The U.S. Space Shuttle (or Space Transport System - STS) was the world's first reusable spacecraft, and the first spacecraft that could carry large payloads both to and from orbit. The shuttle launched like a rocket, maneuvered in Earth orbit like a spacecraft and landed like an airplane.

Shuttle components included the Orbiter Vehicle (OV), a pair of recoverable Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), and the expendable External fuel tank (ET) containing liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

The Shuttle was launched vertically, like a conventional rocket. The Orbiter Vehicles' three main engines were fueled from the External Tank and operated in parallel with the two Solid Rocket Boosters.

The SRBs were jettisoned before the vehicle reached orbit, and the ET was jettisoned just before orbit insertion.

The orbiter's two Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engines were used for orbit insertion and de-orbit to re-enter the atmosphere. The orbiter then glided as a space plane to a runway landing.

After landing the orbiter was flown back to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Florida, on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a specially modified version of the Boeing 747 passenger aircraft. It was then refurbished for its next mission.