Endeavour
Orbiter OV-105
See also
Space Transportation System and
space shuttle
This orbiter is currently retired.
First flight
May 7, 1992; retired from service and title transferred to California Science Center
Oct. 12, 2011.
Flights:
STS-49 05/07/92
STS-47 09/12/92
STS-54 01/13/93
STS-57 06/21/93
STS-61 12/02/93
STS-59 04/09/94
STS-68 09/30/94
STS-67 03/02/95
STS-69 09/07/95
STS-72 01/11/96
STS-77 05/19/96
STS-89 01/22/98
STS-88 12/04/98
STS-99 02/11/00
STS-97 11/30/00
STS-100 04/19/01
NASA's operational
orbiter fleet was intended to be four
vehicles, and when
Atlantis was constructed, the were no plans to build any more. However, with the loss of
Challenger, the
fleet had been reduced to three. So, Endeavour was
commissioned as a replacement for
Challenger.
During the construction of
Atlantis and
Discovery, it was decided to have a full set of spare replacement parts built, to make repair faster in the future. These included a spare aft-
fuselage, mid-
fuselage, forward
fuselage halves,
vertical tail and
rudder, wings,
elevons and body flap. When Endeavour was
commissioned, it was built almost entirely from these spare parts.
Endeavour is
unique in the fact that it is the only
orbiter to have been named by
schoolchildren. A nationwide
contest was held in 1988-1989 to name the
orbiter. Teams of
students in
elementary and
middle schools created presentations and projects based on the team's proposed name. "Endeavour" was chosen from the many named presented, and the winning team was presented an award by
President George Bush in 1989.
The rest of the orbiter fleet:
Enterprise *
Columbia *
Challenger *
Discovery *
Atlantis