White enamel shuttle aircraft mounted vertically onto a white and gray plastic and enamel shuttle booster craft, both mounted onto a wooden base. Detaches into four parts.
Object Story
This is an early design of the final configuration of the Space Shuttle, or Space Transportation System (STS). The winged reusable orbiter that could ferry from two to seven astronauts into low Earth orbit rides piggyback on the expendable fuel tank. Alongside the fuel tank are two solid rocket boosters (SRB’s). The SRB’s are fired upon launch, where they give the shuttle its initial thrust and are then jettisoned, to land in the ocean and be recovered for reuse. At mission’s end, the shuttle orbiter re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere and flies like a plane to land on a runway.
