<P> The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ) , as part of the Space Shuttle program . Its official program name was Space Transportation System ( STS ) , taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft of which it was the only item funded for development . The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981 , leading to operational flights beginning in 1982 . In addition to the prototype whose completion was cancelled , five complete Shuttle systems were built and used on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011 , launched from the Kennedy Space Center ( KSC ) in Florida . Operational missions launched numerous satellites , interplanetary probes , and the Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ) ; conducted science experiments in orbit ; and participated in construction and servicing of the International Space Station . The Shuttle fleet 's total mission time was 1322 days , 19 hours , 21 minutes and 23 seconds . </P>
where does the us launch space shuttles from
Florida