Editing Shuttle–Mir program (section)

===Space Shuttle===
{{Main|Space Shuttle}}
[[Image:STS-79 rollout.jpg|thumb|An overhead view of ''Atlantis'' as it sits atop the [[Mobile Launcher Platform]] (MLP) before [[STS-79]]|alt=An overhead view of a spaceplane, coloured white on its topside and black on its underside, attached to a large orange tank, to which two slender white rockets are also attached. A gray platform supporting this stack serves as the background.]]
The Space Shuttle was a partially [[reusable launch system|reusable]] [[low Earth orbit]]al [[spacecraft]] system that was operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. [[NASA|National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] (NASA) as part of the [[Space Shuttle program]].  Its official program name was ''Space Transportation System (STS)'', taken from a 1969 plan for [[Space Transportation System|a system of reusable spacecraft]] of which it was the only item funded for development.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/taskgrp.html |title=Space Task Group Report, 1969 |first=Roger D. |last=Launius |publisher=NASA |access-date=2019-08-15 |archive-date=2018-12-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224003836/https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/taskgrp.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights beginning in 1982. In addition to the prototype, whose completion was cancelled, five complete Shuttle systems were built and used on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011, launched from the [[Kennedy Space Center]] (KSC) in Florida. The Shuttle fleet's total mission time was 1322 days, 19 hours, 21 minutes and 23 seconds.<ref name="ShuttleByNumbers">{{cite web |url=http://www.space.com/12376-nasa-space-shuttle-program-facts-statistics.html |title=NASA's Space Shuttle By the Numbers: 30 Years of a Spaceflight Icon |publisher=Space.com |date=July 21, 2011 |access-date=June 18, 2014 |author=Malik, Tarik |archive-date=May 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190523041156/https://www.space.com/12376-nasa-space-shuttle-program-facts-statistics.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Space Shuttle carried large payloads to various orbits, and, during the Shuttle–''Mir'' and ISS programs, provided crew rotation and carried various supplies, modules and pieces of equipment to the stations. Each Shuttle was designed for a projected lifespan of 100 launches or 10 years' operational life.<ref name="Basics">{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/system/system_STS.html|title=Shuttle Basics|publisher=NASA|access-date=September 21, 2009|date=March 5, 2006|author=Jim Wilson|archive-date=October 3, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091003032520/http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/system/system_STS.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="SSS">{{cite book|author=David M. Harland|title=The Story of the Space Shuttle|date=July 5, 2004|publisher=Springer-Praxis|isbn=978-1-85233-793-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/storyofspaceshut0000harl}}</ref>

Nine docking missions were flown to ''Mir'', from 1995 to 1997 during "Phase One": Space Shuttle {{OV|104|full=no}} docked seven times to ''Mir'', with {{OV|103|full=no}} and {{OV|105|full=no}} each flying one docking mission to ''Mir''. As Space Shuttle {{OV|102|full=no}} was the oldest and heaviest of the fleet, it was not suited for efficient operations at ''Mir''{{'s}} (and later the [[International Space Station|ISS's]]) 51.6-degree inclination – ''Columbia'' was therefore not retrofitted with the necessary external airlock and Orbital Docking System, and never flew to a space station.<ref name="MissionChronicle">{{cite report|author=Sue McDonald|title=Mir Mission Chronicle|publisher=NASA|date=December 1998|url=http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/_techrep/TP-1998-208920.pdf|access-date=March 30, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100531210016/http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/_techrep/TP-1998-208920.pdf|archive-date=May 31, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Shuttle–Mir History/Spacecraft/Space Shuttle Orbiter|publisher=NASA|author=Kim Dismukes|date=April 4, 2004|url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/spacecraft/to-s-orb.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011110151412/http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/spacecraft/to-s-orb.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 10, 2001|access-date = March 30, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/features/000414overhaul/weightloss.html|publisher=Spaceflight Now|access-date=October 29, 2009|date=April 14, 2000|author=Justin Ray|title=Columbia Weight Loss Plan|archive-date=June 7, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607102729/http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/features/000414overhaul/weightloss.html|url-status=live}}</ref>