List of ISA spacecraft and vehicles

Aircraft

T-38 Talon

2 engine, 2 seat supersonic jet trainer; built by Northrop.

Used by NASA and the International Space Agency for astronaut jet training and for chase aircraft duty. NASA fleet was based out of Ellington Field in Houston, TX. ISA fleet was based at Lafayette Intercontinental Airport near Magnolia Bend, LA. For astronaut training, NASA and the ISA operated several reserved "blocks" of airspace over the Gulf of Mexico for crew training. Refueling was commonly performed at Acadiana Regional Airport in New Iberia, LA as an FBO with a government refueling contract operated there. By 2022, due to their much larger compliment of astronauts, the ISA maintained a fleet of roughly 42 aircraft.

Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

Modified Boeing 747 aircraft designed to transport NASA and ISA Space Shuttle orbiters to Florida; 6 aircraft total, with two originally modified by NASA and 3 remaining modified by the International Space Agency in 2006 ahead of their Space Shuttle assembly and a 4th partly modified.

All of the aircraft are identified by their tail numbers. The first aircraft (N905NA) was a former American Airlines 747-100 model acquired by NASA in 1974 for testing at Dryden Flight Research Center before being modified in 1976 for use as a Space Shuttle transport aircraft. Mounting struts were installed, additional vertical stabilizers were added and upgrades were made to the onboard avionics and engines. In 1988, NASA acquired a 747-100SR from Japan Airlines (N911NA) and this aircraft was first used in 1991 to ferry Space Shuttle Endeavour from its assembly facility in Palmdale, California to Florida. During their operating life, both aircraft were functionally available to the ISA if the agency required them, however no ISA Space Shuttle ever flew on NASA's SCA aircraft.

In 2008, the ISA acquired 4 747-400 aircraft from directly from Boeing; the aircraft had been originally manufactured for Saguaro Logistics Services, however the company was forced to cancel its order during assembly due to financial issues. The aircraft were purchased outright by the ISA and were converted at Lafayette Intercontinental Airport in Louisiana. 3 aircraft were fully converted to SCA configuration with the 4th being partially converted and kept in reserve for spare parts, training and as an emergency replacement. The first (N924SX) was primarily used to transport Space Shuttles back and forth from Louisiana to California to support operations from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The second (N925SX) was further converted from the standard SCA configuration to allow for midair refueling similar to the Boeing E-4B "Nightwatch" Advanced Airborne Command Post aircraft. This option was deemed necessary in preparation for missions out of Vandenberg Air Force Base but was never used in practice beyond a single test flight to Easter Island. The third aircraft (N926SX) was converted to a standard SCA configuration. The fourth aircraft (N927SX) remains at a hangar at Lafayette Intercontinental Airport.

Following NASA's retirement of its fleet of Space Shuttle orbiters in 2011, NASA's SCA aircraft were used to transport Space Shuttles Discovery and Endeavour to Virginia and California, respectively. They were then retired, with N905NA being placed on display at Space Center Houston in Texas and N911NA being placed on display in Palmdale and serving as spare parts for the SOFIA airborne observatory.

Antonov An-225

Extremely large 6 engine airplane designed to transport Buran and Baikal orbiters and additional Russian space shuttle program hardware to Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The International Space Agency funded construction of the unfinished second airframe in late 2003; Antonov delivered the aircraft in very early 2009. Later that year, the new An-225 was used to recover Space Shuttle Endeavour from Easter Island following its abort there following launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on STS-1V, as the aircraft had just enough range to travel from Easter Island to Santiago with a Space Shuttle on its back.

Following cancellation of Baikal orbiter missions by Russia, the second An-225 was retained by the ISA for use as an emergency Space Shuttle transport aircraft but was also used for heavy lift cargo operations and loaned to Antonov when not in use by the space agency.

Both aircraft were destroyed in February 2022 during the Battle of Antonov Airport, as the ISA's aircraft was undergoing planned upgrades and repairs at the airport prior to the start of hostilities.

WR-91 Aurora

Specially modified version of the SR-91 Aurora spy plane; originally built by the Blackjack division of Rubin Design Defense.

Designed to fly in excess of Mach 10 and at altitudes in excess of 135,000 feet. The aircraft's exact top speed and maximum altitude were heavily classified. The aircraft was equipped with extremely sophisticated hypersonic scramjet engines; the aircraft would accelerate to slightly beyond Mach 3 on conventional afterburning turbofan engines before transitioning to scramjet for higher speeds. 4 airframes were modified to WR (Weather Reconnaissance) variants which removed several DOD specific modifications to the airframe and added on new hardware designed for weather and atmospheric research. 2 aircraft were used by the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron in coordination with NOAA for hurricane hunter duty with the remaining 2 aircraft used by the ISA for weather research, eclipse observation missions and for tracking spacecraft during reentry.

In 2017, a pair of aircraft were used by NOAA and the ISA to perform a transcontinental chase of the total solar eclipse over the United States, with specially installed optics aimed upwards and the aircraft staying in totality for the duration of the mission. In 2020, a WR-91 was used to track the reentry of STS-238 from Mach 9 to landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, with extremely powerful optics onboard the plane used to monitor the Shuttle's reentry.

Surface vehicles

NASA/ISA recovery ship

Earth based oceangoing vessels used for Solid Rocket Booster recovery operations; operated on behalf of NASA and the ISA by United Space Alliance. 4 built, with 2 originally built for NASA and 2 newer vessels built for the ISA.

The first 2 vessels, MV Liberty Star and MV Freedom Star, were acquired by NASA shortly before the start of the Space Shuttle program to recover spent Solid Rocket Boosters from the Atlantic Ocean following separation and splashdown. Each vessel was capable of towing approximately 60,000 pounds (27,000 kg) and contained significant onboard radar tracking capabilities to track the boosters during reentry and to monitor marine traffic. Divers onboard each vessel would attach recovery hardware to the SRBs after splashdown to fill the boosters with pressurized air and enable them to float for towing back to Florida for refurbishment. Beginning in 1998, the ships began to tow the Pegasus barge used to transport External Tanks from Louisiana to Florida during breaks in recovery operations.

To support increases in Space Shuttle launches, the ISA purchased an additional pair of ships in 2008, MV Union Star and MV Horizon Star. As Space Shuttle launches from California were expected to be less frequent than missions launching from Florida, no recovery ships were based on the West Coast and both Solid Rocket Boosters and experimental Liquid Rocket Boosters from these missions were expended and sank in the Pacific following separation. In 2011, following the retirement of NASA's fleet of Space Shuttles, NASA transferred both Liberty Star and Freedom Star to the ISA.

Autonomous spaceport drone ship

Earth based oceangoing vessel derived from a barge and fitted with autonomous controls, station-keeping abilities and a large landing platform; designed for and operated by SpaceX. 5 built, with 1 retired from service. Used by SpaceX to recover the first stages of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles. Named after ships from the Culture series of novels by Iain M. Banks.

The original ASDS, Just Read the Instructions (JRTI), entered service in January 2015 but was retired from operational use and scrapped following the landing failure of the first stage booster on the SpaceX CRS-6 mission. The second ASDS, Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY), first entered service in mid-2015. On April 8, 2016, the first stage used to launch the SpaceX CRS-8 mission successfully landed on OCISLY, marking the first ever successful drone ship landing. In 2021, OCISLY was moved to California to support launches from Vandenberg. The third ASDS, also named Just Read the Instructions, was based out of California to support launches from Vandenberg beginning in 2016. In late 2019, it was moved to the Atlantic to support missions from Florida. The fourth ASDS, A Shortfall of Gravitas (ASOG), entered service in mid-2021 following a number of delays in construction. The fifth ASDS, Don't Try This At Home (DTTAH), entered service in mid-2022 and was first used to recover Falcon 9 booster B1095 on the Pegasus 1 mission to the External Tank Laboratory on August 20, 2022.

Space Exploration Vehicle

Pressurized rovers used on the Moon and Mars.

Atmospheric vehicles

Daedalus Development Vehicle Piccard-Jones

Earth atmospheric test of HAVOC/Daedalus program hardware. Large balloon system supporting hardware based on modifications of Breitling Orbiter 3 gondola to account for improvements to life support, battery and internal hardware. Planned 30, then 45 day duration on separate missions.

Venus Exploration Balloon Steve Fossett

Preliminary robotic mission to Venus; expected duration: 150 days. Carried a large suite of scientific instruments, drop probes and smaller probes deployed during atmospheric flight.

Venus Atmospheric Vehicle Virgil

Named for the poet that leads Dante through Hell and out up the mountain of Purgatory.

Spacecraft

Altair

Workhorse American lunar lander; built by Northrop Grumman in Phoenix, AZ for use by the ISA. Heavily based on designs proposed near the end of the Constellation program before elements were reworked to meet the requirements of the Phoenix program.

Block 1 versions of the lander were directly based on final versions of Constellation program hardware.

Block 2 featured a number of system improvements and featured significant capability to remove elements of the descent stage for use at the lunar base (removable descent stage tanks and enhanced recyclability of components).

Block 3 continued adding additional system improvements and reduced weight while increasing engine thrust. This version also introduced systems tested during the Ares program to mitigate propellant boiloff; cryocoolers in the propellant tanks were designed to limit boiloff, with standardized plumbing and electrical connections to enable the tanks to be used on the Moon as fuel storage. An error with a software update caused a failure during landing on Phoenix 35 where the Altair failed to stop pitching over during landing and nearly impacted into the wall of Shackleton crater; the landers were grounded during an investigation before the software was fixed.

Block 4 landers switched from a modified hydrogen-oxygen RL10 based descent stage engine and a hypergolic AJ10 ascent stage engine to a methane-oxygen RS-90 Cutlass based descent stage engine and a methane-oxygen based RS-18 ascent stage engine. The Block 4 landers were designed explicitly from the outset to be reusable to reduce spent descent stages piling up around Shackleton Base. The RS-90 was originally developed for the Ares program to power the Mars Ascent Vehicle and was designed by Masten Space Systems in collaboration with Rocketdyne. The engines were repurposed for use on the reusable version of the Altair as direct replacements for the RL10, as they have nearly identical power and could be directly dropped in.

As designs were finalized for Block 4 landers, Masten and Rocketdyne developed the RS-90B which provided a sufficient thrust improvement to allow the Altair to be fully reusable. The lander descent stage would be carried into orbit on these missions, with fuel produced by an ISRU plant located at the lunar base. The ascent stage of the lander would only be used in the event of a critical abort during a landing. In order to support additional "sortie" class exploration missions, an expendable version of the Block 4 landers (designated internally as Block 4E) was produced to reduce costs for these missions. This version of the Altair featured all the relevant weight savings and cost reduction efforts of Block 4, but certain reusability features were removed, and the Altair descent stage was left on the lunar surface as in previous versions of the lander. During production, Block 4 and 4E landers were functionally interchangeable and components were designed to be swappable to allow for conversion from one type to another to ease processing in Florida.

Cargo versions of the lander have an integrated crane and winch to lower payloads to lunar surface and ramps to let vehicles down, if required. A version of the lander was designed as a lunar surface to orbit tanker and was in development at the introduction of the Block 4 landers.

Lunar Orbit Observation Module

Highly modified version of Altair designed solely for use in lunar orbit.

Originally designed for a possible lunar-orbit only mission which was never flown. The ascent stage engine and landing gear were deleted and additional space for crew habitation and experiments were included. A standard Altair descent stage engine was used for lunar orbit insertion and TEI burn. LOOM jettisoned prior to Orion SM jettison and targeted for disposal in Pacific north of Hawaii or at Point Nemo for splashdown in the Pacific or landing at Edwards. Used on Phoenix 36 for a lunar tourism flight; the mission had two spaceflight participants, a commander and a pilot. As the tourists were not landing, the mission entered lunar polar orbit for two weeks and carried extremely high-resolution cameras to allow for photography of permanently shadowed and less explored regions of the Moon.

Altair Fuel Delivery Vehicle

Heavily modified version of standard low-Earth orbit space tug. Developed as a contingency in the event that an Altair lander needed to be prepositioned in lunar orbit and needed to loiter long enough for propellant boiloff to be a problem. Designed to be launched on (ideally) a Jupiter rocket or a Falcon Heavy, with the latter being available at nearly any time provided SpaceX could turn around the vehicle and LC-39A availability. Used during Artemis 1 to top off Altair lander Fontella Bass, as it was launched 3 months ahead of Artemis 1 due to issues with SLS. With the introduction of the OTV, the AFDV became largely obsolete, but two production versions of the vehicle were kept on standby in Florida in the event an emergency developed that required its use.

Orbital Transfer Vehicle

Primarily space-based vehicle designed to transfer payloads from low-earth orbit to GEO/GTO, high inclination orbits, and to/from lunar orbit; built by Lockheed Martin in collaboration with Northrop Grumman. Based on mid to late 1980s proposals by NASA for a vehicle designed to be used in conjunction with the Space Shuttle and Space Station Freedom to extend the Space Shuttle's baseline capabilities.

Derived from Martin Marietta documents, the OTV was a three-engine vehicle with cylindrical fuel tanks that would be launched to orbit in an Aft Cargo Carrier mounted to the bottom of a Space Shuttle External Tank. Once in space, the OTV would extend a conical heat shield at its base, with the outer edges being flexible materials and the interior portion being a composite and graphite based hard material. In the center, a door was positioned in the heatshield through which the engines would extend for operation before retracting to allow for aerobraking in Earth's atmosphere when returning from higher orbit missions. This enabled the OTV to use significantly less fuel than purely thrust based deceleration. To allow for maximum payload flexibility, the vehicles were designed with a standardized docking system above the fuel tanks so that payload and crew modules could be swapped as needed for missions.

The first 6 OTVs were named after the capsules used during Project Mercury (OTV-1 Freedom, OTV-2 Liberty Bell, OTV-3 Friendship, OTV-4 Aurora, OTV-5 Sigma, OTV-6 Faith) with Freedom designated for initial automated test missions. After initial validation in low-Earth orbit following assembly at the External Tank Laboratory, Freedom underwent a rigorous series of trials involving plane change maneuvers and altitude changes, an initial aerobraking test from geostationary orbit and finally culminating with a completely automated mission to deliver a payload supply module to lunar orbit. It rendezvoused with the Awilix space station, refueled and returned to Earth, aerobraking successfully before returning to the ETL. A crew module was permanently installed to it, which consisted of a modified space station module containing life support, berthing, food preparation and hygiene facilities. On the outside of the module, four solar arrays and the spacecraft radiators and communications equipment were installed. Above this, a Mission Module containing the navigation systems, crew couches and the main docking point was attached, allowing a crew of up to 8 astronauts to transit between Earth orbit and lunar orbit in four days. In order to provide protection against solar storms and to mitigate crew radiation exposure outside of the Van Allen belts, both modules were also lined with blankets of RadBlock 4, a radiation absorbing material based on HDPE developed by Chatterton Technologies of Lake Charles, LA.

As the OTV was designed to dock to a space station between missions (while it was designed to fly independently, it required periodic servicing and refurbishment by a crew at a space station), crews could fly to Earth orbit on commercial space capsules or via the Space Shuttle if necessary and fly to the Moon without requiring a dedicated Jupiter rocket launch. Similarly, with the introduction of the Block 4 Altair lander and the placement of the Awilix space station in lunar orbit, crews could board an OTV in Earth orbit, fly to lunar orbit, dock with a space station and transfer to a lander already waiting for them. This dramatically reduced mission costs when compared to the initial decade of Phoenix missions and dramatically reduced strain on resources in Florida and Louisiana, as production lines for Jupiter rocket, Orion capsules and the required space within the Vehicle Assembly Building began to hit critical constraints due to increasing mission demands towards the middle of 2023.

MMSEV

Orbital version of the surface based SEV. Developed by NASA for deep space applications, primarily an asteroid only mission. Modified SEV pressurized cabin configured with a pair of manipulator arms and thrusters. One flight worthy prototype built and flown to the ETL on STS-218 in 2017 for testing on the space station.

Mars Transfer Vehicle Leif Erickson

3 bimodal nuclear-thermal engines, with inflatable crew habitat at the front. Sent to heliocentric disposal orbit following Earth orbit return of crew after Ares 1. Vehicle's engines and primary propulsion elements used as the basis of Nuclear Transfer Vehicle series of space tugs for work in cislunar space.

Venus Ascent Vehicle Beatrice

Named for character in the Divine Comedy; she leads Dante from the mountain of Purgatory up to Heaven and represents beatific love.

A highly modified version of a commercial launch vehicle similar to the air-launched proposals for Falcon 9. LOX/RP-1 engine powered first stage with LOX/RP-1 fueled second stage; cryogenics other than liquid oxygen were rejected outright due to thermal management issues, as the baseline mission requirements necessitated a 30 day mission to 50 kilometer Venus atmospheric altitudes where temperatures were expected to be between 27 °C (80.6 °F) and 75 °C (167 °F). The launcher hung under the primary airship envelope of the Venus Atmospheric Vehicle and sat behind the crew gondola. At the end of the crewed atmospheric mission, the crew would enter the crew capsule of the VAV, which would drop from the airship and ignite its first stage engine a few seconds later. The crew capsule would rendezvous with the Transit Habitat before being jettisoned after crew and cargo transfer.

Launch vehicles

Space Shuttle

Orbital spaceplane externally identical to NASA's vehicles; built by Rubin Design Aerospace with minor modifications from Rockwell/Boeing orbiter designs.

Authorized for construction in 2003, with eight orbiters authorized for construction. Beginning with the second airframe, the new vehicles were designed to have remote control capability; this was subsequently added on to the first of the RDA built orbiters during its first major modification period. Seven vehicles ultimately completed, with eighth airframe partially completed.

In addition to remote control capability, the orbiters featured a stiff layer of insulation and aerogel material behind the wing leading edges in an attempt to mitigate issues found during the Columbia accident. Additionally, the first three vehicles were designed to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for polar orbit missions and were thus built with additional radiation protection. All vehicles were designed to fly with special liquid payload containers for fueling the propulsion system on the External Tank Laboratory and required special plumbing installed in the payload bay to allow for pre-launch fueling of the payloads and for emergency dumping in the event of an abort. Larger consumable tanks were built into the new fleet of orbiters, allowing for missions of up to 15 days in orbit independent of the Extended Duration Orbiter pallet and/or docking at a space station. Additional modifications included LED lighting, better onboard computers and data networks and various quality of life improvements developed over the life of the Space Shuttle program.

In addition to internal orbiter modifications, liquid rocket boosters to replace the existing Space Shuttle SRBs were developed and tested, with each using a pair of F-1B engines. Despite success in production and a test launch, the LRBs failed to produce desired increases to performance required for their full adoption and were retired shortly after their introduction.

Beginning in late 2021, all Space Shuttle missions began to fly on 5-segment versions of the Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Boosters developed for use on Jupiter rocket launches. This change produced an immediate performance increase on all Shuttle missions and eliminated the need for RTLS and TAL/ECAL abort modes, providing direct abort-to-orbit capability from the pad for all missions. Finally, with the introduction of the 5-segment SRBs, polar orbit mission capability became available from KSC, with STS-251 being the first such mission to fly in November 2021.

Orbiter vehicles
Designation	Vehicle
OV-107	Terra Nova
OV-108	Constitution
OV-109	Patriot
OV-110	Liberty
OV-111	Intrepid
OV-112	Horizon
OV-113	Endurance
OV-114	Union[1]
1. ^ Vehicle cancelled during construction; vehicle was externally completed and put on display with name Union assigned; ISA records showed that the names Beagle and Calypso were on the final list of candidate names if the vehicle had entered service.

Aft Cargo Carrier

Support structure and an aerodynamic shroud located at the bottom of the Space Shuttle External Tank.

A 27.5 foot wide by 31.9 foot long aerodynamic cover provided thermal and aerodynamic protection for outsized payloads that could not fit inside of the orbiter payload bay. The "cover" section was jettisoned as soon as possible during ascent to reduce payload penalties and the payload support truss and External Tank were carried to circularization by the Space Shuttle. The External Tanks would either be collected for future use in orbit (moved by a specialized satellite boost tug carried with the ACC or left in orbit by an earlier mission) or deorbited by small onboard thrusters.

The initial operational use of the ACC was to carry the docking and life support module element permanently connected to the bottom of STS-14W's External Tank, which was converted in space to become the External Tank Laboratory. Beginning in 2021, the ISA announced the permanent inclusion of the ACC on all future Space Shuttle missions bound for low-inclination orbits and on certain ISS bound missions. By including additional rideshare payloads, the cost of each tank and ACC combo were reduced, and in 2022 following a series of tests, recovery hardware was added to the ACC shroud to recover it after separation. The ACC shroud would splashdown in the Atlantic and be recovered by an SRB recovery vessel for refurbishment and use on future Space Shuttle missions.

Shuttle-C

OOC Note: This section needs a version of the OPAM from "Boldly Going" AH; 3 SSMEs, 2 OMS engines and the Shuttle avionics systems tucked into a recoverable element that parachutes back down at Edwards or White Sands. This pushed the Shuttle-C Cargo Element and ET into orbit and then disposes of the CE before adjusting trajectory to land. They'll receive orbital vehicle designations starting with OV-201. They need suitable names, but not ones from the AH.

Jupiter family

Shuttle-derived launch vehicle family developed for the ISA for use in the Phoenix program; authorized for development on November 10, 2003 as part of Phoenix program authorization vote. As originally envisioned, the Jupiter rocket family consisted of two variants, named Jupiter 130 and Jupiter 246. The three-digit numerical identification referred to, in order, the number of stages on the vehicle, the number of engines on the first stage and finally the number of engines on the upper stage, if equipped. This system rapidly fell by the wayside, with the vehicles receiving designations of 100, 200 and 300 respectively to indicate increasing numbers of stages on the launcher.

Originally, the Jupiter rocket was intended to have its core stage engines arranged in a single line perpendicular to the SRBs, but this was changed to a triangular (for the 130/100 variant) or square (for the 246/200 variant) arrangement. The launcher used a modified version of the Space Shuttle External Tank with 3 or 4 expendable RS-25 Space Shuttle Main Engines mounted to the bottom of the tank. Two standard Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters would be attached to the vehicle. For the Jupiter 130/100, a payload adapter and aerodynamic shroud were then placed directly above the core stage, with an Orion crew capsule and service module above this. The launcher would be capable of delivering a payload and crew to the International Space Station. The 246/200 variant featured a large cryogenic upper stage above the core stage with 6 RL10 engines powering this stage. As the existing tank was only designed to support 3 engines rather than the 4 needed to power this larger vehicle, the upper stage would need to be partially fueled in order to deliver the maximum payload to orbit. A second Jupiter 246 would then launch with no payload, but with a fully fueled upper stage, which the mission would rendezvous with and use for the Earth departure burn. As it became clear that the ISA's mission requirements would render this option unworkable, a redesigned version, known as the Jupiter 246-B began to be developed.

The Jupiter 246-B featured a lengthened core stage and 4 5-segment versions of the Space Shuttle SRBs. These provided an enormous payload improvement and allowed for a fully fueled upper stage to perform the Earth departure burn using only a single launcher. As development continued, a small cryogenic third stage was proposed and developed. On standard Phoenix missions the Altair descent stage would perform the lunar orbit insertion burn and needed plane changes, as the AJ10 engine used on the Orion capsule was not powerful enough to perform the necessary maneuvers. The new third stage (the Jupiter Tertiary Stage) featured a single RL10 engine and would subsequently handle the braking burn to place the Orion and Altair stack in lunar orbit before being deorbited to impact the Moon. In order to fit height constraints within the VAB, this stage was designed to be as compact as possible to fit between the Jupiter Upper Stage and Altair lander. This version became known internally as the Jupiter 246-B Block 2 before being redesignated the Jupiter 300, with the Jupiter 200 being the 'stretched' version of the original Jupiter 246 and the Jupiter 100 being the redesignated version of the Jupiter 130.

The Jupiter 100 variant's future was called into question while it was still in development in 2009 as shifting spaceflight priorities rendered its role redundant. With the ISA's continuing use of the Space Shuttle for orbital assembly and space station servicing missions and with increasing Shuttle safety improvements, it became increasingly difficult to justify the expenditure of Orion capsules for orbital crew rotation missions. Additionally, at the direction of the incoming Marshall administration, NASA was urged to choose commercial providers for crew rotation missions to the International Space Station. The International Space Agency also began providing funding to SpaceX to develop a crew variant of its then in development Dragon spacecraft. The Jupiter 100 was subsequently dropped from further development to focus on the 200 and 300 variants of the launcher.

In December 2009, the first core stage of a Jupiter rocket successfully ran for 500 seconds at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi before being shipped to Florida for final assembly and checkout. Phoenix 1-X, the Jupiter 246-B's first mission, launched on August 25, 2010 and proceeded nominally until 98 seconds into the flight, at which point the vehicle exploded. A second and third Jupiter 246-B already undergoing final checks at the VAB were closely inspected before it was determined that an unexpected computer fault led to the accidental activation of the rocket's range safety system when a command to shut down one of the core stage's engines was mishandled. After verifying that the error had been patched and after a review of the code used on the rocket, Phoenix 1-Y launched successfully on November 12, 2010.

Space stations

External Tank Laboratory

Large modular space station built in low-Earth orbit by the International Space Agency.

The initial component of the station was a modified Space Shuttle external tank, which was converted in orbit into a wet workshop.