Happy would-be 40th Birthday Space Shuttle program

On January 5, 1972 then President Richard Nixon announced the full scale development of the Space Shuttle Program.  “ I have decided today” he went on to say, “ That the United States should proceed at once with the development of an entirely new type of space transportation system designed to help transform the space frontier of the 1970's into familiar territory, easily accessible for human endeavor in the 1980's and '90's.” Seven years later the first fully functional orbiter, Columbia, was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center. 

Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and finally Endeavour have all captured the imagination of the American public. With 135 flights under its belt, the Shuttle Program pushed America’s technological prowess to a whole new level far outpacing rival nations. Without NASA and the Shuttle Program we would have never had the delight of Astronaut Ice Cream, 50% of the Bill Nye the Science Guy episodes and the childhood dreams of billions of children, including mine (and yours! C’mon don’t lie!), around the world. 

 To learn more about the exploration of space read Astronomy For Beginners.