Space Shuttle Gallery

Northrop HL-10 lifting body aircraft C017/7567

Northrop HL-10 lifting body aircraft. Major Jerauld Gentry standing in front of the HL-10. This was one of a series of experimental space re-entry aircraft known as lifting body designs. Lifting body aircraft had short, bulbous or curved fuselages and featured minimal wings or were wingless. The design increased the aerodynamic capabilities of the aircraft when travelling at speed and the absence of wings meant less heat damage during space re-entry. The HL-10 was built in 1966 and dropped from B-52 planes to test flight manoeuvrability. Despite its success, NASA cancelled the lifting body design in favour of the delta wing during early Space Shuttle development

© NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Soyuz spacecraft in Earth orbit, artwork

Soyuz spacecraft in Earth orbit. Artwork of a Soyuz TMA-M spacecraft at sunset over the Atlantic Ocean at an orbital altitude of 320 kilometres. North is at right, with city lights in South America (upper left) and Africa and Europe (lower right). The Russian Soyuz TMA-M (crew of three) is a modified version of the Soyuz TMA spacecraft. It has been in use since 2010, carrying astronauts into Earth orbit. Since the last Space Shuttle flight in 2011, the Soyuz spacecraft has been the only one capable of ferrying crew to and from the International Space Station (ISS). A Soyuz replacement rocket and capsule is planned to be in operation by 2020

© WALTER MYERS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Cosmonaut Titov, Soyuz TM-4 mission, 1987

Titov before the Soyuz TM-4 mission, at Baikonur, Kazakhstan, in the cockpit of the Soyuz TM-4 spacecraft, in 1987. Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Titov (born 1947) was selected as a cosmonaut in 1976. He made his first spaceflight in 1983 on the Soyuz T-8 mission, and survived the aborted launch of the Soyuz T-10-1 mission later that year. He was later selected to command the Soyuz TM-4 mission, successfully launching from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 21 December 1987, travelling to the Mir space station. Titov and flight engineer Manarov spent 178 days in space, landing safely on 17 June 1988. Titov flew two further space missions in 1995 and 1997, travelling back to Mir on the US space shuttles. He retired in 1998

© RIA NOVOSTI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY