The Space Shuttle—a mostly reusable, human-rated launch vehicle (original) (raw)

The Space Shuttle-a mostly reusable, human-rated launch vehicle, spacecraft, space habitat, laboratory, re-entry vehicle, and aircraft-was an unprecedented structural engineering challenge. The design had to meet several demands, which resulted in innovative solutions. The vehicle needed to be highly reliable for environments that could not be simulated on Earth or fully modeled analytically for combined mechanical and thermal loads. It had to accommodate payloads that were not defined or characterized. It needed to be weight efficient by employing a greater use of advanced composite materials, and it had to rely on fracture mechanics for design with acceptable life requirements. It also had to be certified to meet strength and life requirements by innovative methods. During the Space Shuttle Program, many such structural design innovations were developed and extended to vehicle processing from flight to flight.