space shuttle Discovery's liftoff
an airplane ferrying a space shuttle in air
a column of smoke under shuttle
space shuttle Atlantis liftoff
the Shuttle Challenger explosion
shuttle docked at Mir space station
shuttle heading to launchpad
shuttle lands on runway
shuttle Columbia blasting off
space shuttle Endeavour launching at night
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Discovery Liftoff
U.S. space shuttle Discovery blasts off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, heading for the International Space Station. The world's first reusable spacecraft, the space shuttle launches like a rocket, maneuvers in orbit like a spacecraft, and lands like an airplane. There are three shuttles now in operation: Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.
Photograph courtesy NASA

U.S. Space Shuttles

See photos of U.S. space shuttles in this photo gallery from National Geographic.

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