Criticism of the Space Shuttle program costs through amortization. Development costs were expected to be recouped through frequent access to space. These claims were made in an effort to obtain budgetary funding from the United States Congress. Beginning in 1981, the space shuttle began to be used for space travel. However, by the mid-1980s the concept of flying that many shuttle missions proved unrealistic and scheduled launch expectations were reduced 50%. Following the "Challenger" accident in 1986, missions were halted pending safety review. This hiatus became lengthy and ultimately lasted almost three years as arguments over funding and the safety of the program continued. Eventually the
Space Shuttle: A Journey into Space Space Shuttle: A Journey into Space Space Shuttle: A Journey into Space is a space flight simulator game designed by Steve Kitchen for the Atari 2600 and published by Activision in . It is one of the first realistic spacecraft simulations available for home systems. "Space Shuttle" was adapted to the Atari 8-bit family and Atari 5200 by Bob Henderson (1984), then ported to the ZX Spectrum (1984), Commodore 64 (1984), Amstrad CPC (1986), and MSX (1986). The 1984 Activision Software catalog also mentions an Apple II version. The player controls the most critical flight phases such as Launch, Stabilizing