Space Shuttle retirement

The retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet took place from March to July 2011. ''Discovery'' was the first of the three active Space Shuttles to be retired, completing its final mission on March 9, 2011; '' Endeavour'' did so on June 1. The final shuttle mission was completed with the landing of '' Atlantis'' on July 21, 2011, closing the 30-year Space Shuttle program.

The Shuttle was presented to the public in 1972 as a "space truck" which would, among other things, be used to build a United States space station in low Earth orbit in the early 1990s and then be replaced by a new vehicle. When the concept of the U.S. space station evolved into that of the International Space Station, which suffered from long delays and design changes before it could be completed, the service life of the Space Shuttle was extended several times until 2011 when it was finally retired.

In 2010 the Shuttle was formally scheduled for retirement with ''Atlantis'' being taken out of service first after STS-132 in May of that year, but the program was once again extended when the two final planned missions were delayed until 2011. Later, one additional mission was added for ''Atlantis'' for July 2011, extending the program further. Counter-proposals to the shuttle's retirement were considered by Congress and the prime contractor United Space Alliance as late as Spring 2010.

Hardware developed for the Space Shuttle met various ends with conclusion of the program, including donation, disuse and/or disposal, or reuse. An example of reuse, is that one of the three Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) was converted to a permanent module for the International Space Station.

Fate of surviving STS program hardware

Orbiters

On April 12, 2011, NASA announced a selection of locations for the remaining Shuttle orbiters:

* Prior to its move to New York, ''Enterprise'' was displayed at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, Chantilly, Virginia, where ''Discovery'' has taken its place.

Museums and other facilities not selected to receive an orbiter were disappointed. Elected officials representing Houston, Texas, location of the Johnson Space Center; and Dayton, Ohio, location of the National Museum of the United States Air Force, called for Congressional investigations into the selection process, though no such action was taken. While local and Congressional politicians in Texas questioned if partisan politics played a role in the selection, former JSC Director Wayne Hale wrote, "Houston didn't get an orbiter because Houston didn't deserve it", pointing to weak support from area politicians, media and residents, describing a "sense of entitlement". Chicago media questioned the decision not to include the Adler Planetarium in the list of facilities receiving orbiters, pointing to Chicago's 3rd-largest population in the United States. The chair of the NASA committee that made the selections pointed to the guidance from Congress that the orbiters go to facilities where the most people could see them, and the ties to the space program of Southern California (home to Edwards Air Force Base, where nearly half of shuttle flights have ended and home to the plants which manufactured the orbiters and the RS-25 engines), the Smithsonian (curator of the nation's air and space artifacts), the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (where all Shuttle launches originated, and a large tourist draw) and the ''Intrepid'' Sea, Air & Space Museum (''Intrepid'' also served as the recovery ship for Project Mercury and Project Gemini).

In August 2011 the NASA Inspector General released an audit of the display selection process; it highlighted issues which led to the final decision. The Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, March Field Air Museum, Riverside, California, Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon, National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Dayton, Ohio, San Diego Air and Space Museum, San Diego, Space Center Houston, Houston, Texas, Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium, Tulsa, Oklahoma and U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama scored poorly on international access. Additionally Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History and the Bush Library at Texas A&M, in College Station, Texas scored poorly on museum attendance, regional population and was the only facility found to pose a significant risk in transporting an orbiter there. Overall, the California Science Center scored first and Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History scored last. The two most controversial locations which were not awarded an orbiter, Space Center Houston and National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, finished 2nd to last and near the middle of the list respectively. The report noted a scoring error, which if corrected would have placed the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in a tie with the ''Intrepid'' Museum and Kennedy Visitor Complex (just below the California Science Center), although due to funding concerns the same decisions would have been made.

The Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington was not selected to receive an orbiter but instead received the three–story Full Fuselage Trainer from the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Museum officials, though disappointed, were able to allow the public to go inside the trainer, something not possible with an actual orbiter.

In addition to the challenge of transporting the large vehicles to the display site, placing the units on permanent display required considerable effort and cost. An article in the February 2012 issue of ''Smithsonian'' magazine discussed the work performed on ''Discovery''. It involved removing the three main engines (they were slated to be reused on NASA's Space Launch System); the windows were given to project engineers for analysis of how materials and systems fared after repeated space exposure; the communications modules were removed due to national–security concerns; and hazardous materials such as traces of propellants were thoroughly flushed from the plumbing. The total cost of preparation and delivery via a modified Boeing 747 was estimated at $26.5 million in 2011 dollars.

Payload hardware

* Spacelab Pallet ''Elvis'' – handed over to the Swiss Museum of Transport, Switzerland, in March 2010.
* One of the two Spacelabs—on display at Bremen Airport, Germany.
* Another Spacelab is on display at the Udvar-Hazy center behind ''Discovery''
* MPLM ''Leonardo'': converted to the ISS Permanent Multipurpose Module
* MPLM ''Raffaello'': removed from the bay of ''Atlantis'', fate unknown
* MPLM ''Donatello'': the unused MPLM, some parts were cannibalized for ''Leonardo''. The remainder is mothballed in the ISS processing facility at Kennedy Space Center.
* Various space pallets used since STS-1: the fates of these objects range from space center storage to scrap to museum pieces

Tiles

NASA ran a program to donate thermal protection system tiles to schools and universities for US$23.40 each (the fee for shipping and handling). About 7000 tiles were available on a first-come, first-served basis, but limited to one per institution. Each orbiter incorporated over 21,000 tiles.

RS-25

About 42 reusable RS-25 engines have been part of the STS program, with three used per orbiter per mission. The decision was made to retain sixteen engines with plans to make use of them on the Space Launch System. The rest were donated to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Johnson Space Center Space Center Houston, the National Air and Space Museum, and other exhibits around the country.

RS-25 nozzles

Worn out engine nozzles are typically considered scrap, although nine nozzles were refurbished for display on the donated orbiters, so the actual engines can be retained by NASA.

Canadarm (SRMS) and OBSS

Three Shuttle arms were used by NASA; the arms of both ''Discovery'' and ''Atlantis'' will be left in place for their museum display. ''Endeavours arm is to be removed from the orbiter for separate display in Canada. The OBSS extension of ''Endeavour''s arm was left on the International Space Station, for use with the station's robotic arm.

Information technology

In December 2010, as NASA prepared for the STS program ending, an audit by the NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that information technology had been sold or prepared for sale that still contained sensitive information. NASA OIG recommended NASA be more careful in the future.

Other shuttle hardware

Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39

The twin pads originally built for the Apollo program are now inactive. LC-39B was deactivated first on January 1, 2007. Three lightning towers were added to the pad and it was temporarily "re-activated" in April 2009 when ''Endeavour'' was placed on standby to rescue the STS-125 crew (the STS-125 mission was the last to visit the Hubble Space Telescope, which meant that the ISS was out of range) if needed; ''Endeavour'' was then moved over to LC-39A for STS-126. In October 2009 the prototype Ares I-X rocket was launched from 39B. The pad was then permanently deactivated and has since been dismantled and is being modified for the Space Launch System program, and possibly other launch vehicles. Like the Apollo structures before them, the shuttle structures were scrapped. 39A was deactivated in July 2011 after STS-135 was launched.

By 2012, NASA came to the conclusion that it would incur material cost to maintain LC-39A even in an inactive state and decided to seek interest of others to lease the pad for their use. NASA solicited and SpaceX won the competition for use of LC-39A. Blue Origin protested the decision to the General Accounting Office (GAO) generating uncertainty of the intent of NASA in the event that a commercial user or users could not be acquired. On January 16, 2013, one or more news outlets erroneously reported that NASA planned to abandon the pad; NASA was quick to clarify and identify that the actual plan was to, like pad B, convert it for other rockets without dismantling it. If NASA did plan to permanently decommission the pads, they would have to restore them to their original Apollo-era appearance, as both pads are on the National Historic Register.

SpaceX has since converted the pad to launch Falcon Heavy and crewed Crew Dragon Falcon 9 flights. Following the destruction of Space Launch Complex 40 in an on-pad explosion in September 2016, SpaceX had to move all east coast launches to 39A while SLC-40 was being rebuilt. The first launch, Dragon resupply vehicle carried by a Falcon 9, occurred February 12, 2017. This flight was the first uncrewed launch from Complex 39 since Skylab was launched in 1973. Once SLC-40 was reactivated, SpaceX finished modifying the pad for Falcon Heavy. Due to SLC-40s destruction, 39A had to be rushed into service, and activities such as dismantling the RSS were put on hold. for the first few missions from 39A, even after SLC-40 was reactivated, SpaceX dismantled the RSS between launches and added black cladding to the fixed service structure.

Vehicle Assembly Building

After STS-135, the VAB was used as a storage shed for the decommissioned shuttles before they were sent to museums. NASA awarded a contract in March 2014 for design and build/delivery of VAB High Bay 3 modifications to support the SLS program. In February 2017, the contractor team completed platform installation to enable SLS stacking. SLS/Artemis 1 mission processed through VAB Bay 3 prior to its launch in November 2022. Other VAB bays, such as High Bay 2, are being be made available by NASA for other programs.

NASA's Mobile Launcher Platform

Three mobile launcher platforms used to support the Space Shuttle will be used for commercial launch vehicles.

The Mobile Launcher Platform-1 (MLP-1) was used for 62 Shuttle launches, starting in 1981. It was the most used of the three MLPs.

The Ares I-X suborbital mission utilized the MLP-1 to support the stacking and launch operations. The canceled Ares I-Y would have used the same MLP. Following the STS-135, usable parts from MLP-1 were removed and stored in the Vehicle Assembly Building, with no plans to use the MLP again. eventually the MLP was weighed down with concrete blocks and used for conditioning the crawlerway for SLS as of September 2021.

Mobile Launcher Platform-2 (MLP-2) was used for 44 Shuttle launches, starting in 1983. All of the orbiters except made their maiden flights from MLP-2. It was also the launch site for the ill-fated STS-51L mission, when disintegrated shortly after launch, killing all seven crew members. in January 2021 MLP-2 was scrapped, as with 2 more MLPs for SLS under construction, NASA was running out of places to store the launch platforms.

Mobile Launcher Platform-3 (MLP-3) was used for 29 Shuttle launches, starting in 1990. It was the least used of the three MLPs.

The MLP-3 was acquired by Orbital ATK (who was later bought out by Northrop Grumman) to launch their future OmegA rocket with. They will use the Vehicle Assembly Building High Bay 2 to assemble the rocket, and crawler-transporter 1 to move the rocket to LC-39B for launch. unfortunately due to a lack of Federal Funds, Omega was cancelled in September 2020, leaving MLP-3 without a tenant.

Crawler-Transporter

The Crawler-Transporters were used as the mobile part of the pad with the Shuttles; the two vehicles were deactivated and are being upgraded for the Space Launch System. The crawlerways used for transporting launch vehicles from the VAB to the twin pads of KSC are also being extensively renovated for the Artemis program.

Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

Two modified Boeing 747s were used to fly the shuttles back to KSC when they landed at Edwards AFB. N911NA was retired on February 8, 2012 and is now a parts hulk for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. Beginning in September 2014, N911NA was loaned out to the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark, in Palmdale, CA, where it is on outdoor display next to a B-52. The other aircraft, N905NA was used to send ''Discovery'', ''Endeavour'' and ''Enterprise'' to their museums and in September 2012 was found to have few parts for SOFIA. It is currently a museum piece at the Johnson Space Center, displayed carrying a full-scale replica of an orbiter.

NASA recovery ships

Used to retrieve the SRBs, MV ''Liberty Star'' and ''Freedom Star'' are now separated. ''Liberty Star'' was renamed as TV ''Kings Pointer'' and was transferred to the Merchant Marine Academy in New York for use as a training vessel. It will remain on call in case NASA needs it for further missions. ''Freedom Star'' was transferred to the James River Reserve Fleet on September 28, 2012 and placed under ownership of the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD). In November 2016, MV Freedom Star was re-purposed as a training vessel to the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and
Education, on loan from MARAD.

Orbiter Processing Facility

The buildings used to process the shuttles after each mission were decommissioned. OPF-1 was leased to Boeing in January 2014 for processing the X-37B spaceplane. Once the agreement for use was signed between NASA and the U.S. Air Force and made public, use of both OPF-1 and OPF-2 for X-37B was confirmed. OPF-3 was leased as well to Boeing for 15 years to use in the manufacture and test of the CST-100

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