NASA

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

Crossed Kármán Line

STS-64 (Discovery)

This multifaceted science mission brought together life and materials science experiments, laser pulse observations of Earth, testing of new spacewalk equipment, and a free-flying release and recapture satellite on a single flight.

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

STS-39 (Discovery)

This was the first unclassified mission for the Department of Defense and saw the crew operate and perform numerous external and internal scientific experiments.

L. Blaine Hammond Jr.

United States of America

First African American Man in Space

STS-8 (Challenger)

On this mission, the crew deployed an Indian communications satellite and performed biomedical experiments. It was the first spaceflight to use the TDRS network and marked the first night launch and landing of the Space Shuttle. Challenger ferried the first African-American (second person of African descent) to space on this flight.

STS-61-A (Challenger)

A Space Shuttle mission funded completely by West Germany. This marked the first time payload operations on a U.S. mission were not conducted from NASA centers but from West Germany instead. Challenger flew with the Spacelab module, containing 76 scientific experiments. With eight crewmembers, this mission holds the record for "most people on a single spacecraft for launch and landing."

STS-53 (Discovery)

Classified Department of Defense mission.

Guion S. Bluford Jr.

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-29 (Discovery)

This mission deployed the fourth NASA TDRS satellite and conducted a variety of experiments.

Michael L. Coats

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

STS-47 (Endeavour)

STS-47 was the 50th flight of the Space Shuttle and was co-sponsored by NASA and Japan. The crew performed 44 life and materials science experiments. The flight marked the first (and to date, only) time a married couple has flown in space together.

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-30 (Atlantis)

Atlantis' five-person crew deployed the Magellan spacecraft to study Venus. This was the first human mission to deploy a spacecraft to another planet.

Mark C. Lee

STS-41 (Discovery)

Discovery's crew deployed the Ulysses spacecraft to study the Sun and conducted scientific experiments. One such experiment validated that a stranded satellite's solar arrays posed no risk to a Space Shuttle or its crew, paving the way for STS-49.

STS-50 (Columbia)

The U.S. Microgravity Laboratory 1 mission tested and proved materials, fluid physics, and biotechnology science operations for what would become the International Space Station.

STS-28 (Columbia)

Richard N. Richards

STS-38 (Atlantis)

Carl J. Meade

STS-54 (Endeavour)

This mission deployed the sixth TDRS satellite for NASA and tested various spacewalk techniques for future space station design.

STS-71 (Atlantis)

In a historic step toward the International Space Station, Atlantis performed the first docking of a U.S. Space Shuttle to the Russian space station Mir. A U.S. astronaut permanently joined Mir's crew.

Gregory J. Harbaugh

STS-66 (Atlantis)

This was the third Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Sciences mission.

Donald R. McMonagle

STS-52 (Columbia)

Columbia's crew deployed the LAGEOS-II satellite for NASA & Italy and carried out a variety of experiments inside and outside of the Shuttle. Some of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's ashes were carried to space on this mission.

Charles L. Veach

STS-49 (Endeavour)

Space Shuttle Endeavour's maiden voyage. The flight marked the first and to date only three-person spacewalk and saw the crew capture, repair, and re-release the Intelsat IV satellite.

STS-65 (Columbia)

This International Microgravity Laboratory-2 mission featured collaboration between NASA, ESA, Canada, France, Germany, and Japan on a multitude of microgravity and life sciences experiments.

Richard J. Hieb

This astronaut visited the International Space Station.

ISS Visitor

This astronaut conducted the longest spacewalk on March 12, 2001, it lasted eight hours and 56 minutes.

Longest Spacewalk 

STS-78 (Columbia)

This international Life and Microgravity Spacelab mission from NASA, ESA, and Canada featured more than 40 experiments designed to validate long duration space station missions.

STS-101 (Atlantis)

This logistics and supply run to the International Space Station was the first of three missions to prepare the outpost for its first permanent crew, Expedition 1.

STS-102 (Discovery)

This Space Shuttle logistics mission resupplied the International Space Station and served as a crew rotation flight between the Expedition 1 and 2 crews.

Susan J. Helms

STS-81 (Atlantis)

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

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