Space Shuttle program (1972–2011)
How long was the Space Shuttle program active?
NASA
Space Shuttle retirement STS-59 Diego Garcia STS-51-D Shuttle 2.01
Space_Shuttle_retirement-Abstract STS-59-Abstract Diego_Garcia-Space_Shuttle STS-51-D-Abstract Shuttle_2.01-Abstract
The retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet took place from March to July 2011. "Discovery" was the first of the three active space shuttles to be retired, completing its final mission on March 9, 2011; "Space Shuttle Endeavour" did so on June 1. The final shuttle mission was completed with the landing of "Atlantis" on July 21, 2011, bringing about the end of the 30-year Space Shuttle program. The Shuttle was originally conceived of and presented to the public in 1972 as a 'Space Truck' which would, among other things, be used to build a United States space station in low earth orbit in the early-1990s and then be replaced by a new vehicle. When the concept of the U.S. space station evolved into that of the International Space Station, which suffered from long delays and design changes before it could be completed, the service life of the Space Shuttle was extended several times until 2011 when it was finally retired. In 2010 the Shuttle was formally scheduled for retirement with "Atlantis" being taken out of service first after STS-132 in May of that year, but the program was once again extended when the two final planned missions were delayed until 2011. Later, one additional mission was added for "Atlantis" for July 2011, extending the program further. Counter-proposals to the shuttle's retirement were considered by Congress and the prime contractor United Space Alliance as late as spring 2010. Hardware developed for the Space Shuttle met various ends with conclusion of the program, including donation, disuse and/or disposal, or reuse. An example of reuse, is that one of the three Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) was converted to a permanent module for the International Space Station. 
STS-59 Shuttle mission was a Space Shuttle program mission that took place in 1994. The launch was chronicled by the 1994 Discovery Channel special about the Space Shuttle Program. 
The island was one of 33 emergency landing sites worldwide for the NASA Space Shuttle. None of these facilities were ever used throughout the life of the shuttle program. 
STS-51-D was the sixteenth flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the fourth flight of Space Shuttle "Discovery". The launch of STS-51-D from Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, on April 12, 1985 was delayed by 55 minutes, after a boat strayed into the restricted Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) recovery zone. STS-51-D was the third shuttle mission to be extended. On April 19, after a week-long flight, "Discovery" conducted the fifth shuttle landing at KSC. The shuttle suffered extensive brake damage and a ruptured tire during landing. This forced all subsequent shuttle landings to be done at Edwards Air Force Base, California, until the development and implementation of nose wheel steering made landings at KSC more feasible. 
Shuttle 2.01 (Baikal) was the third space shuttle vehicle of the Soviet Buran program, serial number "11F35 K3". 2.01's construction was not complete when the Buran program was ended (30-50 percent done), so it remains unfinished. 