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Americas fleet of Space Shuttle orbitersare named after pioneering sea vessels whichestablished new frontiers in research andexploration.

NASA delved through the history booksto find ships which achieved historical sig-nificance through discoveries about theworlds oceans or the Earth itself. Anotherimportant criterion in the selection pro-cess was consideration for the interna-

tional nature of the Space Shuttle pro-gram.

Atlantis, which in 1985 became thefourth orbiter in the fleet to be launchedfrom Kennedy Space Center, is namedafter the primary research vessel for theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institute inMassachusetts from 1930 to 1966. Thetwo-masted, 460-ton ketch was the firstU.S. vessel to be used for oceanographic

research. Such research was consid-ered to be one of the last bastions of thesailing vessel as steam-and-diesel-pow-ered vessels dominated the waterways.

The steel-hulled ocean research shipwas approximately 140 feet long and 29 feetwide to add to her stability. She featured a crewof 17 and room for five scientists. The researchpersonnel worked in two onboard laboratories,

examining water samples and marine lifebrought to the surface by two large winches

from thousands of feet below the surface.The water samples taken at differentdepths varied in temperature, providingclues to the flow of ocean currents. Thecrew also used the first electronic sound-ing devices to map the ocean floor.

The spaceship Atlantis has carried onthe spirit of the sailing vessel with several

important voyages of its own, includingthe Galileo planetary explorer mission in1989 and the deployment of the ArthurHolley Compton Gamma Ray Observa-tory in 1991.

The first orbiter to fly in space wasColumbia, followed by Challenger in 1983.Discovery arrived at KSC later that yearand was launched on its first mission in1984. After Challenger was lost in 1986 a

replacement, Endeavour, was built andflew for the first time in 1992.

In the day-to-day world of Shuttle opera-tions and processing, Space Shuttle orbit-

ers go by a more prosaic designation. Atlantisis commonly referred to as OV-104, for Or-

biter Vehicle-104. Columbia, Discovery, andEndeavour are, respectively, OV-102, OV-103and OV-105.

Atlantis (OV-104)

8/7/2019 Atlantis (OV-104)

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