Italian Space Agency (ISA)

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

Crossed Kármán Line

This astronaut is the first man from Italy to go to space.

First Man from Italy

STS-46 (Atlantis)

This mission deployed ESA's European Retrievable Carrier satellite, was the first to test the joint NASA/Italian Space Agency Tethered Satellite System, and marked the 150th human spaceflight to reach orbit.

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

Franco Malerba

Italy

NASA

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.

STS-51-C (Discovery)

The first classified Department of Defense Space Shuttle mission. Discovery was launched at or near the minimum air temperature the Solid Rocket Boosters were certified for at the time. After launch, it was discovered that a significant anomaly with all the O-ring seals on both Solid Rocket Boosters had occurred. All O-rings were found to be burned. In one place, the hot gasses from the rocket boosters had burned completely through the primary O-ring and nearly burned through the secondary seal -- which would have caused a Challenger-like failure. Morton Thiokol (who built the solid rockets) and NASA upper management both dismissed concerns raised by this finding. The Space Shuttle kept flying.

Loren J. Shriver

United States of America

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

STS-51-D (Discovery)

This mission deployed a Canadian communications satellite and tried to deploy a U.S. satellite, but an issue forced an unscheduled spacewalk to try to manually start the satellite's post-deployment sequence. The crew eventually had to bring the satellite back to Earth for repair. During landing Discovery blew a tire, leading NASA to suspend all Florida Space Shuttle landings until nose gear steering and improved braking could be added.

STS-61 (Endeavour)

The mission to rescue Hubble. On this flight, Endeavour's seven-person crew saved Hubble by outfitting it with "glasses" to correct the telescope's blurry vision. The crew also significantly upgraded Hubble's instruments and solar arrays. The mission was a success has allowed Hubble to continue its career as a space telescope to this day.

STS-35 (Columbia)

This astronomical mission flew a suite of telescopes as part of the Spacelab observatory mission ASTRO-1.

STS-75 (Columbia)

This joint NASA-ESA mission saw the crew continue testing the Italian Tethered Satellite System and perform a variety of materials science and physics experiments.

Jeffrey A. Hoffman

This astronaut visited the International Space Station.

ISS Visitor

This astronaut is in the top 5% for number of missions.

Frequent Flyer

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-91 (Discovery)

This was the ninth and final Space Shuttle docking to Space Station Mir and Discovery's only trip to the Russian space station. Discovery's crew tested new robotic arm software and the Orbiter Space Vision System that would be needed during construction of the International Space Station. This flight returned the final long duration NASA astronaut from Mir.

STS-111 (Endeavour)

This Space Shuttle flight rotated the Expedition 4 and 5 International Space Station crews and delivered Canadarm2's Mobile Base System, which gave the arm extra reach and mobility.

STS-34 (Atlantis)

Atlantis' five-person crew deployed the Galileo spacecraft toward Jupiter and performed eight scientific experiments.

STS-60 (Discovery)

This was the first flight of the Shuttle-Mir program, the first time a Russian launched on an American rocket, and the first time a U.S. crew communicated with a Russian crew on the Mir space station. The mission also performed several immune system and crystal growth experiments.

Franklin R. Chang-Díaz

STS-62 (Columbia)

This microgravity science mission studied the effects of long duration spaceflight and carried engineering and technology demonstration payloads in the Space Shuttle's cargo bay.

STS-81 (Atlantis)

The fifth Space Shuttle docking to the Russian Mir space station delivered a new NASA crewmember to the outpost.

STS-32 (Columbia)

This mission saw the deployment of a Defense communications satellite and the years-delayed retrieval of the Long Duration Exposure Facility launched on STS-41-C. Lasting 11 days, NASA used this mission to test a crew's ability to function and fly the Space Shuttle after a long mission.

STS-98 (Atlantis)

The first human spaceflight launch of the 21st century brought the U.S. Destiny lab to the International Space Station.

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