National Centre for Space Studies (CNES)

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

Crossed Kármán Line

STS-51-G (Discovery)

Discovery's crew deployed three satellites for Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and the U.S. They also released the Spartan 1 free-flying science platform for a few days of independent flight before re-capturing it and bringing it back to Earth. The mission marked the first time an Arab, Muslim, and member of a royal family flew to space.

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

Patrick Baudry

France

NASA

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.

John M. Fabian

United States of America

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

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-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-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.

Daniel C. Brandenstein

STS-36 (Atlantis)

Classified Department of Defense mission. This mission holds the record for highest orbital inclination ever achieved by a U.S. human spaceflight at 62 degrees.

STS-48 (Discovery)

Discovery's crew of five deployed NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite to study human effects on the ozone and performed a variety of experiments.

John Creighton

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-55 (Columbia)

The second German-sponsored Space Shuttle flight saw 88 experiments from 11 nations taken to orbit.  A March launch attempt ended at T-3 seconds with an on-pad abort and emergency shutdown of Columbia's engines after a failure was detected.

STS-37 (Atlantis)

Atlantis' crew deployed the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory after an unplanned spacewalk to unstick the Observatory's communications antennas. The crew also practiced moving equipment and people around a future space station using a small mock-up in the Shuttle's payload bay.

Steven R. Nagel

STS-58 (Columbia)

During this 14-day flight, Columbia's crew performed numerous experiments to study how the human body adapts to microgravity.

STS-34 (Atlantis)

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

STS-43 (Atlantis)

This mission launched the fifth TDRS satellite for NASA, conducted radiator testing for use on a future space station, and performed numerous biological experiments.

STS-76 (Atlantis)

The third Space Shuttle docking to the Russian space station Mir delivered Mir's first woman resident, NASA astronaut Shannon Lucid.

Get the Supercluster App

Donate to Support Supercluster

Supercluster on Patreon

Fact of the Day

Want more space stories?

GET THE SUPERCLUSTER APP

THE SUPERCLUSTER PODCAST

Donate to support

The Supercluster App

Featuring our global Launch Tracker, interactive Astronaut Database, and Stations Dashboard.

Stay on top of everything leaving Earth; get mission info, countdowns, livestreams, and customized notifications that alert you when a rocket is launching or when a space station is in the skies overhead.

Download