Do you mean before, or after, they retracted the landing gear while on the ground?

The reason I ask is that, in light airplanes, the rudder pedals typically double as the nose-wheel steering mechanism. You push the left pedal down, and both the rudder and the nose wheel will deflect to the left. Large planes, such as airliners, typically have a steering lever that's separate from the rudder controls, but I don't know which scheme the Space Shuttle uses. SO, if you're talking about them steering with the flight controls on the ground before they retracted the landing gear, then they may have actually been steering the nose wheel.

After the landing gear was retracted is another matter. Remember when they deployed their "air brake"? The rudder split in half, and both halves of the rudder stuck out in opposite directions to reduce their drag. I seriously doubt that any rudder control was possible after that point.