Discovery was delivered in November 1983. The Orbiter Challenger was delivered to KSC in July 1982 and was destroyed in an explosion during ascent in January 1986. Columbia and the STS-107 crew were lost Feb. The name of NASA's youngest orbiter, Endeavour was selected from names submitted by school children around the world.Ĭolumbia was the first Space Shuttle orbiter to be delivered to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., in March 1979. Another important criterion in the selection process was consideration for the international nature of the Space Shuttle program. NASA searched through the history books to find ships which achieved historical significance through discoveries about the world's oceans or the Earth itself. America's fleet of Space Shuttle orbiters were named after pioneering sea vessels which established new frontiers in research and exploration. NASA also had two orbiters no longer in service (Challenger and Columbia) and one orbiter that was used as a test article (Enterprise). NASA retired its three operational orbiters at the end of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011 (Atlantis, Discovery, Endeavour).

The orbiter was the heart and brains of the Space Shuttle and served as the crew transport vehicle that carried astronauts to and from space. Figure: Space Shuttle Atlantis while in orbit.

Space shuttle orbiter