Space Shuttle program upgrade equipment for Hubble were ready and waiting in NASA warehouses. Many dissenters, including astronauts , asked NASA management to reconsider allowing the mission, but initially the director stood firm. On October 31, 2006, NASA announced approval of the launch of "Atlantis" for the fifth and final shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, scheduled for August 28, 2008. However SM4/STS-125 eventually launched in May 2009. One impact of "Columbia" was that future crewed launch vehicles, namely the Ares I, had a special emphasis on crew safety compared to other considerations. NASA maintains extensive, warehoused catalogs of recovered pieces
Space Shuttle Inspiration Space Shuttle Inspiration Space Shuttle "Inspiration" is a full-scale Space Shuttle mockup built in 1972 by North American Rockwell. The plastic and wood model was made to promote the company's bid to construct the Space Shuttle fleet. The Space Shuttle Orbiter mockup was constructed by North American Rockwell in 1972. It was shown to NASA and Congress to win approval for the space shuttle program. The mockup is approximately the same size and shape as an actual Orbiter. It was also used to design cable harnesses for production shuttle Orbiters and to test-fit flight hardware. The mockup was abandoned in