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The space shuttle
The space shuttle is a reusable spacecraft that takes off as a rocket, orbits the Earth as a spacecraft, and lands as an aeroplane.
Two rocket boosters provide 70
per cent of the thrust needed to lift the space shuttle off the
pad, the rest of the thrust comes from the shuttle's engines.
About 2 minutes after the launch time, when the shuttle has reached an altitude of about 45 kilometres, the rocket boosters separate from the shuttle and parachute into the ocean. They are recovered, and are reused. The shuttle's main engines keep it going, using fuel from the external fuel tank.
About 8 minutes after the launch,
the fuel tank falls away and burns up in the atmosphere. The shuttle's
main engines shut down and smaller engines move the shuttle into
orbit.
On returning to Earth, the main engines fire and take the shuttle back into the Earth's atmosphere and then are shut down. During re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, the space shuttle passes through extreme heat. A heat protection system covering the space shuttle protects it from the high temperatures.
This covering doesn't burn off and is re-usable.
Heat resistant tiles protect the shuttle on re-entry
The unpowered space shuttle 
glides
to earth and lands on a runway like an aeroplane. Its brakes stop
it on the runway. Then the shuttle is towed away to be made ready
for its next flight.
Read more about space shuttles here http://www.spacetoday.org/SpaceShuttles.html
Go here to for information about the shuttle and the astronauts who fly on it
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/home/index.html
Acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Thomas, R. & Sydenham, S. The Space
Shuttle [Online] www.kidcyber.com.au(2005).
updated March 2009 © kidcyber