This astronaut is the first Ladybug to go to space.

First Ladybug

STS-93 (Columbia)

On the first U.S. spaceflight commanded by a woman, Columbia's five-person crew successfully deployed the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

The first reusable launch and landing spacecraft, the Space Shuttle began a new chapter of human space exploration. It launched like a rocket but landed on a runway like a plane. Shuttle crews deployed dozens of commercial satellites and two interplanetary probes to Venus and Jupiter. The Shuttle served as a mini space station and hosted hundreds of biomedical, psychological, physiological, materials science, and physics experiments that have directly benefited life on Earth. The five flight-worthy Shuttles -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour -- flew 135 missions over 30 years. The Shuttles helped construct the Russian Mir space station and brought nearly 80% of the International Space Station to orbit. Shuttles also deployed and serviced the Hubble Space Telescope.

Space Shuttle

Four Ladybugs

United States of America

NASA

This astronaut crossed the Kármán Line (100 km), the internationally accepted boundary of space.

Crossed Kármán Line

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

STS-41-D (Discovery)

The maiden voyage of the Space Shuttle Discovery. A June 26th launch attempt ended at T-6.4 seconds after two of the three Shuttle main engines had started to ignite. The pad abort triggered a hydrogen fire under Discovery, damaging the Space Shuttle. The abort led to major improvements in Shuttle abort safety guidelines and procedures and forced a two month delay to the flight, during which NASA cancelled STS-41-F and transferred its payload to this mission. After launch, the crew deployed three communications satellites for the U.S. (2) and Canada (1) and tested solar array technology. The flight marked the first time a company commercially sponsored an employee to fly on the Space Shuttle to perform one of its experiments.

STS-61-C (Columbia)

Space Shuttle Columbia returned to service after a major overhaul and upgrade with this mission. The crew included U.S. Congressman Bill Nelson of Florida. The flight deployed Satcom K1, which would prove to be the last commercial communications satellite launched by the Shuttle. It was the last successful human spaceflight before the Challenger Disaster. This mission was retroactively called "The End of Innocence" by its Commander.

STS-82 (Discovery)

The second Hubble Space Telescope upgrade mission. Discovery's crew improved Hubble's instruments and boosted its altitude to 620 km, the farthest from Earth a Space Shuttle ever traveled.

STS-31 (Discovery)

On this mission NASA launched a window to our past: the Hubble Space Telescope. Discovery's crew deployed the immense telescope on April 25th, 1990.

Steven A. Hawley

CNES

Soyuz TM-15

This crew ferry flight to Space Station Mir brought the two-person EO-12 long duration mission to the Russian space station.

Soyuz is a human-carrying capsule built and operated by Russia, capable of transporting up to three people to the Space Station at a time. It has been upgraded numerous times since its first use in the 1960s for the Soviet lunar program and was the only crewed vehicle for the Station from 2011 to 2020.

Soyuz

Michel Tognini

France

This astronaut visited the International Space Station.

ISS Visitor

STS-63 (Discovery)

The second Shuttle-Mir mission saw Discovery approach the station and fly around it, testing critical approach and docking systems for future Shuttle-Mir flights. The mission was the first time a woman piloted a U.S. spacecraft.

STS-84 (Atlantis)

The sixth Space Shuttle docking to the Russian space station Mir delivered a new NASA crewmember to the outpost. During undocking, Atlantis tested a new European sensor that would be used on Europe's future International Space Station resupply vehicle.

STS-114 (Discovery)

STS-114 was the first of two Return To Flight missions for the Space Shuttle after the STS-107/Columbia accident and the second time Discovery flew the program's Return To Flight mission. The flight coincidentally launched at the exact same local time at the launch site (10:39:00 am Eastern) as when Columbia had launched on STS-107. This was the second Shuttle flight commanded by a woman. Discovery's crew resupplied the International Space Station, demonstrated some safety upgrades/improvements, and performed the first in-space repair of a Shuttle's heat shield. A large foam shedding event during launch grounded the Shuttle and proved NASA had not completely solved the issue that brought down Columbia and her crew. This and Hurricane Katrina's impact on New Orleans (where the External Tanks were built) resulted in a year-long stop of Shuttle launches.

Eileen M. Collins

STS-73 (Columbia)

The U.S. Microgravity Laboratory-2 mission was a public-private scientific partnership between the U.S. government, U.S. universities, and private industry.

Soyuz TMA-20

Soyuz TMA-20 ferried three members of the Expedition 26 crew to the International Space Station.

Catherine G. Coleman

STS-100 (Endeavour)

Endeavour delivered Canadarm2, the ISS's robotic arm, to the International Space Station.

STS-112 (Atlantis)

Atlantis' crew delivered the S1 truss to the International Space Station. A piece of foam broke off the External Tank during launch and damaged a part of one of the Shuttle's Solid Rocket Boosters, foreshadowing the Columbia accident two missions later. NASA managers decided it was safe to keep flying.

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