Launch vehicle
Space Shuttle
The first reusable orbital spacecraft: a winged orbiter riding an external hydrogen tank, flanked by twin solid boosters. One hundred thirty-five flights built the ISS, launched and repaired Hubble, and taught the industry what reusability really costs — and what it's worth.
- Height
- 56 m / 184 ft
- Diameter
- 8.4 m / 27.6 ft
- Liftoff mass
- 1,938 t
- Liftoff thrust
- 30,250 kN
- Stages
- 2
- Payload to LEO · rated
- 28 t
- Operator
- NASA · Rockwell / Thiokol / Martin Marietta
- First flight
- 1981
- Status
- retired
drag to inspect · scroll to zoom
Performance
Payload capacity, solved by the engine
Ideal staged-Δv model (rocket equation, Rust) against standard surface-to-destination budgets that include typical gravity/drag/steering losses. First-order — not a flight manifest.
LEO
…
Low Earth orbit (~9.4 km/s incl. losses)
GTO
…
Geostationary transfer (LEO + 2.44)
GEO
…
Direct to geostationary (LEO + 3.9)
Moon
…
Trans-lunar injection (LEO + 3.12)
Mars
…
Trans-Mars injection (LEO + 3.6)
Stage 1 · ×2 parallel
Solid boosters ×2
- Length
- 45.5 m
- Diameter
- 3.7 m
- Dry mass
- 174 t
- Propellant
- 1,002 t
- Engines
- 2× 4-segment SRB
- Thrust
- 25,000 kN
- Isp (vacuum)
- 268 s
Stage 2
ET + 3× SSME
- Length
- 46.9 m
- Diameter
- 8.4 m
- Dry mass
- 26.5 t
- Propellant
- 735 t
- Engines
- 3× RS-25 (SSME)
- Thrust
- 5,250 kN
- Isp (vacuum)
- 452 s
Now put it on a trajectory
Every number on this page came out of the same Rust engine that propagates your orbits. Load this vehicle on the Flight Deck, plan a transfer, and see if your mission closes.