STS-51-B (Challenger)

A co-sponsored ESA/NASA scientific research flight of Spacelab. This was Spacelab's second flight and hosted a range of 15 scientific experiments. During launch, a second significant burn through of the O-ring seal between the Solid Rocket Booster segments occurred as it had on STS-51-C. According to the mission's Commander, the flight came within 0.3 seconds of a Challenger-like burn through event. Morton Thiokol (who built the solid rockets) and NASA upper management again dismissed concerns. The Space Shuttle kept flying.

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

No. 384-80

United States of America

NASA

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

Crossed Kármán Line

STS-5 (Columbia)

This was the first operational flight of the Space Shuttle. The mission deployed two commercial communications satellites -- the first time a human mission did so -- for the U.S. and Canada.

Robert F. Overmyer

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

STS-7 (Challenger)

STS-7 marked the first time an American woman (third woman overall) flew in space. The mission deployed two communications satellites for Canada and Indonesia and carried the West German-built Shuttle Pallet Satellite containing numerous experiments.

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.

STS-42 (Discovery)

This Spacelab mission focused on the effects of weightlessness on numerous organisms and crystals.

Soyuz TM-21

This mission ferried part of the EO-18 crew to Space Station Mir. It was the first Russian flight of the Shuttle-Mir Program, a lead-up to the International Space Station. Upon reaching orbit, this marked the first time 14 people were in space at the same time: three on Soyuz, three on Mir, and seven on Shuttle Endeavour's on-going STS-67 mission. The final EO-18 crewmember was an American astronaut who was delivered to Mir by Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-71.

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

Norman E. Thagard

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.

William E. Thornton

STS-33 (Discovery)

STS-44 (Atlantis)

The second unclassified Department of Defense Space Shuttle mission deployed the Defense Support Program satellite and supported numerous experiments.

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