NASDA

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

This astronaut visited the International Space Station.

ISS Visitor

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

Crossed Kármán Line

STS-131 (Discovery)

STS-131 delivered over 70 science experiments, a crew living space, and an ammonia cooling unit to the International Space Station. The mission marked the final night launch of the Space Shuttle, the first time four women were in space together, the first time two Japanese citizens were in space together, and the final time a rookie astronaut flew on the Shuttle.

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

Naoko Yamazaki

Japan

NASA

This astronaut is in the top 5% for total spacewalking time.

Elite Spacewalker

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

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

Frequent Walker

STS-106 (Atlantis)

This was the third of three missions to prepare the International Space Station for permanent human habitation, delivering and unpacking vital supplies and connecting cables and data lines to Russia's newly arrived Zvezda service module.

STS-118 (Endeavour)

This Space Shuttle flight fulfilled the Challenger mission goal of putting a teacher in space when Barbara Morgan, Christa McAuliffe's backup, flew on the Shuttle built to take Challenger's place. Morgan recorded lessons and talked to school kids during the flight in addition to her duties on the mission. The flight delivered supplies and the S5 spacer truss to the International Space Station and continued the electrical rewiring of the outpost.

Soyuz TMA-11M

Soyuz TMA-11M ferried three members of the Expedition 38 crew to the International 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

Richard A. Mastracchio

United States of America

SpaceX

STS-120 (Discovery)

Discovery's crew delivered the Harmony connection module to the International Space Station where the European and Japanese modules would later be attached, relocated the P6 solar array and battery truss, performed emergency solar array surgery (with charged current still flowing through the arrays), and rotated a U.S. ISS crewmember. Coincidentally, this mission became the first time two spacecraft (Space Shuttle and ISS) were simultaneously commanded by women, with Pam Melroy commanding Shuttle Discovery and Peggy Whitson commanding the ISS. This flight marked the third and last time a Space Shuttle mission was commanded by a woman.

STS-121 (Discovery)

The second Return To Flight Space Shuttle mission after Columbia demonstrated all safety enhancements, this flight resupplied and prepared the International Space Station for the restart of construction and increased the Station's crew size back to three people. This mission was the third Return To Flight mission overall for the Shuttle Program, and all three were flown by Discovery.

Stephanie D. Wilson

STS-117 (Atlantis)

This Space Shuttle mission brought the S3/S4 truss, solar arrays, and batteries to the International Space Station and rotated a single U.S. crewmember. More than 7,000 divots were put in the External Tank's foam when a hail storm passed over the launch pad. The flight was delayed three months for repairs.

Clayton C. Anderson

STS-122 (Atlantis)

Atlantis brought ESA's Columbus science module up to the International Space Station and rotated a single ISS crewmember.

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