Space Shuttle orbiter its maiden flight in 1977. An unpowered glider, it was carried by a modified Boeing 747 airliner called the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and released for a series of atmospheric test flights and landings. "Enterprise" was partially disassembled and retired after completion of critical testing. The remaining orbiters were fully operational spacecraft, and were launched vertically as part of the Space Shuttle stack. "Columbia" was the first space-worthy orbiter, and made its inaugural flight in 1981. "Challenger", "Discovery", and "Atlantis" followed in 1983, 1984 and 1985 respectively. In 1986, "Challenger" was destroyed in an accident shortly after launch. "Endeavour" was built
Space Shuttle America and the ride ends. The fictional events take place in 2094. The movie was shown for a short while at Six Flags Over Texas, and was made by DreamQuest Images. Outside the building that houses the queue and the ride itself is a fiberglass mock-up of a Space Shuttle orbiter that has authentic "tiles" used in actual space shuttle orbiters. The shuttle was built to the exact scale of the real STS craft , but is neither an official NASA shuttle nor capable of spaceflight. The building that shows Space Shuttle America also showed: High operating costs and dwindling popularity