NASA have been launching five space shuttles since 1981. The names of the five shuttles used are Challenger, Discovery, Endeavour, Atlantis and Columbia. These Shuttles have flown more than half a billion miles and have carried over 350 people to space from 1981-2011. The first shuttle from NASA was launched on April 12 1981, 20 years after the Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched into space. The shuttle model is the STS-1 with an orbiter vehicle an expendable external tank and a pair of recoverable solid rocket boosters. These missions were for launching probes, satellites and the hubble telescope.