In 114 missions, the Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour shuttles have taken 607 men and women into space.

The fleet has also worked like a space truck, carrying 1,500 tonnes of equipment to help build the first space telescope, Hubble, and the International Space Station.

Made up of two million parts carefully put together by engineers, the shuttle has shown in tragic images seen around the world that it can be a fragile spacecraft.

The Challenger shuttle exploded during liftoff on January 28, 1986. Columbia broke apart as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere on February 1, 2003. Fourteen astronauts were killed in total.

The orbiter has room for three astronauts in its cockpit and five others in the bridge. It also has plenty of space in its 18-meter (59-foot) long, 4.6-meter (15-foot) wide cargo bay to carry equipment.

The shuttle is placed in a vertical position for liftoff with an external fuel tank flanked by two rocket boosters.

The spacecraft takes off with three engines fueled by a mix of liquid oxygen and hydrogen stored in the external tank, and a strong push from the two rockets.

The rockets, which furnish 83 percent of the power, separate 45,700 meters (28 miles) above earth about two minutes into liftoff and parachute down into the ocean to be used again.

The external fuel tank splits from the shuttle once in orbit about eight minutes after the launch and disintegrates in Earth's atmosphere.

During re-entry in Earth, the shuttle glides all the way to landing.

NASA plans to replace the shuttle fleet with a Crew Exploration Vehicle by 2014.

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