The Space Shuttle is the first orbital spacecraft designed for reuse. It carries different payloads to Low Earth Orbit, provides crew rotation for the International Space Station (ISS), and performs serviciing missions.

The orbiter can also recover satellites and other payloads from orbit and return them to Earth. Each Shuttle was designed for a projected lifespan of 100 launches or ten years of operational life, although this was later extended.

The person in charge of designing the STS was Maxime Faget, who had also overseen the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft designs.

The crucial factor in the size and shape of the Shuttle Orbiter was the requirement that it be able to accommodate the largest planned commercial and classified satellites, and have the cross-range recovery range to meet the requirement for classified USAF missions.

Atlantis is named after RV Atlantis, a twomasted sailing ship that operated as the primary research vessel for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 1930 to 1966. The 460-ton ketch carried a crew of 17 and had room for 5 scientists.

The former RV Atlantis is now commissioned as an oceanographic research vessel in the Argentine Naval Prefecture under the name Dr. Bernardo Houssay and finishing a lengthy period of restoration. From Wikipedia.com

Height........184 ft
Diameter.....28.5 ft
Mass..........4,470,000 lbm
Stages........2