With its delta wing orbiter, twin solid rocket boosters and bright orange external fuel tank, NASA’s Space Transportation System better known as the space shuttle is perhaps the world’s most recognizable spacecraft. And since its first launch in 1981, the shuttle has proved to be the dependable, versatile and reusable workhorse it was designed to be, delivering hundreds of tons of payloads into orbit, rescuing and repairing damaged satellites, and helping to build and supply the International Space Station.