The space shuttle: 1981-2011

Photographer Philip Scott Andrews spent the past three years photographing scenes few people have ever witnessed as the space shuttle program comes to an end.

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The "stack," two solid rocket boosters mounted to the external fuel tank, sits in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in February 2010. The boosters would eventually be joined to Discovery.

Philip Scott Andrews /

Astronaut Rick Mastracchio sits on the edge of Discovery's hatch during training in the launchpad's "white room," the last stop for astronauts before they enter the shuttle.

Philip Scott Andrews

Sean King installs covers on one of Discovery's engines in Orbiter Processing Facility 3 shortly after the shuttle landed in Florida last year. The spaceships were never alone; there was always some task to do or someone watching over them.

Philip Scott Andrews

Tile technician James Frizell examines an open cavity in Discovery in preparation for tile bonding. These tiles, called high-temperature reusable surface insulation, protected the orbiter from temperatures of up to 2,300 degrees during reentry into Earth's atmosphere.

Philip Scott Andrews

Aerospace technician Al Schmidt on the flight deck of Discovery in 2010. Technicians had to check and double-check all of the switches to make sure everything worked on launch day.

Philip Scott Andrews

Two technicians work on faulty cabling inside Discovery in 2010. Technicians inventoried every piece of equipment that entered the shuttle, down to the photographer's rolls of film.

Philip Scott Andrews

Autographs of astronauts, employees, family members and specially cleared visitors, such as senators and sports figures, are scribbled on the wall of the white room in Orbiter Processing Facility 3.

Philip Scott Andrews

Members of the "close out crew" work to load astronauts into one of the space shuttles.

Philip Scott Andrews

Jim Ferris, left, and Doug Oldham prepare a heat shield for installation on Discovery's main engines.

Philip Scott Andrews

Detail from a space shuttle's main engine.

Philip Scott Andrews

A technician guides a main engine into Discovery inside Orbiter Processing Facility 3 in 2010.

Philip Scott Andrews

Two solid rocket booster segments await installation in the Vehicle Assembly Building in 2011. Scale at the space center can be overwhelming. These components each completed solid rocket boosters that weighed more than a million pounds on launch day and were the largest solid-propellant motors ever flown.

Philip Scott Andrews

A parachute for the booster rockets.

Philip Scott Andrews

A space shuttle is lifted inside the Vehicle Assembly Building in 2010. The VAB, built to house the Saturn V rocket that took Americans to the moon, is one of the largest buildings in the world. It sits on eight acres and rises to 525 feet.

Philip Scott Andrews

Atlantis lifts off from Kennedy Space Center. It is impossible to photograph from this location, just 1,275 feet from the shuttle; this image was shot remotely with the camera attached to a sound-triggering device designed by the photographer's father.

Philip Scott Andrews

A space shuttle lifts off from the launchpad.

Philip Scott Andrews

Discovery streaks through the night sky on its way to the international space station on April 5, 2010.

Philip Scott Andrews

Bill Warhop waits on the beach to watch Atlantis take off.

Philip Scott Andrews

Smoke clears after Atlantis lifts off on Nov. 16, 2009. The photographer shot this from atop the Vehicle Assembly Building.

Philip Scott Andrews

Spectators watch as Atlantis arcs through the sky. Five shuttles — Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour — flew 135 missions over 30 years and were the first reusable orbital spaceships. NASA's space shuttle program is scheduled to end this month.

Philip Scott Andrews

Members of the media photograph a shuttle launch from the roof of the Vehicle Assembly Building.

Philip Scott Andrews

Work lights illuminate Endeavour on Feb. 7, 2010. That day's launch attempt was scrubbed because of bad weather, but the shuttle successfully flew the next morning.

Philip Scott Andrews

Endeavour casts its shadow on the outside of the Vehicle Assembly Building as it is moved to the launch pad for the last time March 10, 2011.

Philip Scott Andrews

Endeavour approaches the runway at the Kennedy Space Center at the end of its final mission into space.

Philip Scott Andrews

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