Museum Guide: Space Shuttles on Display

Here's where you can see aerospace history artifacts up close.

Monday, March 25, 2024 at 11:47 AM ET

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On October 3, 1985, STS-51J launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on the first flight of the space shuttle Atlantis. [Courtesy: NASA]

Key Takeaways:

The Space Shuttle program operated for 30 years (1981-2011), using six vehicles (two were lost, one was for atmospheric testing only) to transport astronauts and supplies, notably to the International Space Station, before their retirement.
The remaining space-flown shuttles—Atlantis, Discovery, and Endeavour—along with the prototype Enterprise and various astronaut trainers, are now preserved and exhibited in museums across the United States.
Each displayed shuttle offers unique historical significance; for example, Atlantis is shown in spaceflight configuration, Discovery flew the most missions and launched the Hubble Telescope, and Enterprise was a test vehicle named due to a Star Trek fan campaign.

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If you are a space enthusiast, you need to make the time for an up close and personal visit with one of America’s space shuttles. Designed to be reusable vehicles capable of flying in both atmosphere and space, for 30 years the shuttles transported astronauts from many nations to space and back, often rendezvousing with the International Space Station (ISS) where they transported crew and supplies.

A total of six shuttles were built. One was designed for atmospheric testing only and never went to space, and of the remaining five, two were lost during use. The Challenger was destroyed in 1986 when a solid rocket booster exploded shortly after takeoff, and the Columbia disintegrated during reentry in 2003.