Shuttle Pendant - Pewter

Product Description: This Shuttle pendant is made from lead-free pewter. The shuttle is supplied on a waxed cord. The pendant is mounted on an information card, which has an image of the space shuttle on the front and on the reverse, it provides information about the space shuttle programme.

Information: The first space shuttle was launched in 1981. Conventional one-use rockets had been the only way to send astronauts or cargoes into space. The United States developed a re-usable system called the Space Transportation System (STS), or Shuttle for short. It was launched like a conventional rocket but returned to Earth like a plane. In 1988 the Soviets launched a shuttle called Buran. This crewless shuttle flew two orbits of Earth and returned by automatic landing.

Space exploration is very dangerous; in 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch and in 2003 the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry. All of the crew members were lost. We use these tragedies to spur further exploration of space, with continuing missions, satellites and probes investigating the planets and space around us.

NASA retired the Space Shuttle in July 2011, after 30 years of service.