Space Shuttle program March 25, 1979, and was first launched on April 12, 1981—the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's space flight—with a crew of two. "Challenger" (OV-099) was delivered to KSC in July 1982, "Discovery" (OV-103) in November 1983, "Atlantis" (OV-104) in April 1985 and "Endeavour" in May 1991. "Challenger" was originally built and used as a Structural Test Article (STA-099), but was converted to a complete orbiter when this was found to be less expensive than converting "Enterprise" from its Approach and Landing Test configuration into a spaceworthy vehicle. On April 24, 1990, "Discovery" carried the Hubble Space Telescope into space during
Space Shuttle America Space Shuttle America Space Shuttle America (also known as Space Shuttle America - The Next Century) was a motion simulator ride at the Six Flags Great America theme park in Gurnee, Illinois, that opened in 1994. The ride's main feature was a full-scale replica of an American Space Shuttle orbiter. It closed permanently after the 2007 season and was removed in December 2009. The storyline of the ride was that riders have boarded a new Space Shuttle called "America", which is capable of transporting passengers to the fictional Armstrong City using the LRVM (Lunar Run Velocity Management) Warp. Armstrong City