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Online NewsHourSpace Shuttle: Return to FlightNewsHour Science Reports
Interactive Additional Features:
Return to Flight -- Shuttle Upgrades
In the two years since the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, NASA engineers have worked to modify more than 41 areas of the shuttle before the three remaining orbiters return to flight.
Click on the various parts of the shuttle below -- the orbiter, the external fuel tank and the solid rocket boosters -- to view some of the major changes intended to improve shuttle safety.
EXTERNAL TANK
SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER

ORBITER
EARTH		 Orbital Boom Sensor
Attached to the end of an existing robotic arm on the shuttle, this 50-foot boom will carry a camera and laser to allow astronauts to scan the Thermal Protection System, the outer protective layer of the orbiter. Currently the robotic arm, called the Canadarm because of its Canadian construction, is used to hoist components from the International Space Station and as a work platform for spacewalks.
Main: The Science Reports
Main: Return to Flight
Making the Shuttle Fit to Fly
Risks of Manned Spaceflight
Next Generation Space Vessel
Slide Show: Evolution of Spaceflight
Interactive: Shuttle Upgrades
Lesson Plan
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Funded by: National Science Foundation
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