#Nasa space shuttle sale plus#
With 2,354 pieces, this engaging challenge lets you build the Space Shuttle Discovery, plus the Hubble Space Telescope, launched on NASA’s STS-31 mission in 1990. Updated 3-6-19, 5 pm EST: The R40b engine is no longer being manufactured and is not used to power geostationary satellites, as previously stated.Pieces: 2354 Ages: 18+ Years Model Number: 10283 Description:Ĭelebrate the wonders of space with this LEGO® NASA Space Shuttle Discovery (10283) model building set for adults. But that means that when the SLS finally launches, it could end up being piloted by someone younger than the engines beneath it. In other words, it's in Boeing’s interest to keep the space shuttle’s hardware, first designed in the 1970s, alive for as long as possible. “If Boeing uses its old hardware, then it can charge whatever it wants, because Boeing is the only contractor qualified to work on them,” the executive says. At the end of the shuttle program, Boeing acquired the designs and specifications for its engines and other parts. One explanation, according to a senior space industry executive who asked to remain anonymous, is that it protects Boeing’s position as the US government’s preferred contractor. So why would Boeing choose the R40b rather a newer engine straight off the production line? Although old engines generally store very well, deterioration is always a concern. In 2014, it was proposed to power a scientific mission to Mars. The R40b has not been manufactured since the 1980s, but numerous examples remain in storage at NASA and possibly elsewhere. NASA now expects the SLS to cost double its original budget and to arrive nearly three years late. Other systems, including the airlocks, were set aside for potential reuse in future spacecraft.īut if reusing shuttle parts is meant as a thrifty design choice, that approach hasn't always led to cheaper aerospace projects. Some parts, like the shuttle’s windows, were saved so they could be used to study the stresses imposed by repeated launches and by micro-meteoroid impacts while in orbit. Known as the R40b, the engine was originally developed to allow shuttles to adjust their speed and direction while in orbit, helping the iconic spacecraft to deploy the Hubble Telescope and parts of the International Space Station.īefore the three surviving shuttles were sent to their final resting places at museums, NASA instructed technicians to strip them of thousands of important components. A Space Act Agreement signed in 2018 shows that the aerospace company wants to include a handful of the shuttle’s smaller orbital thrusters in a secret Department of Defense project. Now yet more shuttle hardware is getting ready to fly again, also within Boeing's empire.
This vehicle is designed to offer swift, aircraft-like access to space. An experimental autonomous Darpa spaceplane, called the Phantom Express, will also rely on a shuttle engine. Modified left-over shuttle engines will power NASA’s delayed Space Launch System (SLS), a giant launch vehicle intended for lunar missions and, eventually, Mars. But the program isn’t dead yet: Many of its parts are popping up as zombie components in spacecraft now in development. Three spacecraft survive in retirement as specimens in museums around the country. In 2011, the storied space shuttle flew for the last time.
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