With theoretical roots stretching as far back as the 1930s, NASA's space plane was a long time coming. In fact, two space-plane concepts were developed in the sixties, the X-20 Dyna-Soar and the X-15, but both were shouldered aside by the Apollo program, NASA's response to President John F. Kennedy's bold charge to land an American on the moon. As Apollo wound down, President Richard Nixon agreed that NASA should pursue a less expensive, reusable shuttle for the exploration and exploitation of orbital outer space. This return to the rocket-launch/glider-landing concept led to the 1976 rollout of the space shuttle Enterprise , which flew successful gliding and landing tests. The first orbital flight would come when Columbia launched on April 12, 1981-the twentieth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first orbit, humanity's first journey into space.   The Space Transportation System, as it was formally known within NASA, had begun its thirty years of service in Earth orbit. Only five years later, though, it seemed like it was all over when Challenger 's external fuel tank exploded seventy-three seconds after liftoff, destroying the shuttle and all aboard, a disaster felt around the world.

It was a long, hard road back to space for NASA, but much of the program's best work was still ahead. The launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, and the triumphant repair of its faulty optics three years later, proved to be highlights of the shuttle's long career.   That entire career is chronicled by Piers Bizony, from early theories and various prototypes through the final flights. Every mission, including crew and accomplishments, is covered, from the tragic losses of Challenger and Columbia to the historic construction of the International Space Station. A testimony to NASA's ingenuity, and a warning of its occasional bureaucratic mistakes, the shuttles will be long remembered as the workhorses of the U.S. space program, their legacy illustrated by over five hundred color photos collected in Space Shuttle .