Prior to the launch, Columbia had spent only 70 days in the Orbiter Processing Facility — a record checkout time.

* Lunar Orbiter program — US Lunar orbital ( 1966 – 1967 ).

* Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter — US Lunar orbiter ( 2009 ).

* Mars Surveyor ' 98 program ( Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander ) — Failed NASA probes

* Mars Express ( Mars Express Orbiter and Beagle 2 ) — European orbiter and failed lander 2003

* Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — NASA orbiter, entered Martian orbit March 10, 2006

* March 10 — The first three instruments ( Cosima, CONSERT ( Orbiter part ) and Osiris ) were activated and their initial commissioning activities successfully completed in the last three days.

The model was heavily advertised by the Breitling Orbiter 3 — both Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard were wearing the Emergency.

* Structural Test Article by Orbiter Vehicle Designation codes — STA or STA-099

* Flight to the Moon: LRO and LCROSS — A mini-show about NASA's newest unmanned probes to the moon, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.

Orbiter Boom Sensor System —

* Orbiter, a freeware simulator by Martin Schweiger

Space Shuttle Discovery ( Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103 ) is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States, and was operational from its maiden flight, STS-41-D on August 30, 1984, until its final landing during STS-133 on March 9, 2011.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis ( Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-104 ) is a Space Shuttle orbiter in the Space Shuttle fleet belonging to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ), the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States.

Space Shuttle Endeavour ( Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-105 ) is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States.

In 2008, the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project ( LOIRP ) was given space in the old McDonalds ( the building has since been renamed to McMoons ) to digitize data tapes from the five 1966 and 1967 Lunar Orbiter spacecraft that were sent to the Moon.

The Mars Observer spacecraft, also known as the Mars Geoscience / Climatology Orbiter, was a 1, 018-kilogram ( 2, 244 lb ) robotic space probe launched by NASA on September 25, 1992 to study the Martian surface, atmosphere, climate and magnetic field.

* Akatsuki space probe, also known as Venus Climate Orbiter.

The Mars Climate Orbiter ( formerly the Mars Surveyor ' 98 Orbiter ) was a 338 kilogram ( 750 lb ) robotic space probe launched by NASA on December 11, 1998 to study the Martian climate, atmosphere, surface changes and to act as the communications relay in the Mars Surveyor ' 98 program, for Mars Polar Lander.

For the manned space flight program, Goddard develops tools for use by astronauts during extra-vehicular activity, and operates the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft designed to study the Moon in preparation for future manned exploration.

" In the late 1950s, he also served as a consultant for Monogram models designing a range of space vehicles including the Orbital Rocket, Space Taxi Passenger Rocket and TV Orbiter.

It surpassed the 365th day in space for the Space Shuttle fleet and the 100th day of flight time in space for Columbia, the fleet's oldest Orbiter on its fourteenth flight.

The five-member crew aboard the space shuttle Atlantis spent the bulk of their first full day in space readying the orbiter and its payloads for the mating of the Russian docking module to the Orbiter Docking System in advance of the 15 November docking to Mir.

During the mission the crew deployed the communications satellites, conducted two six hour spacewalks to demonstrate space station construction techniques with the EASE / ACCESS experiments, operated the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis ( CRFES ) experiment for McDonnell Douglas and a Getaway Special ( GAS ) container for Telesat, Canada, conducted several Mexican Payload Specialists Experiments for the Mexican Government and tested the Orbiter Experiments Digital Autopilot ( OEX DAP ).

On Gibson's fourth space flight, the fiftieth Space Shuttle mission, he served as commander of STS-47, Spacelab-J, which launched on September 12, 1992 aboard the Orbiter Endeavour.

During the mission, the crew deployed the MORELOS-B, AUSSAT II, and SATCOM K-2 communications satellites, conducted 2 six-hour spacewalks to demonstrate space station construction techniques with the EASE / ACCESS experiments, operated the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis ( CFES ) experiment for McDonnell Douglas and a Getaway Special ( GAS ) container for Telesat, Canada, conducted several Mexican Payload Specialist Experiments for the Mexican Government, and tested the Orbiter Experiments Digital Autopilot ( OEX DAP ).

During the mission the crew deployed the MORELOS-B, AUSSATT II, and SATCOM K-2 communications satellites, conducted two six-hour spacewalks to demonstrate space station construction techniques with the EASE / ACCESS experiments, operated the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis ( CRFES ) experiment for McDonell Douglas and a Getaway Special ( GAS ) container for Telesat, Canada, conducted several Mexican Payload Specialists Experiments for the Mexican government, and tested the Orbiter Experiments Digital Autopilot ( OEX DAP ).

This experiment investigated the effects of Orbiter and crew-induced disturbances on the growth of crystals in space.

* Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter, a proposed European space probe

* In the space flight simulator Orbiter, there is a fictional base on the moon named Brighton Beach.

In the U. S. space program, Nomex has been used for the Thermal Micrometeoroid Garment on the Extravehicular Mobility Unit ( in conjunction with Kevlar and Gore-Tex ) and ACES pressure suit, both for fire and extreme environment ( water immersion to near vacuum ) protection, and as thermal blankets on the payload bay doors, fuselage, and upper wing surfaces of the Space Shuttle Orbiter.

An Orbiter Processing Facility ( OPF ) was one of three hangars where U. S. space shuttle orbiters underwent maintenance between flights.

A multiplayer flight simulator version of Knight Hawks Vector is being developed for Orbiter Space Simulator program, and a virtual tabletop version is also in the works.

After the flight, Columbia spent the next three years at the Rockwell Palmdale facility, undergoing modifications that removed the Orbiter Test Flight hardware and bringing it up to similar specifications as that of its sister Orbiters.

During this time, the Orbiter Vehicle-105 received major hardware upgrades, including a new, multi-functional, electronic display system, often referred to as glass cockpit, and an advanced GPS receiver, along with safety upgrades recommended by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board ( CAIB ) for the shuttle to return to flight after the disintegration of sister-ship Columbia during re-entry on February 1, 2003.

In addition to controlling Centaur pressurization in flight, the CISS had to be able to dump propellants overboard quickly in the event of a Return To Launch Site Abort, a capability needed to permit the Orbiter to land safely.

In late 1998 they made a record-breaking flight from Morocco to Hawaii but were unable to complete a global flight before Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones in Breitling Orbiter 3 in March 1999.

Below is the flight log information of the five Lunar Orbiter photographic missions:

STS-107 carried the SPACEHAB Double Research Module on its inaugural flight, the Freestar experiment ( mounted on a Hitchhiker Program rack ), and the Extended Duration Orbiter pallet.

It was the first flight of a Space Shuttle with the Extended Duration Orbiter ( EDO ) hardware, allowing longer flight durations.

* Completed longest Space Shuttle mission ( 13 days 19 hours 30 minutes ) and the first Extended Duration Orbiter ( EDO ) flight of the Space Shuttle Program.

STS-50 not only marked the first U. S. Microgravity Laboratory flight, but also the first Extended Duration Orbiter flight.

This was the third flight for the Orbiter Challenger and the first mission with a night launch and night landing.

STS-32 ( January 9 – 20, 1990 ) launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on an eleven-day flight, during which crew members on board the Orbiter Columbia successfully deployed a Syncom satellite, and retrieved the 21, 400-pound Long Duration Exposure Facility ( LDEF ).

This was the maiden flight of the Orbiter Discovery.

This was the maiden flight of the Orbiter Discovery.

This was the maiden flight of the Orbiter Discovery.

STS-50 was the first flight of the United States Microgravity Laboratory and the first extended duration Orbiter flight.

This was the second flight of the Orbiter Discovery.

This was the third flight of the Orbiter Challenger and the first night launch and landing mission of the Shuttle program.

In this series of flight tests, Engle evaluated the Orbiter handling qualities and landing characteristics, and obtained the stability and control, and performance data in the subsonic flight envelope for the Space Shuttle.