmed the presence of cracks in SSME-1. To the end, all three SSMEs were removed while Challenger was at Pad-A. This marked the first time in Shuttle Program history that the SSMEs were removed at the launch pad.
The second FRF for Challenger also places her in the record books for being the only Shuttle orbiter to require two FRFs before her maiden flight. However, Challenger is not the only orbiter to have two FRFs to her name. Discovery underwent a second FRF during the Return to Flight launch campaign for STS-26 – the mission which returned the Shuttle fleet to flight following the loss of Challenger.
With the removal of all three of Challenger’s SSMEs, the teams thoroughly tested and analyzed SSMEs 2 and 3 before reinstalling them for flight. SSME-1 was completely replaced.
The launch date was then reset before being pushed back yet again due to the contamination of Challenger’s payload – the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-1) – during a severe storm at the launch pad.
Once the contamination issue was fixed, the launch was rescheduled for April 4 at 1330 EST. The countdown proceeded on schedule and Challenger lifted off on her maiden voyage right on time on April 4, 1983.
Weighing 256,744lbs at launch, Challenger ushered in a series of firsts for the Shuttle Program STS-6. The maiden flight of Challenger marked the first flight of a Space Shuttle from the new MLP-2 (Mobile Launch Platform 2), the first Shuttle flight to use the Light Weight External Tank, the first flight of new light weight SRB casings, the first afternoon launch of a Space Shuttle, and the first time that a second reusable spacecraft flew into space.
On STS-6, Challenger carried Story Musgrave into space – the only person who would go to fly on all five space-worthy Space Shuttle orbiters.
STS-6 also marked the last time that a Space Shuttle mission would launch with a crew of only four astronauts. (However, if STS-135/Atlantis does indeed become a reality, STS-135 will mark the first time since STS-6 that a Shuttle will launch with only four people onboard.)
Launched into a 28.5 degree 178nm orbit, Challenger’s crew successfully deployed the TDRS-1 satellite from the vehicle’s payload bay. A malfunction of TDRS-1’s Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) initially placed the satellite into an improper but stable orbit. Reserve propellant was used to boost TDRS-1 into its properly circularized orbit over the following months.
Following the deployment of TDRS-1, the Challenger crew turned their attention to performing the Shuttle Program’s first spacewalk, or EVA. Lasting 4 hours 17 minutes, Mission Specialists Story Musgrave and Donald Peterson tested the Shuttle Program’s spacesuits, or EMUs, and demonstrated their ability to perform necessary tasks in a microgravity environment.
After 81 orbits of Earth and 2,094,293 miles, Challenger touched down on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base, CA on April 9 at 10:53:42 PST, bringing her total mission duration for her maiden flight to 5 days 2 hours 14 minutes and 25 seconds.
Challenger then underwent initial post-flight deservicing at Edwards before returning to KSC on the SCA on April 16. She was towed into an OPF on April 17 to undergo post-flight deservicing and pre-flight mission processing for STS-7.
After just over a month in the OPF, Challenger was rolled over to the VAB on May 21 and mated to her ET/SRB stack for STS-7. The entire stack was rolled out to LC-39A on May 26 for a targeted June 18 launch.
Pad processing and the launch countdown proceeded nominal and Challenger lifted off right on time (with no launch delays) on her second flight at 07:33 EDT 18 June 1983. Launch of Challenger on STS-7 marked the first flight of an American woman in space and the first re-flight of an astronaut on the Space Shuttle – with Robert L. Crippen from STS-1 commanding Challenger’s second flight.
Launched into a 28.5 degree 160-170nm orbit, Challenger deployed two communications satellites (ANIK C-2 for Canada and PALAPA-B2) for Indonesia.
Seven Get Away Special canisters were also launched in Challenger’s payload bay, as well as an experiment studying the effects of space on the social behavior of an ant colony. Ten experiments were also mounted on Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS-01), experiments designed to perform research in forming metal alloys in microgravity and the use of remote sensing scanners.
During the flight, Challenger’s crew fired the vehicle’s RCS control thrusters while SPAS-01 was held by SRMS (Shuttle Remote Manipulator System) to test the forces of the RCS firings on the extended arm.
STS-7 also marked the first time that a Shuttle orbiter’s Ku-Band antenna was used to transmit data through the TDRS network to a ground terminal.
STS-7 also holds the distinction of being the first Shuttle flight to carry a planned EOM (End of Mission) landing at the Kennedy Space Center however, poor weather conditions at Kennedy precluded a landing of Challenger at the Florida spaceport.
The mission was extended by two orbits to help facilitate a landing at Edwards. Challenger successfully touched down on Runway 15 at Edwards at 06:56.59 PDT on June 24. Rollout distance was 10,450 feet over 75 seconds. Challenger was returned to the Kennedy Space Center on June 29 to begin processing for STS-8.
Challenger then spent June 30 – July 26 inside an OPF before rolling to the VAB for mating with the STS-8 SRB/ET stack. The entire vehicle was then rolled out to Pad-A on August 2 for an August 30 launch.
Initially, STS-8 had carried a July 1983 launch date for a 3-day 4-person mission to deploy the TDRS-B satellite. However, because of IUS issues during the deployment of TDRS-1, the flight was remanifested and TDRS-B pulled from the flight. (TDRS-B would later be remanifested for launch on Challenger’s STS-51E flight before additional problems with the satellite pushed its launch to the fateful STS-51L/Challenger mission.)
Pad processing for STS-8 was uneventful. In the early evening/night hours of Aug. 29/30, a large thunderstorm complex rolled over the Kennedy Space Center during the final few hours of the STS-8 countdown – providing a spectacular image of lightening arcing around Challenger as she sat on Pad-A.
Due to the inclement weather, launch was delayed 17 minutes. At 02:32 EDT, Challenger lit up the night sky of Florida, embarking on her third flight.
Launch of Challenger on STS-8 marked the first night time launch of the Space Shuttle, the 20th overall mission to launch from pad 39A, and the first flight of an African-American into space.
This would also become the first flight for which concern over potential catastrophic failure of the SRBs during flight would begin to build following discovery of SRB flight malfunction during post-flight casing inspections.
With a liftoff weight of 242,742 lbs, Challenger was inserted into 28.5 degree 191nm orbit. Over the course of the six day mission, Challenger’s crew deployed INSAT-1B for India and pointed the nose of Challenger away from the sun for a total of 14 hours to test the vehicle’s flight deck in extreme cold conditions.
During STS-8, Challenger’s orbit was lowered to 139nm to perform tests on thin atomic oxygen in an effort to understand the cause of a glow that had been observed to surround the orbiter during nighttime orbital passes.
Challenger’s SRMS was tested again on this mission to evaluate joint reactions to higher loads. Ku-Band testing/communication with TDRS-1 also continued on this flight to validate the system’s com connections before STS-9 made heavy use of TDRS-1.
Challenger also carried and tested equipment to allow for encrypted communications on future DoD (Department of Defense) dedicated and classified missions.
After 6 days 1 hour 8 minutes and 43 seconds, Challenger glided to a darkened Runway 22 at Edwards at 00:43:43 PDT on September 5 – thereby performing the first night time landing for the Space Shuttle Program.
Challenger was returned to the Kennedy Space Center on September 9 and moved into an OPF the following day. This time, Challenger spent four months in the OPF undergoing processing for the STS-41B flight. Just prior to OPF rollout, all three of Challenger’s Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) were removed and replaced (R&Red) as a precautionary measure following APU failures on Columbia’s STS-9 mission. As a result, the launch date for this mission was postponed from Jan. 29 to February 3.
On January 6, 1984, Challenger was finally rolled to the VAB. Six days later, the STS-41B stack was rolled out to Pad-A where processing occurred with just a few minor issues/hiccups.
Challenger lifted off right on time at 08:00 EST on February 3 on her fourth launch to begin the 10th Space Shuttle mission and the first under the new flight classification system. Had the previous numerical designation continued, this would have been the STS-11 mission.
(Incidentally, Challenger would be the first Shuttle orbiter to launch under the new classification system as well as the last orbiter to do so. NASA would revert back to the straight up numerical flight designation system following the loss of Challenger on STS-51L.)
Like her three previous missions, Challenger was inserted into a 28.5 degree 189nm orbit. Once in orbit, Challenger’s crew deployed the WESTAR-VI and PALAPA-B2 satellites and Bruce McCandless and Robert L. Stewart performed the first untethered EVA in history using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (McCandless) and the SRMS foot restraint for EVA purposes (Stewart). During this EVA, McCandless became the first human Earth-orbiting satellite when he ventured 320 feet away from Challenger.
Also carried aboard Challenger on this flight was the German-built Shuttle Pallet Satellite – which became the first satellite to be refurbished and re-flown into space following its first flight on STS-7. An electrical problem with SRMS, however, precluded the deployment of the satellite as intended.
After 7 days 23 hours 15 minutes and 55 seconds, Challenger triumphantly reentered Earth’s atmosphere to conduct the first EOM landing of a Space Shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center. Landing occurred on February 11 at 07:15:55 EST on KSC Runway 15. Rollout distance was 10,815 feet over 67 seconds.
Challenger was returned to the OPF later that day where she spent just over a month in pre-flight processing for STS-41C. On March 14, she was moved to the VAB. The STS-41C stack was rolled out to Pad-A on March 19 ahead of an April 6 launch.
Pad processing once again proceeded without issue, and on April 6, 1984 at 08:58 EST, Challenger lifted off right on time on her first attempt to begin her 5th mission.
The launch of STS-41C marked the first direct ascent trajectory for the Space Shuttle Program and the mission itself marked the first time that a Shuttle mission was on orbit on the anniversary of the first Space Shuttle flight (April 12).
Launched into a 28.5 degree 288nm high orbit, Challenger’s crew deployed the Long Duration Exposure Facility into Earth orbit for retrieval on a later Shuttle flight.
After this, Challenger’s orbit was raised to 313nm so that the crew could rendezvous, grapple, repair, and re-deploy the Solar Max satellite. Initial attempts by Mission Specialist George “Pinky” Nelson to manually grapple Solar Max with a special capture tool failed.
Nelson then tried to physically grab the satellite, but that sent the satellite into a multi-axis spin. In the overnight hours, the Goddard Spaceflight Center was able to regain control of the satellite. With the satellite stable, Challenger’s crew grappled the satellite with the SRMS and the crew turned their attention toward using the Manned Maneuvering Unit – tested on the previous flight – to replace the altitude control system and coronagraph/polarimeter electronics box in the Solar Max satellite.
The EVA activities were filmed by an IMAX camera in Challenger’s payload bay. The footage eventually became part of the “The Dream is Alive” documentary.
Challenger landed successfully on April 13 at 05:38:07 PST on Runway 17 at Edwards and was returned to the Kennedy Space Center on April 18. This would mark the final flight of the Shuttle with a fleet of only two orbiters. The next mission, STS-41D, would mark the addition of sister Discovery to the fleet.
However, due to lengthy delays with Discovery’s launch, Challenger ended up spending nearly five months in the OPF for STS-41G – the longest OPF stay for Challenger. On September 8, Challenger rolled to the VAB and out to Pad-A on September 13 ahead of a planned Oct. 5th launch.
Remarkably, pad processing and the launch countdown proceeded nominally with no major issues. At 07:03 EDT on October 5, Challenger lifted off into the morning sky on the 13th Space Shuttle flight.
Unlike all of Challenger’s previous missions, this flight was launched into a 57 degree 218nm orbit. The flight marked the first time a Shuttle carried a crew of seven into space, the first time two women flew into space together (and the first time two women were in space at the same time), the first time a Canadian flew into space, the first time an Australian-born person flew into space, and the first spacewalk to involve a woman.
During the 8-day flight, Challenger’s crew deployed the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite and, through an EVA, connected Components of Orbital Refueling System – thereby demonstrating that it was possible to refuel a satellite in orbit. During this EVA, Kathryn Sullivan became the first woman to perform a spacewalk.
On October 13, Challenger returned to Earth conducting the second landing of the Space Shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center. This flight would go down as Challenger’s longest mission, clocking in at 8 days 5 hours 23 minutes 33 seconds.
Challenger was then returned to the OPF where she began processing for STS-51E to deploy the TDRS-B satellite.
After four months in the OPF, Challenger was rolled over to the VAB on February 10 and then out to Pad-A on February 15. Initially, pad processing went smoothly until timing issues were encountered with TDRS-B.
The issues became severe enough that NASA pulled STS-51E from the launch manifest and cancelled the mission.
Challenger was rolled back from the launch pad on March 4, 1985 and returned to her OPF on March 7. NASA then remanifested Challenger for the STS-51B mission and OPF processing proceeded through April 10.
Challenger was mated to her STS-51B ET/SRB stack on April 10 and rolled out to Pad-A on April 15 ahead of a planned April 29 launch – only 14-days after Challenger arrived at the pad.
Pad processing proceeded smoothly. On April 29 a launch processing system failure forced a 2 minute 18 second delay to launch. At 12:02:18 EDT Challenger left Pad-A on her 7th flight and the Space Shuttle Program’s 17th.
During post-flight inspections of the SRBs for this mission, it was discovered that one of the SRBs suffered from a failure similar to the one that would be experienced on STS-51L.
Sadly, this was the second serious O-ring issue identified in 2.5 months. During the January 24, 1985 launch of Discovery/STS-51C, the primary O-rings in both the Right-Hand and Left-Hand SRBs were found to be severely charred. But it was the discovery of the complete burn-through/penetration of the primary O-ring and heavy charring and degradation of the secondary O-ring in the center field joint of the right STS-51C SRB that caused the greatest concern.
Investigations into the failure of the O-rings on STS-51C led to the understanding that the cold temperatures at the time of Discovery’s launch significantly reduced the sealing power of the O-rings. The temperature at the time of the 51C launch was 53 degrees F.
Sadly, both of these O-ring warnings would be ignored, and temperatures at the time of the 51L/Challenger launch one year later would be nearly 20 degrees colder than during 51C.
Nonetheless, Challenger successful obtained a 57 degree 222nm orbit for STS-51B, where she performed 15 primary experiments divided into five basic disciplines: materials sciences, life sciences, fluid mechanics, atmospheric physics, and astronomy via the European Spacelab-3 – flying here for the first time in a fully operational configuration.
Of the 15 primary experiments, 14 were deemed successful. Challenger landed successfully on May 6 at 09:11:04 PDT at Edwards.
After returning to the Kennedy Space Center, Challenger was in an OPF from May 12 – June 24, before being rolled to the VAB for mating and then out to Pad-A on June 29 ahead of a planned July 12 launch on STS-51F.
Pad processing proceeded nominally, as did the countdown. On July 12, the Ground Launch Sequencer handed off control of the countdown and Challenger’s critical systems to Challenger’s onboard computers at T-31secs.
At T-6.6 seconds, with all systems polling “go,” Challenger’s computers sent the commands to start the SSMEs in a 120-millisecond staggered start sequence beginning with SSME-3.
All three engines came up and began building up to full thrust.
At T-3seconds, Challenger’s computers registered a malfunction in SSME-2’s coolant valve and immediately tripped an RSLS (Redundant Set Launch Sequencer) abort. Commands to shut down SSME-2 were transmitted immediately, as were commands to inhibit the launch sequence, safe the SRB pyros, and shutdown SSMEs 3 and 1.
Thanks to the safety upgrades put in place following the STS-41D/Disocvery post-SSME start RSLS abort, post-abort safing was conducted in a methodical manner.
In the following two weeks, Challenger’s SSMEs were replaced at the launch pad and the launch was reset for July 29, 1985.
On that day, the launch was delayed 1 hour 37 minutes due to a problem with the table maintenance block update uplink. With that issue resolved, the countdown resumed and Challenger launched at 17:00 EDT on her 8th mission.
However, 3mins 13secs into the flight, one of two high pressure fuel turbopump turbine discharge temperature sensors for SSME-1 failed, leaving only one sensor active on the engine. Two minutes 12 seconds later, at Mission Elapsed Time 5mins 43secs, the second sensor failed, triggering the immediate shutdown of SSME-1.
To date, this is the only occurrence of an engine shutdown during launch for the Space Shuttle.
The shutdown of SSME-1 significantly lowered the thrust profile for Challenger and triggered the only in-flight abort in Shuttle Program history: an Abort To Orbit (ATO) which allowed Challenger and her seven-member crew to reach a lower-than-planned but safe and stable orbit.
Nonetheless, before Challenger could complete her prolonged ascent (nearly 9mins 45secs in duration due to the lost thrust from SSME-1), an identical high pressure turbopump temperature sensor failure occurred in SSME-2.
Booster Systems Engineer Jenny M. Howard in Mission Control Houston acted immediately, instructing the crew to inhibit any further automatic SSME shutdowns based on readings from the remaining sensors. This quick action prevented the loss of another engine and a possible abort scenario far more risky or far worse than the already in-progress ATO.
When Challenger finally reached orbit, several aspects of the mission were retooled to account for the lower-than-planned orbital altitude.
The flight’s primary payload was Spacelab-2, with the main mission objectives being the verification of performance of Spacelab systems and the determination of interface capability of the Shuttle orbiter.
STS-51F marked the first time the European Space Agency’s Instrument Point System was tested in orbit… with verification of its accuracy to one arc second.
After 7 days 22 hours 45 minutes and 26 seconds in space, Challenger touched down on Runway 23 at Edwards at 12:45:26 EDT on August 6. She was returned to the Kennedy Space Center on August 11.
Challenger then spent exactly 2 months in the OPF while processing for STS-61A, before rolling to the VAB on Oct. 12. The STS-61A stack was rolled out to Pad-A on Oct. 16 for an October 30 launch.
Yet again, pad processing proceeded nominally and Challenger lifted off right on time on her first attempt at 12-noon EST on October 30.
Launch of STS-61A marked the 22nd flight of the Space Shuttle, the 9th flight of Challenger, and the first and only time in history when eight people launched into space at the same time on the same vehicle.
Launched into a 57 degree 207nm orbit, Challenger’s flight was dedicated entirely to the German Spacelab (D-1) mission. The Spacelab mission encompassed 75 numbered experiments, most of which were performed more than once.
While Challenger herself was controlled through Mission Control Houston, the scientific operations were controlled from the German Space Operations Center at Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich
Challenger glided back to Earth on November 6, landing on Runway 17 at Edwards at 09:44:51 PST. Rollout distance was 8,304 feet over 49 seconds.
Challenger was returned to the Kennedy Space Center on November 11, where she began processing for the long-awaited and much anticipated STS-51L mission.
Spending just over a month in the OPF, Challenger was rolled to the VAB on December 16 for mating with her ET and SRB stack.
The entire STS-51L stack was moved to Launch Complex 39B on December 22, 1985. With the rollout of Challenger to Pad-B, it marked the first time a Space Shuttle orbiter graced Pad-B as well as the first of 19 times in SSP history when both Shuttle launch pads at Kennedy were occupied simultaneously. (Columbia was on Pad-A following the mounting delays to her STS-61C mission).
When Challenger arrived at Pad-B, her primary payload, the TDRS-B satellite was loaded into her payload bay, and processing continued toward a targeted launch date of January 22, 1986 at 15:43 EST.
However, due to delays to the STS-61C mission, the launch date was slipped to the January 23, then 24th.
The launch was then moved again to January 25 due to unacceptable weather conditions at the mission’s Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) site in Dakar, Senegal. The decision was then made to utilize Casablanca as an alternate TAL site. However, since Casablanca was not equiped to handle a night landing, the launch time on January 25 was moved to the morning.
The launch was then quickly delayed again to January 26 when ground teams were unable to meet the new target launch time. The forecast for unacceptable launch site weather on January 26 then prompted launch personnel to move the launch to January 27.
The weather on January 26 would have been more than acceptable for launch.
On January 27, Challenger’s flight crew boarded the vehicle and all appeared to be going well, with the only concern being winds at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF).
However, when the closeout crew went to close and lock Challenger’s hatch for flight, they were unable to remove the locking tool from the hatch. Numerous attempts to the remove the tool failed. Eventually, a saw was delivered to Pad-B and the tool sawed off and the attaching bolt drilled out.
The closeout crew then continued and finished closeout operations. However, during the delay caused by this issue, crosswinds at the SLF exceed RTLS (Return to Launch Site) abort limits and the launch was scrubbed for 24hrs.
In the overnight hours, temperatures at the launch pad dropped into the teens (degrees F). Water pipes at the launch pad were opened to prevent them from freezing and bursting, thus creating icicles of significant length on the launch pad structure.
Fueling of Challenger’s External Tank began in the early morning hours. Launch was delayed by two hours when the hardware interface module in the launch processing system, which monitors fire detection systems, failed during liquid hydrogen loading.
With the resolution of this issue and Challenger’s ET fully fueled, Challenger’s flight crew – Commander Francis R. Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialist 1 (MS 1) Judith A. Resnik, MS2/Flight Engineer Ellison Onizuka, MS3 Ronald E. McNair, Payload Specialist 1 (PS 1) Gregory B. Jarvis, and PS2 Sharon Christa McAuliffe – once again boarded Challenger.
Final polls were conducted and all stations polled “go” for launch.
At 11:38 EST on the dot, Challenger’s SRBs ignited and the Space Shuttle Challenger launched on the 25th Space Shuttle flight, which was her 10th flight and first Space Shuttle flight from Pad-B.
Challenger executed a 90-degree roll off Pad-B, to place her onto the proper alignment for a 28.5 degree inclination orbit, and climbed quickly and gracefully into the crystal clear Florida sky.
At 11:39:13 EST on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger and her seven member crew slipped from view.
Addressing a grieving and disheartened nation that night, President Ronald Reagan stated: “Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.
“And perhaps we’ve forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe.
“For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we’re thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, ‘Give me a challenge, and I’ll meet it with joy.’ They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.
“We’ve grown used to wonders in this century. It’s hard to dazzle us. But for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that. We’ve grown used to the idea of space, and, perhaps we forget that we’ve only just begun. We’re still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.
“And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle’s take-off. I know it’s hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It’s all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It’s all part of taking a chance and expanding man’s horizons. The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we’ll continue to follow them.
“I’ve always had great faith in and respect for our space program. And what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don’t hide our space program. We don’t keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That’s the way freedom is, and we wouldn’t change it for a minute.
“We’ll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here our hopes and our journeys continue.
“I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA, or who worked on this mission and tell them: ‘Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it.’
“There’s a coincidence today. On this day three hundred and ninety years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, ‘He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.’ Well, today, we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake’s, complete.
“The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth to ‘touch the face of God.'”
During the course of the planned 6 day mission, Challenger’s crew would have deployed TDRS-B on Flight Day 1 (FD 1).
On Flight Day 2, the Comet Halley Active Monitoring Program (CHAMP) experiment was scheduled to begin. Also scheduled were the initial “teacher in space” video tapings. A firing of the OMS engines to place Challenger at the 152-mile orbital altitude from which the Spartan satellite would be deployed was also scheduled.
On Flight Day 3, the crew was to begin pre-deployment preparations on Spartan before deploying the satellite using the SRMS.
On Flight Day 4, the Challenger was to begin closing on Spartan while Gregory B. Jarvis continued fluid dynamics experiments started on FD-2 and FD-3. Live telecasts were also planned to be conducted by Christa McAuliffe.
On Flight Day 5, the crew was to rendezvous with Spartan and use the SRMS to capture the satellite and re-stow it in the payload bay.
On Flight Day 6, re-entry preparations were scheduled, followed on FD-7 by reentry and landing at the Kennedy Space Center.
Yet, Challenger’s mission objectives – deploying TDRS-B and flying a teaching in space – would be carried our by her sisters. TDRS-B’s replacement was deployed by Discovery during the STS-26 Return to Flight mission in September 1988.
But perhaps most fitting, school teacher Barbara Morgan, Christa McAuliffe’s backup, would realize her and Christa’s dream on August 8, 2007 when she launched as a full Mission Specialist on Space Shuttle Endeavour’s – Challenger’s replacement – STS-118 mission to the International Space Station.
In all, Space Shuttle Challenger deployed 10 satellites in her 10 mission career. She spent a total of 62 days 7 hours 56 minutes and 22 seconds in space, travelling 25,803,936 miles in 995 orbits of Earth.
And as we pause today to remember the Challenger crew, it is of great importance to remember the cause for which they freely served: the pursuit of scientific knowledge, education, and understanding. This is the cause for which we continue to fly, and cause for which we can never forget.
Space Shuttle Disasters
1. Space Shuttle Challenger
The disaster that occurred with Space Shuttle Challenger remains one of the worst space disasters in NASA’s history and it led to the deaths of all the crew members present on board. Mrely 73 seconds after the launch, the shuttle burst into flames and started hurtling down towards the Earth. Later studies revealed that the crew were probably alive during this time and died because of the strong impact of the shuttle with the ocean at 333 kilometres per hour. This disaster was caused by a faulty mechanical gasket in the fuel compartment which led the shuttle to go up in flames.
Its been now 33 years of the U.S. shuttle orbiter Challenger blew itself just after 73 seconds of its launch killing all 7 astronauts on board. It looks like an explosion, however, it is not an explosion, actually, seal in the shuttle’s right solid-fuel rocket booster that was designed to prevent leaks from the fuel tank during liftoff weakened because of frigid temperatures and failed. After that, hot gas began pouring through the leak and later fuel tank itself collapsed and tore apart creating a huge fireball of liquid oxygen and hydrogen.
2. Space Shuttle Columbia
This space disaster took place in 2003 and was one of the most shocking since it came after the shuttle had completed its mission, on the way to re-entry into the atmosphere of Earth. The Shuttle was launched from Kennedy Space Centre and the crew was to stay in space for two weeks, conducting various experiments in a dedicated pod called ‘Spacehab”. After the pre-decided 2 week stay they started their decent, and merely 16 minutes away from the Earth, the shuttle exploded. Investigations revealed that it had collided with debris during the launch sequence and this causes damage to the left wing, from where not gases had entered and caused the blast. All the members on board died in this blast.
The second space disaster after Challenger that saw a failure at the time of launch in the year 1986. The space shuttle successfully completed 27 missions, the STS 107 was its 28th mission. According to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, it was caused because of a piece of insulating foam that broke off that caused a hole in the leading edge of the left wing less than two minutes into the flight. The crew members of the Mission STS 107 includes Michael Anderson, Payload Commander David Brown, Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist Laurel Clark, Mission Specialist Rick Husband, Shuttle Commander William “Willie” McCool, Shuttle Pilot and Ilan Ramon, Payload Specialist. The total cost of the investigation was $400 million that involves more than 2,500 workers and over 85,000 pieces of debris.
3. Soyuz 11
One of the most horrible space disasters to have struck a Russian spacecraft, this is also the only example of a disaster where the crew died in outer space. The Soyuz 11 successfully began its journey and the planned three-week stay in space. The crew conducted various experiments including tests to determine the effect of prolonged weightlessness on the human body and were set to return on the 22nd day. However, just before the decent, one of the valves in the shuttle malfunctioned and caused a sudden depressurisation of the shuttle. The crew died within a minute due to high altitude decompression.
On 30 June 1971, the soviet union is all set to welcome its three latest cosmonaut heroes back to Earth after an amazing space mission. The Soyuz 11 mission includes Georgi Dobrovolski, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev who spent 23 days in orbit but they have also occupied the world’s true space station. It was one of the fitting response to the USA after placing a man on the Moon, however, tragic news was that all the entire crew was dead. This resulted in hemorrhages, internal bleeding and damaged eardrums which ultimately led to their deaths.
4. Soyuz T-10
This Shuttle was launched in 1975 and a mere 5 minutes after launch, it began rapidly descending towards the Earth. The craft faced a force of more than 21G (the force experienced by a Boeing aircraft during takeoff is merely 0.35G) and had tunnel vision and black and white vision and was also dangerously close to losing consciousness. However, all three cosmonauts survived the descent and landed on a mountainside in Siberia. From there, they tumbled towards a 500-foot cliff. However, the strings of the parachute caught onto a tree and saved the crew from almost certain death.
5. Soyuz 1
Soyuz was an ambitious plan by the Soviet Union to put people in space and the launch of the first Soyuz Shuttle was highly anticipated. Onboard this shuttle was only one cosmonaut – Colonel Vladimir Komarov. Minutes after the launch, however, the solar panel that powered the shuttle failed to open and the shuttle was running low on power while orbiting the Earth. Komarov tried everything right down to kicking the inside of the shuttle to get the panel to dislodge, but all efforts failed. An attempt to send another shuttle to rescue the first one had to be abandoned due to an electrical storm. Despite all odds, the Colonel managed to manually re-enter into the Earth’s atmosphere but the chutes failed to open. It is estimated that he was alive and conscious until the point of impact with the Earth.
6. Voskhod 2
In 1965, Voskhod became the first shuttle to complete an ‘Extra Vehicular Activity’, known as a spacewalk, but was remembered more for its disastrous landing and the following rescue. On re-entry, the automatic orientation device failed and the cosmonauts had to land the craft manually. They finally touched down in the forests in the Ural Mountains with no habitation nearby. The command centre was not sure if the shuttle landed successfully until it was spotted by a helicopter. A rescue attempt was made the next day and the crew was evacuated to a nearby clearing and reported that their mission had been successful.
7. Apollo 1
The tragedy that hit Apollo 1 is one of the worst space disasters in history mainly because is occurred not during the actual launch but during a simulation. The 3 crew members were preparing for a later launch and the initial stages were filled with technical glitches and malfunctions. Finally, after hours of improvisation, the countdown reached T minus 10 minutes and one of the astronauts reported a fire in the cockpit. Within 17 seconds, all of the crew members were dead because of carbon monoxide poisoning.
8. Gemini 8
The Gemini program was designed to support the Apollo Lunar Program and in 1966, the Gemini 8 was to attempt a space docking – the first ever attempted. There were two men on board including Astronaut Neil Armstrong. The shuttle succeeded in its mission but started to tumble violently after docking with the vessel. The astronauts were forced to disengage, but continued to tumble and were at a risk of losing consciousness. The problem lied with one of the thrusters which malfunctioned causing this unusual movement. The craft was forced to land merely 11 hours after takeoff.
9. Soyuz 23
This shuttle had completed various missions before this fateful launch in 1976, which turned out to be one of the worst space disasters and also one of the most miraculous rescues ever attempted. The launch was plagued with problems from the start. First, the bus transporting the cosmonauts to the launch pad broke down. Then the shuttle to shift off-course due to strong winds at the launch pad. Once in orbit, the docking program malfunctioned and turned the shuttle away from the space station and Soyuz was forced to abandon the mission and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. Once again due to strong winds, the shuttle landed on a freezing lake and sunk to the bottom. The helicopter attempting to pull it out was unsuccessful and the cosmonauts spend the whole night at the bottom of the lake in sub-zero temperatures. The next day, the craft was pulled to shore and miraculously, both the crew members had survived!
10. X-15 Flight 3-65-97
In 1967, Michael J Adams prepared for his seventh flight in a small experimental aircraft called X-15 and the launch was successful. Adams reached an altitude of 81,000 meters and initiated a wing rocking manoeuvre to enable the camera attached to the craft to scan the horizon. However, this began a series of technical failures. The rocking became more intense the craft went into a Mach 5 spin, followed by a Mach 4.7 inverted fall. This caused the plane to experience intense pressure and at 20,000 meters above the ground, the plane exploded, killing Adams.
These are the 10 most space shuttle disasters in history. Do post your comments.
Remembering Columbia's inaugural flight — NASA's first space shuttle launch
Monday, April 12th 2021, 5:57 am - On this day in weather history, the Columbia launched for its inaugural flight.
Listen to The Weather Network's This Day in Weather History podcast on this topic, here.
This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by The Weather Network that features stories about people, communities, and events and how weather impacted them.
On Sunday, Apr. 12, 1981, Space Transportation System-1 launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The shuttle, called Columbia, was NASA's first orbital flight, meaning it travelled around Earth. And it did so 36 times.
The spaceflight was supposed to launch two days earlier, but a technical problem delayed takeoff. So, coincidentally, the Columbia launched exactly 20 years after Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel to space.
"The Apr. 12 launch at Pad 39A of STS-1, just seconds past 7 a.m., carries astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen into an Earth orbital mission scheduled to last for 54 hours, ending with unpowered landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California." Courtesy of NASA/Wikipedia
Aboard the flight was the mission's commander, John W. Young, and the pilot Robert L. Crippen. It was the State's first manned mission since the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project in 1975.
"The STS-1 crew members are Commander, John W. Young and Pilot Robert L. Crippen." Courtesy of NASA
The Challenger was the first aircraft-like shuttle that launched like a rocket and landed like a plane.
After two days, six hours, 20 minutes, and 53 seconds, the Columbia landed, having travelled 1,728,000 km.
The Columbia approaching Launch Pad 39A. Courtesy of NASA
This mission was the start of regular trips with the Columbia. The space shuttle program was paused in 1986, when the Challenger exploded 74 seconds after launch, killing the seven people aboard.
The Columbia resumed flight and completed 27 missions before disintegrating on re-entry on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2003, during its 28 trips. All seven crew members died.
To learn more about the Columbia, listen to today's episode of "This Day In Weather History."
This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by The Weather Network that features unique and informative stories from host Chris Mei.
ISS Historical Timeline
Reagan directs NASA to build the ISS
January 25, 1984
President Ronald Reagan's State of the Union Address directs NASA to build an international space station within the next 10 years.
First ISS Segment Launches
November 20, 1998
The first segment of the ISS launches: a Russian proton rocket named Zarya ("sunrise").
First U.S.-built component launches
December 4, 1998
Unity, the first U.S.-built component of the International Space Station launches—the first Space Shuttle mission dedicated to assembly of the station.
First Crew to Reside on Station
November 2, 2000
Astronaut Bill Shepherd and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev become the first crew to reside onboard the station, staying several months.
U.S. Lab Module Added
February 7, 2001
Destiny, the U.S. Laboratory module, becomes part of the station. Destiny continues to be the primary research laboratory for U.S. payloads.
U.S. Lab Module Recognized as Newest U.S. National Laboratory
Congress designates the U.S. portion of the ISS as the nation's newest national laboratory to maximize its use for other U.S. government agencies and for academic and private institutions.
European Lab Joins the ISS
February 7, 2008
The European Space Agency’s Columbus Laboratory becomes part of the station.
Japanese Lab Joins the ISS
March 11, 2008
The first Japanese Kibo laboratory module becomes part of the station.
ISS 10-Year Anniversary
November 2, 2010
The ISS celebrates its 10-year anniversary of continuous human occupation. Since Expedition 1 in the fall of 2000, 202 people had visited the station.
NASA Issues Cooperative Agreement
February 14, 2011
NASA issues a cooperative agreement notice for a management partner.
NASA Selects the ISS National Lab
July 13, 2011
NASA selects the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space to manage the ISS National Lab.
The First ISS National Lab Research Flight
Proteins can be grown as crystals in space with nearly perfect three-dimensional structures useful for the development of new drugs. The ISS National Lab's protein crystal growth (PCG) series of flights began in 2013, allowing researchers to utilize the unique environment of the ISS.


MOON MINING: I wouldn’t mind seeing a greater human presence on the moon. If I ran the zoo we’d be building an observatory on the far side of the moon right now. Or, we might be dropping remote-controlled robots that people on Earth could manipulate through the web. Could it be that our current administration might encourage NASA to initiate a moon mission sooner rather than later?
Motherboard reports that “the transition team asked for an update on NASA’s efforts to survey the Moon for valuable minerals and gases using resource-prospector drones.” NASA is amenable to the idea and responded with several projects it has in the works to accomplish more moon research.
“NASA envisions a future in which low Earth orbit is largely the domain of commercial activity while NASA leads its international and commercial partners in the human exploration of deep space,” the agency wrote in its response to the Trump teams’ inquiry.
Maybe the jobless coal miners can get jobs mining asteroids. The future!
MOON ORBITING: NASA also recently reported that it is interested in building a “crew tended spaceport in lunar orbit,” aka a Deep Space Gateway.
“This deep space gateway would have a power bus, a small habitat to extend crew time, docking capability, an airlock, and serviced by logistics modules to enable research. The propulsion system on the gateway mainly uses high power electric propulsion for station keeping and the ability to transfer among a family of orbits in the lunar vicinity.”
Kind of like the ISS, but orbiting the moon and allowing crew to prep before a lunar landing, or before venturing deeper into space to the asteroids or to Mars.
MOON TOURISM: SpaceX claims it will fly two tourists around the moon in 2018.
“We are excited to announce that SpaceX has been approached to fly two private citizens on a trip around the Moon late next year. They have already paid a significant deposit to do a Moon mission.”
MOON HATING: Sam Kriss writes in The Atlantic “Why the Patriarchy Hates the Moon.” He uses the Cold War plans by the US and the USSR (independently) to nuke the moon as a launching pad to explore the moon as “as an object of fear, hate, and distrust.”
“In the early modern witch-hunts, an emerging capitalism’s great war against its women, the nexus of the witch’s unbearable powers was held to lie somewhere in the web of connections between the body, the menstrual cycle, and the moon above us. The Malleus Maleficarum, the great and hideous Catholic treatise against witchcraft, insists that demonic powers are “deeply affected by certain phases of the Moon.” And in most of Mediterranean traditions that congealed into the ideologies of the west, lunar deities tend to be female.”
MOON DESTROYING: Bob and David have the technology to blow up the moon.
EDITORIAL: When I was young we went to the moon. As a child I assumed this was the new normal. I imagined I would come of age in a world that progressively gained greater purchase in the void. To some degree that has happened. The International Space Station is so common-place it’s rarely newsworthy.
As I’ve grown I’ve lost much of my youthful idealism about NASA. I was taught that it was a benign entity, separate from the war machine, but of course, that’s not the case. I also have a deeper appreciation now of human misery and am more sympathetic to the arguments that spending money on healthcare maybe should be a higher priority than sending spaceships into the Oort cloud. I continue to argue for the value of pure research, but I understand the situation is more complicated than I once believed.
I have mixed feelings about a Trump administration success in near space. I’d love for moon trips to be a regular thing in years to come! That would be a signal that my childhood fantasies can come true. But, knowing how such a thing came to pass might forever ruin the taste of that victory. On the other hand, we’d have people living on the fucking moon!


+49 173 344 9315 firstname.lastname@example.org
To be recognized worlwide as the number one aerial survey company of choice.
We are committed to provide the best quality, flexibility, customer service and performance in the industry.
Our goal is to build strong relationships, demand safety at all levels of operation and continue to support the entrepreneurial spirit that has been the cornerstrone of our company's rich heritage.
Our fleet of Cessna 206 for lease
dry or wet.
Our Cessna 206 are available for lease dry or wet. Fully modified for Aerial Mapping cameras with a 20 inch holes in belly. N-registered and based in Europe, Hawaï and USA.
Our pilots are highly proficient in aerial survey flights. Lidar or oblique digital cameras also available to be installed in the leased aircraft. We can also subcontract your topographic, lidar or oblique flying mission.


In cinematography, the need for drone cameras to record video has increased. It is unsurprising that the job would be improved by this innovation, given that most individuals have full-time jobs and technology advancements alter many aspects of life on a daily basis.
The QuadAir drone camera is a dynamic, lightweight gadget that can be controlled from close range or at arm’s length. It boasts an extendable frame that gives customers more opportunities to shoot a high-quality film without requiring them to carry more weight.
About QuadAir Drone
This drone is a travel-friendly, multifunctional, portable device. With its four rotors and folding design, it flies like a pro in every situation, including windy beaches and disaster zones, due to its superior performance.
QuadAir Drone is an excellent option for anybody seeking a reasonably-priced drone with a high level of capability. This product is available solely via the company’s website, where it is priced at $99 per unit and discounted by 60%.
QuadAir is a powerful and reasonably priced quadcopter. It has gravity sensors that automatically identify the ground and modify its route, as well as a high-definition camera with a slow-motion option for those who want to capture the ideal image every time.
Features of Quad Air Drone
QuadAir drones are meant to be small and simple to transport. With their propellers folded inward, they can easily fit into a backpack or briefcase without reducing performance. Additionally, the protective housing that comes with each quadcopter eliminates the risk of damage during transportation.
Gravity Sensor: The Quadcopter’s Gravity Sensor allows it to identify and avoid obstacles. QuadAir Drone automatically alters its route to avoid colliding with anything on or near the ground.
HD Films and Photos: The QuadAir drone is a high-tech, streamlined aircraft that is capable of capturing HD videos at 60 frames per second and delivering crystal clear photographs. Other drones allow the attachment of cameras, but this one is equipped by the manufacturer.
Slow Motion Capability: The QuadAir Drone’s slow-motion mode is one of its most fascinating features. People may relive their favorite moments and slow them down to get a better perspective, or they can record that critical video in high quality using this technology.
Manufacturers of the QuadAir drone say it is the fastest and biggest drone in its size class, with a top speed of 30 mph and a flying altitude of 300 feet. It has a maximum speed of 30 mph and a range between 50 meters and 2 kilometers.
Easy Control:QuadAir Drone is the ideal drone for beginners and pros because of its easy control. If individuals are interested in converting their house into a company, the controls are intuitive and yet produce professional-quality film.
Shoot Like a Pro: users should purchase the new QuadAir drone immediately to shoot like a pro. This superb flying camera is pre-programmed and incorporates complex features such as boomerangs and asteroids, so it can be flown without any prior training.
QuadAir Drone is a sleek and steady drone that is capable of taking images and movies with ease. It boasts four rotors for improved stability, making it a good option in terms of both video quality and flight speed.
The QuadAir drone is an affordably-priced, high-quality flying camera with capabilities not seen on less expensive versions. The speed of this drone is 30mph and it has boomerang and slow-motion modes to shoot videos.
Working of Quad Air Drone
QuadAir Drone is an inexpensive way to have some fun on the phone. Install the app, connect the provided controller, and launch.
People searching for an inexpensive method to produce videos might find this to be the solution since it reportedly functions similarly to other drones on the market but costs just $30, so try it out before it’s gone forever.
A quadcopter drone is a mobile phone-controllable flying device.
Two antennae on the drone give signals to it and receive input from the phone. By rapidly manipulating these on-screen knobs, users may alter their speed and altitude.
The QuadAir Drone is an innovative, high-quality, user-friendly drone. This gadget is safe for beginner pilots because of the gravity sensor and other warning devices. While learning to fly a quadcopter or any other sort of remote-controlled aircraft, they should not fear crashing.
When the QuadAir Drone has completed its flight, it may be folded and carried in a bag. Additionally, the controller folds up nicely, making carrying their new toy a breeze.
Capturing images and movies using QuadAir Drone is a breeze.
The HD camera on the new QuadAir drone enables users to record photographs and films in high resolution while in flight. This quadcopter’s cutting-edge technology will make it easier for individuals to document their travels in exquisite detail.
The camera can identify flying objects and begin recording automatically. Individuals may alter their gadgets’ settings to capture customized photographs.
With GPS technology, anyone can fly their drones swiftly and with the assurance that they are always in view. They get the whole 3-D film without having to worry about losing anything or being hurt on location.
Benefits of the QuadAir Drone
Photographers and videographers may benefit greatly from the use of a quadcopter drone. Its capacity to soar high in the sky enables it to snap images and films of unparalleled clarity and quality!
The quadcopter drone will enable individuals to capture high-definition films and photographs of their lives. This portable gadget is ideal for indoor and outdoor usage.
Quad Air is the ideal partner for every kind of activity. They can survive outside circumstances and fly inside, making it simple for customers to bring them on any upcoming vacation.
One of the fascinating features of quadcopters is their ability to fly at great heights, allowing users to capture stunning panoramas using HD720p cameras. The portable nature of this gadget is facilitated by its lightweight construction.
The QuadAir drone is the ideal device for anybody interested in aerial photography. It is compatible with almost every sort of program, making it simple enough for non-tech-savvy people.
Applications of a drone
Drones have become the toy of choice for many children and adults. Those who fly them about their houses, negotiating obstacles in order to have fun, employ them. Land surveyors and professional photographers use this for their day-day job.
A drone may be used in a number of ways to shoot video from various perspectives. For instance, business enterprises may use them for real estate photography or professional land surveys. They do this when they would not otherwise have access to shooting locations on private land without trespassing. Homeowners may also find it useful as a cheap alternative to employing someone full-time, allowing them to attend important events such as their children’s sports games.
Beginner Pack: One QuadAir Drone in the Beginner Pack costs $99 plus $7.95 delivery.
Aviator Pack: Three QuadAir Drones are $197 ($65.67 each) and free shipping.
Pro Pilot Pack: Five QuadAir Drones are included in the Pro Pilot Pack for $297 ($59.40 each) with free delivery.
A Protection Replacement Plan may be purchased for $29.95 that will cover any damage to the drone if it breaks or is lost within a year.
The QuadAir Drone comes with a 30-day (one-month) money-back guarantee. Within this time frame, customers may seek a refund if they are unhappy with their purchase for whatever reason.
Where can people buy QuadAir?
On the company’s official website, customers may make orders for this item with free delivery. All purchasers have access to a 30-day money-back guarantee if they are dissatisfied with their purchase, and customer service will give help as required throughout this period. This item features several remarkable attributes that make it worthwhile to get while supplies last.
Does QaudAir have a built-in, pre-programmed camera mode?
This drone’s revolutionary camera settings enable novice users to capture photographs with a professional appearance. The two preprogrammed cameras are a boomerang and an asteroid, each built for a distinct purpose but equally capable of capturing the ideal image.
Is QuadAir straightforward to operate?
Due to its straightforward instructions, the QuadAir drone is simple and easy to operate. This quadcopter needs the use of remote controls, with written instructions that make operation simple for pilots with minimum expertise.
Conclusion: Quad Air Drone
QuadAir Drone is a budget-friendly, lightweight drone that offers premium functionality for the price. It is easy to fly because of its lightweight and compact construction, and its modest size helps keep things simple for beginners.
The QuadAir drone is ideal for capturing aerial photographs and films. These drones are equipped with HD cameras for shooting excellent photographs. In addition, they have a gravity sensor for capturing fluid motion or underwater film.