location_of_landing sts-45
The Space Shuttle program , officially called the Space Transportation System ( STS ), was the United States government ' s manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011 , administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972 . The Space Shuttle system  composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank  carried up to eight astronauts and up to of payload into low Earth orbit ( LEO ). When its mission was complete , the orbiter would re - enter the Earth ' s atmosphere and land like a glider at either the ___MASK16___ or ___MASK19___ . The John F . ___MASK16___ ( KSC ) is one of ten National Aeronautics and Space Administration field centers . Since December 1968 , ___MASK16___ has been NASA ' s primary launch center of human spaceflight . Launch operations for the Apollo , Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from ___MASK16___ Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC . Located on the east coast of Florida , KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station ( CCAFS ). The management of the two entities work very closely together , share resources , and even own facilities on each other ' s property . STS - 45 was a 1992 Space Shuttle mission using the Space Shuttle Atlantis . Its almost nine day scientific mission was with a non - deployable payload of instruments . It was the 46th Space Shuttle mission and the 11th for Atlantis . The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated by the U . S . National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ), as part of the Space Shuttle program . Its official program name was " Space Transportation System ( STS )", taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft of which it was the only item funded for development . The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981 , leading to operational flights beginning in 1982 . Five complete Shuttle systems were built and used on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011 , launched from the ___MASK16___ ( KSC ) in Florida . Operational missions launched numerous satellites , interplanetary probes , and the Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ); conducted science experiments in orbit ; and participated in construction and servicing of the International Space Station . The Shuttle fleet ' s total mission time was 1322 days , 19 hours , 21 minutes and 23 seconds .