A reusable spacecraft with wings developed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for human spaceflight missions. The first test flight took place in 1981 followed by official flights beginning in 1982. The space shuttle has been used to transport astronauts between Earth and an orbiting space station and to deploy and retrieve satellites. The space shuttle is scheduled to be retired from service in 2011 after 135 launches.