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 U.S. Space Shuttle program operated for 30 years (1981-2011) using reusable vehicles to transport astronauts and supplies, primarily to the International Space Station.
Of the six shuttles built, two were tragically lost (Challenger and Columbia), while the remaining three flight-certified orbiters (Atlantis, Discovery, Endeavour) are now displayed in museums in Florida, Virginia, and California.
The non-flight test vehicle Enterprise is housed in New York City, and various astronaut training artifacts are also preserved in museums in Seattle and Houston.

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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.