Much has happened in the intervening years. During the span of three decades, the shuttles flew 135 times carrying hundreds of American plus international astronauts into space before they were retired in 2011. The International Space Station began to fly in 1998 plus has been continuously occupied since 2001, orbiting the Earth once every 90 minutes. More than 50 women have now flown into space, most of them Americans. One of these women, Dr. Peggy Whitson, became chief of the Astronaut Office plus holds the American record for number of hours in space.
This inclusive approach began in 1972 when Congress plus the president approved the Space Shuttle budget plus contract. Spacesuits, seats plus all crew equipment were initially designed for a larger range of sizes to fit all body types, plus the waste management system was modified for females. Unlike earlier vehicles, the Space Shuttle could lift up to eight astronauts at a time. It had a design more similar to an airplane than a small capsule, with two decks, sleeping berths, large laboratories plus a galley. It also provided privacy.
I graduated with an engineering degree from the University of Washington in 1971 and, by 1976, I was a young engineer working on the first Space Shuttle, Columbia, with Rockwell International at Edwards Air Force Base, in California. I helped to design plus produce the thermal protection system – those heat resistant ceramic tiles – which allowed the shuttle to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere for up to 100 flights.
It was a heady time; a new space vehicle could lift large crews plus “cargo,” including space laboratories plus the Hubble Space Telescope. The Shuttle also had a robotic arm, which was critical for the assembly of the International Space Station, plus an “airlock” for space walks, plus enabled us to build the International Space Station.