Editing Space Shuttle (section)

===In orbit===
[[File:Endeavour docked to ISS.jpg|thumb|right|alt=The Space Shuttle Endeavour docked with the International Space Station|''Endeavour'' docked at ISS during the STS-134 mission]]

The type of mission the Space Shuttle was assigned to dictate the type of orbit that it entered. The initial design of the reusable Space Shuttle envisioned an increasingly cheap launch platform to deploy commercial and government satellites. Early missions routinely ferried satellites, which determined the type of orbit that the orbiter vehicle would enter. Following the ''Challenger'' disaster, many commercial payloads were moved to expendable commercial rockets, such as the [[Delta II]].<ref name=jenkins2016 />{{rp|III–108, 123}} While later missions still launched commercial payloads, Space Shuttle assignments were routinely directed towards scientific payloads, such as the [[Hubble Space Telescope]],<ref name=jenkins2016 />{{rp|III–148}} Spacelab,<ref name=jenkins />{{rp|434–435}} and the [[Galileo (spacecraft)|Galileo spacecraft]].<ref name=jenkins2016 />{{rp|III–140}}  Beginning with [[STS-71]], the orbiter vehicle conducted dockings with the [[Mir space station]].<ref name=jenkins2016 />{{rp|III–224}} In its final decade of operation, the Space Shuttle was used for the construction of the [[International Space Station]].<ref name=jenkins2016 />{{rp|III–264}} Most missions involved staying in orbit several days to two weeks, although longer missions were possible with the [[Extended Duration Orbiter]] pallet.<ref name=jenkins2016 />{{rp|III–86}} The 17 day 15 hour [[STS-80]] mission was the longest Space Shuttle mission duration.<ref name=jenkins2016 />{{rp|III–238}}