page_title: Space Shuttle
section_title: Post-landing processing
hierarchical_section_title: Space Shuttle / Mission profile / Post-landing processing
caption_attribution_description: Discovery safe back at landing strip. Cropped and other Orientation.
context_page_description: The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system that was operated from 1981 to 2011 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System, taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft of which it was the only item funded for development. The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights beginning in 1982. Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Operational missions launched numerous satellites, Interplanetary probes, and the Hubble Space Telescope; conducted science experiments in orbit; and participated in construction and servicing of the International Space Station. The Space Shuttle fleet's total mission time was 1322 days, 19 hours, 21 minutes and 23 seconds.
context_section_description: After the landing, ground crews approached the orbiter to conduct safety checks. Teams wearing self-contained breathing gear tested for presence of hydrogen, hydrazine, monomethylhydrazine, nitrogen tetroxide, and ammonia to ensure the landing area was safe. Air conditioning and Freon lines were connected to cool the crew and equipment and dissipate excess heat from reentry. A flight surgeon boarded the orbiter and performed medical checks of the crew before they disembarked. Once the orbiter was secured, it was towed to the OPF to be inspected, repaired, and prepared for the next mission.
caption: Discovery being prepared after landing for crew disembarkment
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